Since the inception of life, nutrition has dictated the growth
and survival of our species. Almost all of the body processes,
from meager to vital, have a strong dependence on the diet.
The nutritional status serves as an outlook on the past, present,
and future of one’s health.
The presence of health does not only mean the absence of
disease or infirmity, rather, it is a quality of life emphasizing
physical, mental and social well-being. In other words, nutrition,
both in terms of amount and the kind, serves to act as
the cornerstone of optimum health and the cutting edge for
disease prevention.
Since ancient times, philosophers and researchers have deemed
nutrition as one of the fundamental components of life. Therefore,
it is no surprise that all the universal medical science concepts
included nutrition as one of their integral components.
The ancient theory of nutrition dates back to the time of Aristotle
and Galen. They considered nutrition as a vital part of
health, disease, performance, and healing. The power in each
part of the body is believed to be dependent on the blood
flowing to that part. The blood is formed by the nutrients
absorbed from the consumed foods. This nutrition and
human physiology theory in ancient Europe is mirrored by
the concepts described in an ancient Chinese medicine text,
Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine) - a Chinese
counterpart of the Hippocratic Corpus. According to
the Greek, Roman, and Chinese classical literature, the diet
should consist largely of cereal grains, legumes, fruits, honey,
fish, and milk. Foods like meat, wine, and confectionary
should be consumed in moderation. It is intriguing how
those ancient doctors and philosophers were able to predict
a gross dietary map without having a clear understanding of
how the human body works.
The modern theory of nutrition has taken one step ahead.
Starting with a series of discoveries of vitamins and minerals
between 1910 and 1930, nutritional science has evolved
alongside modern food production methods.
Although serious malnourishment problems still exist in parts
of the world such as Africa and South East Asia, food distribution
improved following WWII in many countries.
Prior to the 1940s, nutrition-related diseases resulted primarily
from undernourishment i.e., lack of variety, inadequate
calories or a combination of both.
Increasingly, nutrition and lifestyle related conditions such
as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome
have become prevalent in many modern cities and countries.
Now, foods are not just considered a source of energy for survival,
instead it is an experience for instant pleasure and gratification.
According to researchers, the modern food industry
has learned the weaknesses in our fundamental biology. For
instance, the human body has a natural liking for sweetness
and fatty foods. This weakness has been exploited by
the mass production of sweetened beverages and excessively
processed food items. Similarly, the human fatty food preference
has been fueled by the easy accessibility to fast foods
on every block. This convenience for instant gratification has
fostered changes in our body composition, an increase of
obesity, and deterioration of overall health. Obesity is
growing into a global pandemic and is considered one of the
most urgent health care issues today
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