Nutrients: Meaning, Types, Importance & Functions

Nutrients are substances or compounds in food which are essentials for life and health of Living organisms. Nutrients provide necessary and needful components that support life and life energies in total and help sustain life on earth. Nutrients may be derived from various sources; these sources include sources of consumption like food one eats, water, the sunlight etc.

Keyterms: Nutrients, earth, Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats, Vitamins, Minerals, Metabolism, Macronutrients

---

Types of Nutrients

[Click Here for Sample Questions]

There are two main classifications of nutrients:

Macro Nutrients

Macro Nutrients are those nutrients that the body requires in a large amount; these facilitate the functioning of life supporting activities like Metabolism.

Macronutrients provide the body with energy in the form of calories to carry everyday activities.

Macronutrients are basically of three types- Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats

Macro Nutrients

Micro Nutrients

Micronutrients also form a major part of the nutrients that a living organism needs, these include vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and Minerals are needed in order to produce energy, functioning of the immune system and growth of the body.

Also Read:

---

Important Nutrients in Food

[Click Here for Sample Questions]

Living creature like animals and humans cannot prepare their own food and so they cannot sustain the necessary required nutrients that are essential to support live hence they are dependent of external factors to fulfill the necessary nutrition requirements.

Important nutrients that food supplements a living organism are:

• Carbohydrate- Carbs or the Carbohydrates are the nutrients that are needed most by the body these are in the form of Sugar, fiber and starch. These are the main source of energy to the body and the main source of fuel to the Brain.

Foods like Grains, Starchy Vegetables milk and milk products are rich sources of carbohydrates.

• Protein- Protein contains amino acids that help in tissue building and bone strengthening, it is another most important nutrient that the body needs.

Foods like- Milk, Soy, eggs etc. are rich sources of protein.

• Fats- Fats are an essential supplement to energy in the body; when the body is out of carbohydrates it uses fats to sustain the energy requirements of the body.

Foods like- Meat, nut seed, Milk products are good sources of fat.

• Vitamins and Minerals- Vitamins and minerals supplement the other sources of nutrients in growth and development of the body, several vitamins like Vitamin D and Minerals like calcium are essential for growth and development of motor skills in the body.

Foods like- Milk, Fruits etc. are considered rich sources of vitamins and minerals.

• Iron- Iron is very important as it is a constituent of blood in living organisms, food like- green leafy vegetables, Soybeans etc. are good sources of iron, they also help in building Red blood cells in the human body.

---

Foods Nutrition Value

[Click Here for Sample Questions]

---

Functions of Nutrients

[Click Here for Sample Questions]

• Nutrients supplement the energy requirements of the body.
• They help in sustaining life of all the living creatures
• Nutrients contribute to the structure of the body
• Nutrients help sustain good health.
• Nutrients help in proper growth of living organisms
• Nutrients help living organisms to carry out life supporting activities like reproduction.

---

Things to Remember

[Click Here for Sample Questions]

• Foods like Soy, Salmon, Kale, sea-weed etc. are the most important nutritional foods. They supplement each and every nutrition requirement like that of Macronutrients and Micro Nutrition. 
• Nutrition is a very essential part of a living organism's energy requirement; it serves as the building block of life in every creature.
• Along with green plants Algae, Bacteria and Fungi are also known to be creating their own food, thus they too are considered and Autotrophs. They create their own nutrition and fulfill their energy requirements. Kelp too is an autotroph organism and performs photosynthesis.
• Nutrients not only sustain energy requirements in an organism but it also plays a vital role in sustaining life on earth, nutrition plays an important role in producing offspring in animals and plants both. It sustains life through reproduction. It helps in cell enrichment and development of organisms including humans.

---