The study of nutrition focuses on how food and drink affect our bodies, particularly with relation to the vital nutrients required to support human health. In addition to examining how nutrients in food produce energy or are transformed into human tissues, it also examines the physiological and biochemical processes involved in nutrient absorption.

These nutrients—carbohydrates, lipids, fiber, minerals, proteins, vitamins, and water—are the source of energy for our bodies. Getting the proper number of nutrients from healthy foods in the right proportions constitutes good nutrition. Examining diseases that can come from malnutrition and the role that food plays in the emergence of chronic disease are key aspects of the study of nutrition.