A balanced diet contains the different nutrients in the correct amounts to keep us healthy. Imbalanced diets can cause obesity, starvation and deficiency diseases.
A nutrient is a substance needed by organisms to stay alive and healthy. A healthy human diet involves seven different kinds of nutrient:
Some foods are particularly rich in certain nutrients. The table shows why we need each nutrient, and some good sources of each one:
| Nutrient | Use in the body | Good sources |
|---|---|---|
| Carbohydrate | To provide energy | Cereals, bread, pasta, rice and potatoes |
| Protein | For growth and repair | Fish, meat, eggs, beans, pulses and dairy products |
| Lipids (fats and oils) | To provide energy. Also to store energy in the body and insulate it against the cold. | Butter, oil and nuts |
| Minerals | Needed in small amounts to maintain health | Salt, milk (for calcium) and liver (for iron) |
| Vitamins | Needed in small amounts to maintain health | Fruit, vegetables, dairy foods |
| Dietary fibre | To provide roughage to help to keep the food moving through the gut | Vegetables, bran |
| Water | Needed for cells and body fluids | Water, fruit juice, milk |