Introduction
Welcome!!
What comes to mind when you think about food?
For some people, it’s a quick breakfast before class or work. For others, it’s family recipes, holiday traditions, gardening, or favorite meals shared with friends. Food provides nourishment, connects us to culture and community, and is often linked to some of our strongest memories.
In this book, you’ll explore food from another perspective—as a source of the nutrients your body needs to grow, function, and stay healthy. You’ll learn how nutrients provide energy, support body processes, and influence health throughout the lifespan. Understanding how food affects the body can help you make informed decisions about what you eat and why it matters.
This book contains twelve chapters, each designed to correspond to approximately one week of a one-semester college course. Chapters are divided into short, easy-to-follow sections and include review questions, videos, activities, case studies, and additional resources to help reinforce learning and connect concepts to everyday life.
This second edition has been extensively revised to improve clarity and student learning. New and expanded tables, updated content, and enhanced learning features are designed to make the material easier to understand, study, and apply.
About This OER
This open educational resource (OER) was developed by building upon the work of previous OER authors. In the spirit of open education, we have adapted, updated, and expanded these materials to meet the needs of today’s students. We encourage others to use, adapt, and improve this resource for their own teaching and learning.
A note to students: We hope this book helps you better understand the science of nutrition and the role food plays in health and wellness. Most importantly, we hope it gives you practical knowledge you can use throughout your life.
A note to educators: We welcome feedback, suggestions, and corrections. If you use this OER, please contact Janet Colson so we can learn how the resource is being used and notify you of future updates. Feel free to adopt this material as is or modify it to fit your course. You can also use our PowerPoint notes and classroom activities available at Nutrition Resources for Tennessee High Schools.
Janet Colson, PhD, RD
Nutrition and Food Science Coordinator
Middle Tennessee State University
Attributions
This section is an adaptation of “Introduction” in Nutrition: Science and Everyday Application, V. 1.0 by Alice Callahan, PhD; Heather Leonard, MEd, RDN; and Tamberly Powell, MS, RDN under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License,
