The importance of food

We could say that by definition, Nutrition is the result of a set of harmonic and intertwining functions, which have the goal of keeping the composition and normal integrity of matter and preserve life.

If we speak of therapeutic nutrition, we are referring to a type of food intake destined to improve people’s life quality.  For example in South America, more specifically in Argentina, the percentage of anemia in children is high, that is why iron fortified foods are offered, such as flour with ferrous sulfate.  But there is come commonly ignored interesting data, did you know that if you consume any iron rich food together with mate or tea, your body does not absorb iron?

Mate or tea have a chemical substance called phenolic compound, which avoids iron absorption.

It is also important to mention the need to add, when eating iron rich food, an orange as desert or any food rich in vitamin C, because this increases iron absorption.

If we speak of Normal Eating we could say it is the one composed of diverse quantities of different nutrients that an individual must ingest for satisfying basic physiological needs.  But in reality we could mention that for normal nutrition there is in each country a usual diet associated to the habits of each society, which can help predict, for example, that in the USA, due to the great intake of foods rich in saturated fat, a percentage of the population will be diabetic, which proposes a high risk factor for various diseases.  Something similar happens in Argentina, also due to the type of nutrition, a great percentage of women suffer osteoporosis.

Collaborated in this article: Dra. Claudia Novello

“The art of healing with the hands” was Hippocrates definition of surgery.