Nutrients: Functions, Deficiencies, Toxicities and Food Sources

  • food A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism’s metabolism which must be taken in from its environment.
  • The effects of nutrients are dose-dependent.
  • Organic nutrients include carbohydrates, fats, proteins (or their building blocks, amino acids), and vitamins.
  • Inorganic chemical compounds such as Dietary mineral; water and oxygen may also be considered nutrients.
  • A nutrient is essential to an organism if it cannot be synthesized by the organism in sufficient quantities and must be obtained from an external source.
  • Nutrients needed in relatively large quantities are called macronutrients and those needed in relatively small quantities are called micronutrients.

Nutrients Nutrients deric nutrients: functions, deficiencies, toxicities, food sources

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