Nutrients

• Carbohydrates, proteins, fats and lipids, water, vitamins, and minerals are the nutrients essential for life.
• Carbohydrates - an immediate source of energy. A lack of carbohydrates can cause short or long-term effect. The brain requires twice as much energy as other cells.
• Protein


  Help build body tissues
• Amino acids


  • Essential for growth and repair of worn out tissue
  • 9 out of the 20 amino acids in your body's proteins are essential to your diet because your cells cannot manufacture them: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and valine
• Fats and Lipids


  • Contain energy reserves for the body
  • They give four times the energy yield compared with carbohydrates and protein
  • Help the body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K)
  • Unsaturated fat is healthier than saturated fat and remains liquid at ordinary room temperature
• Water


  Vital in all chemical and physiological processes
• Vitamins

  • Organic substances that speed up chemical reactions and regulate the release of energy by the body
  • They are either fat-soluble or water soluble
• Minerals


  • Inorganic substances that are essential for the growth of the cell
  • Minerals are grouped into micronutrients or macronutrients