Food and Nutrition

A Science AZ Life Series

Food and
Word Count: 1,882

Nutrition

Written by Katherine Follett

Visit www.sciencea-z.com www.sciencea-z.com

Food and
Key elements Used in This Book
The Big Idea: Humans are like other organisms in that we need food to
survive. Food is the fuel that powers us. Plants use photosynthesis to make
their own food, while animals eat plants, other animals, or both. Plants

Nutrition
and animals both use the process of respiration to convert food into energy.
In animalsincluding humansfood breaks down as it travels through the
digestive system, releasing nutrients and energy. To be healthy, we need
to consume a balance of various organic and inorganic nutrients. Knowing
which nutrients the body needs and in what proportions in our diet, as well
as which foods contain those nutrients, are all important for maintaining
our health.
Key words: agriculture, breathe, carbohydrate, carbon dioxide, carnivore, cell,
chlorophyll, consumer, decomposer, diet, digestion, digestive system, energy, enzyme,
esophagus, fiber, food, food chain, glucose, herbivore, inorganic, lipid, liver, mineral,
molecule, nutrient, nutrition, omnivore, organic, oxygen, pancreas, photosynthesis,
plants, producer, protein, respiration, saliva, small intestine, soil, stomach, sugar,
sunlight, villi, vitamin, water, water vapor

Key comprehension skills: Compare and contrast

Other suitable comprehension skills: Cause and effect; classify information; main idea
and details; identify facts; elements of a genre; interpret graphs, charts, and diagrams

Key reading strategy: Retell

Other suitable reading strategies: Ask and answer questions; connect to prior
knowledge; summarize; visualize; using a table of contents and headings; using
a glossary and boldfaced terms

Written by Katherine Follett
Photo Credits:
Front cover: iStockphoto.com/Elena Schweitzer; back cover (tl): iStockphoto.com/Purdue9394;
back cover (tr), page 22 (tl): iStockphoto.com/Yin Yang; back cover (b): iStockphoto.com/
Linda Kloosterhof; title page: iStockphoto.com/Andreas Prott; page 3: iStockphoto.com/
Catherine Yeulet; page 4 (l): iStockphoto.com/Jim Kruger; page 4 (tr): iStockphoto.com/
Maria Gritcai; page 4 (br): iStockphoto.com/Robert Plotz; page 5: iStockphoto.com/Dane Steffes;
page 6 (top inset): iStockphoto.com/Julie Macpherson; page 6 (bottom inset): iStockphoto.com/
Karl Dolenc; page 6 (bottom main): iStockphoto.com/Redmal; pages 6 (top main), 9 (tr), 10 (bl),
11 (t), 17 (top to bottom 4),18 (tl), 18 (tr), 19 (tl): Jupiterimages Corporation; page 8:
Learning AZ; page 9 (tl): Xavier Marchant/Dreamstime.com; page 9 (b): iStockphoto.com/
Klaas Lingbeek-van Kranen; page 10 (c): iStockphoto.com/Ivan Burmistrov; page 10 (br):
iStockphoto.com/Grafissimo; page 11 (b): M2hphoto/Dreamstime.com; page 12 (t):
iStockphoto.com/Suprijono Suharjoto; page 13 (b): iStockphoto.com/Marty Eby; page 14 (tl):
MedicalRF.com/Getty Images; page 14 (b): iStockphoto.com/Emrah Oztas; page 15 (l):
iStockphoto.com/Robert Churchill; page 15 (r): Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images; page 16 (tl):
iStockphoto.com/Jess Arias; page 16 (tr): iStockphoto.com/Peter Baxter; page 16 (bl):
iStockphoto.com/Katarina Drpic; pages 16 (br),18 (bc): iStockphoto.com/Kelly Cline;
page 17 (top to bottom): iStockphoto.com/Michael Flippo; page 17 (2): iStockphoto.com/
Dennis DeSilva; page 17 (3): iStockphoto.com/Matthew Cole; pages 17 (5, 7, 8),19 (tc):
Hemera Technologies/Jupiterimages Corporation; page 17 (6): iStockphoto.com/Joe Potato;
page 18 ( tc): iStockphoto.com/Nataliya Peregudova; page 18 (bl): iStockphoto.com/
James McQuillan; page 18 (br): iStockphoto.com/Larry Sherer; page 19 (c): iStockphoto.com/
Denis Pepin; page 19 (tr): iStockphoto.com/Morgan L; page 19 (cr): iStockphoto.com/
Mark Gillow; page 19 (br): Olga Miltsova/123RF; page 20 (t): Miltonia/123RF; page 20 (c):
iStockphoto.com/Valentyn Vokov; page 20 (b): iStockphoto.com/DNY59; page 21:
iStockphoto.com/Vikram Raghuvanshi; page 22 (bl): iStockphoto.com/Rob Belknap; page 22 (r):
iStockphoto.com/Wojciech Gajda
Illustration Credits:
Pages 10 (top), 12 (bottom), 13 (top), 14 (top right): Cende Hill/ Learning AZ

Food and Nutrition / Learning AZ / Written by Katherine Follett

www.sciencea-z.com All rights reserved. / www.sciencea-z.com
 What Needs Food?

All living things need energy. They need

it to live, to do all the things they do each
day, and to stay healthy. Living things get this
energy from food. In this book, you will learn
how plants and animals get food. You will also
find out how living things use food for energy.

Table of Contents Before reading on, think about how plants

get food. Do they eat? Then think about how
What Needs Food?.............................................. 4 plants use food for energy.
How Do Plants Get Food?................................. 5
How Do Plants Use Food for Energy?............. 7
How Do Animals Get Food?............................. 9
How Do Animals Use Food for Energy?....... 11
All living things need
Foods Journey Through food to survive.
the Human Body............................................ 12
Food, Nutrition, and Health............................ 16
Organic Nutrients............................................ 17
Inorganic Nutrients.......................................... 20
Conclusion......................................................... 22
Glossary.............................................................. 23
Index................................................................... 24
3 4
 How Do Plants Get Food? Photosynthesis in Green Plants

Plants and animals get the energy they need

in different ways. Animals eat food. But plants
dont eat. Plants make their own food through 5
a process called photosynthesis.
4
Plants dont get food from soil. During
photosynthesis, plants make a simple kind
3
of sugar. The sugar is their food. Green plants
soak up light energy from the Sun and use 6
it to make the sugar. Plants also use a gas in
the air called carbon dioxide. Plants take
2
in carbon dioxide through tiny holes on the
bottoms of their leaves. Plants make food by 1
mixing sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.

It is true that soil does not provide plants

with food. But soil does give plants water 1 Roots take in water. The
and minerals. Both of these things are soaked plant carries the water to
the plants cells.
up through the roots. Water 2 The cells have a green
material in them called
and minerals are important chlorophyll. Chlorophyll
can capture the Suns
during photosynthesis. energy and use it.
3 Leaves take in carbon
Study the diagram of a plant dioxide from the air
through tiny holes.
on page 6. It explains the steps
of photosynthesis that take
place inside green plants.
5 6
4 The leaf cells use the Suns
energy to break down the
carbon dioxide and water.
They turn the chemicals
into a simple sugar. The
sugar is the plants food.
5 The plant uses some of
the sugar. It stores the
rest in its leaves, stem,
roots, and other parts.
6 When plants make sugar,
some oxygen gas is left
over. The leaves give off
the oxygen into the air
through the tiny holes.
 In the formula below, the left side explains Respiration Formula

what plants use during photosynthesis. The sugar (food) + oxygen energy + carbon dioxide + water vapor

right side explains what plants produce during

To review, plants make their own food
photosynthesis. The arrow is like an equal sign.
during photosynthesis. Then they use the
Photosynthesis Formula
energy from that food during respiration.
water + carbon dioxide + light sugar (food) + oxygen
Photosynthesis happens in sunlight. But
How Do Plants Use Food for Energy? respiration can happen in either the dark or
the light. All living things use respiration to
After photosynthesis happens, the plant has get energy from food. But plants also use
sugar for food. The sugar contains energy. The photosynthesis to make their own food. This
plant stores some of this energy in its leaves, chart compares photosynthesis and respiration.
stem, roots, fruit, and other parts. It uses the
rest of the energy to grow by making new cells. Photosynthesis Respiration
produces food uses food
So how does the plant get energy from sugar?
stores energy releases energy
uses water uses sugar (glucose)
The plant breaks down the sugar using
uses carbon dioxide uses oxygen
respiration. Respiration is the opposite of produces sugar (glucose) produces water vapor
photosynthesis. During respiration, the plant produces oxygen produces carbon dioxide
takes in oxygen from the air. It mixes the occurs in sunlight occurs in the dark or light
oxygen with the sugar to get the energy it used mainly by plants used by all living things

needs. Then the plant sends water vapor

and carbon dioxide back into the air.
To prove that plants give
The next formula explains what plants off water, seal a bag
use (on the left) and what they produce over a few plant leaves for
a few days. See what happens.
(on the right) during respiration.
7 8
 How Do Animals Get Food? A Desert Food Chain
producer

Unlike plants, animals cannot make food. primary

secondary
consumer
They must eat it. Animals eat in three main consumer

ways. Can you guess what those ways are? decomposer

tertiary
An herbivore, such as a zebra, eats only consumer

plants. A carnivore, such as a lion, eats other

animals. An omnivore, such as a warthog,
eats both plants and animals. Plants and animals all belong to food chains.
First, green plants make food. Herbivores get
food by eating the plants. Then carnivores
get food by eating other animals. This is how
energy passes through the food chain.

Agriculture
How do you get the food you eat? Do you grow the
plants and raise the animals yourself? Probably not.
herbivore carnivore Someone makes the food for you. Growing crops
and raising animals for food is
called agriculture, or farming.
Agriculture used to involve
Think of backbreaking work that took a
ten wild very long time. By the 1800s, it
animals. Which became faster with the use of
ones are herbivores? steam- and gas-powered
Which ones are machines. Todays
carnivores? Which advanced machines
omnivore ones are omnivores? allow farmers to harvest
their crops even faster.

9 10
 How Do Animals Use Food for Energy? Foods Journey Through the Human Body

There it sitsa nice, juicy apple Lets look at the human digestive system.
full of energy. That energy can When you eat an apple, your food begins a
help you walk, run, and breathe. long journey that starts in your mouth. Your
How does your body get energy out of the teeth tear off a piece of apple and grind it up.
apple? You eat it! Like other animals, humans Your saliva adds water
break down the apple in steps called digestion. and special chemicals
called enzymes.
When an animal eats food, the food breaks
Enzymes help your
down into smaller and smaller parts. Digestion
body change one
takes food apart until it is in very small pieces,
chemical into another.
called molecules. Blood carries the molecules
Enzymes work
throughout the body. This process allows an
throughout your
animal to send energy to every part of its body.
digestive system.
You learned that plants take in oxygen and The enzymes in saliva
mix it with their own food to get energy. Then make the apple soft mouth
plants give off water and carbon dioxide. A and easier to swallow. esophagus

similar process happens inside animals during

Next, you swallow
respiration. Animals take in oxygen and mix it
the mushy apple. stomach
with the food they ate so they can get energy.
The food travels liver
When they breathe out, animals
down a tube to pancreas
also give off water and carbon
your stomach.
dioxide. The water vapor
Muscles push the
is what makes an animals
food down the tube. large
breath feel wet. intestine small
intestine

11 12
 The inside of your
stomach makes two
kinds of chemicals.
One is enzymes. The
other is gastric juices.
Have you ever tasted
a lemon? Its sour!
Lemon juice is sour
because it is an acid. Gastric juices are acids,
too. They are much stronger than lemon juice.
Your stomach mixes the apple with gastric
juices and enzymes. This step breaks down
the apple into even smaller pieces.
Next, the food moves to your small
intestine. Other organs, such as your liver
and pancreas, add more digestive chemicals.
They mix with the food in your small intestine.
The small intestine is only called small because
its narrow. It can be 7 meters (23 ft.) long
as long as a truck!
13
villi
The apple has finally been broken down
into molecules that you can use for energy.
The inside of your small intestine is covered
with tiny fingerlike parts called villi. The
molecules of food pass through the walls
of the villi. Blood flows through the villi.
It picks up the molecules of food and
carries them to the cells of your body.
Now the apple you ate hours ago is
fully digested. It was turned into molecules
that travel through your blood. Most of the
molecules in an apple are sugars. (An apple
tree made the sugars during photosynthesis.
It stored the sugars in the fruit.) Your blood
brings the sugar to your bodys cells. The
cells are the place where respiration happens.
Just as in plants, respiration is how you
get energy! You use this energy to move,
stay warm, and do all the things you do.
14
 The blood carries the leftover water vapor Food, Nutrition, and Health
and carbon dioxide to your lungs so you can
Food has materials in it that give you
breathe them out. The food material that did
and all living thingsthe energy you need
not get used keeps moving through the rest
to move, grow, and heal. The useful materials
of the digestive system. It leaves the body
in food are called nutrients. Your body needs
as waste.
many kinds of nutrients. Different foods have
different kinds of nutrients. So its important
So Many Stomachs!
How are cows, camels, and giraffes alike? They to eat a variety of foods.
all have a stomach that is separated into several
sections. Each section is like a whole stomach. Many nutrients come from living things.
These animals eat grass, which takes a long time These are called organic nutrients. Other
to digest. Because predators hunt them, they have nutrients are not produced by living things.
to eat and run. They store food in the first section
These are called inorganic nutrients.
of their stomach. Later, the animals can bring up
the stored food and chew it some more. Sometimes
it looks as if cows are chewing gum. They are
chewing food from their first stomach again. This
extra chewing helps break down the tough grass.

Stomach chambers

15 16
Organic Nutrients
Your body gets most of its energy from
simple and complex carbohydrates. Your
body breaks down carbohydrates. This
releases simple sugars, which your cells
use for energy.
Simple carbohydrates are sugars.
Sweet foods all contain sugars.
You digest simple carbohydrates
very quickly. But if you dont
use that energy by being active, your body
may store the energy as fat. Too much sugar
in your diet can also cause some diseases.
Complex carbohydrates include starches.
You can find starches in potatoes, rice, corn,
and wheat. Starches are longer molecules
made up of chains of sugars. You digest them
much more slowly, which gives your body
an even supply of energy
throughout the day. Which
kind of carbohydrates do
you think doctors suggest
you eat more of?
17
Some foods, like
these, contain
healthy fats.
The next kind of nutrient is lipids. These
are fats and oils. Rub a peanut on a piece of
paper and youll see an oily stain. Nuts, meats,
and some other foods contain lipids. They
have a lot of energy. In fact, lipids have more
than twice as much energy as carbohydrates.
All healthy bodies need some fat. Fat under
your skin helps keep your body warm. Oils
keep your skin and hair healthy. Some fats
are very good for you. But some fatty foods
may end up stored as extra fat on your body.
And too much fat can be bad for your heart.
These foods may be tasty,
but they are high in unhealthy
fatsand low in other nutrients.
18
 Another kind of nutrient is protein. Your
body needs certain kinds of protein to build
and repair your cells. Protein keeps your
whole body strong and healthy.
Protein comes in many forms. Protein
is often found in animal foods. It is in eggs,
cheese, milk, meat, and fish. It is also in many
plant foods, such as wheat, rice, oats, nuts,
seeds, dry peas, and beans. Some people dont
eat meat, so they get their protein by eating
foods from plants.
Eat meat, eggs, dairy, and nuts for protein.
Fiber is also a very important part of a
healthy diet. Your body cannot digest fiber.
So why would you need it?
Fiber helps food pass easily
through your digestive system.
Fresh fruits and vegetables,
beans, and whole-grains are
all good ways to get fiber.
19
Vitamins are chemicals that do important
jobs in your body. They can help your eyes,
teeth, and skin. You do not need very much
of each vitamin. But you can get sick without
enough vitamins.
Many foods and drinks
contain vitamins. For example,
carrots contain vitamin A.
Oranges contain vitamin C.
Inorganic Nutrients
Minerals are also important. These
nutrients are not made by plants or animals.
Plant roots take up minerals from the soil.
Animals get minerals by eating those plants
or by eating the animals that ate the plants.
Minerals found in foods include salt,
zinc, iron, copper, calcium, and potassium.
Calcium helps build your bones and teeth.
Your blood uses iron to carry
oxygen. Salt is in your sweat,
blood, and tears. You only need
a small amount of most minerals.
Some people
But your body cannot make minerals. take pills for
extra vitamins
You need to get them from food. and minerals.
20
 Clearly, eating the right mix of foods is
very important. You might be able to live
without food for a month. But you would
only last about a week without water.
More than half your body mass is water.
Almost every part and process in your body
needs water. Your blood is mostly made of
water. Experts say you need about two liters
of water per day to stay healthy. Thats more
than ten glasses! You get a lot of that water
from food and drinks. But the best way to
get enough water is by simply drinking clean
water. Drinking water is extra important
when it is hot and when you exercise.
21
Conclusion
You have learned that plants and animals
must turn food into energy. Plants make their
own food. Animals (including humans) have
to eat food. Your body uses food for energy
without you having to think about it. But you
do need to think about which foods to eat.
Proteins, carbohydrates, fats . . . your body
needs many things to stay healthy. So what
should you eat? The most important thing
is to eat many different kinds of foods. Try to
avoid too much fat and too much sugar. Watch
out for junk foods that have few vitamins and
minerals. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and
lean meats are healthy foods. They give your
body everything it needs!
22
 Glossary
carbohydrates organic nutrients, including
sugars and starches, that can
provide an organism with
energy (p. 17)
an invisible, odorless gas that
carbon dioxide 
is used during photosynthesis
and given off as a waste product
during respiration (p. 5)
carnivore an animal that only eats other
animals (p. 9)
digestion a series of chemical reactions
that break food down into forms
that the body can use (p. 11)
energy the power to do work, make a
change, or move objects (p. 4)
enzymes proteins that speed up a
chemical reaction in the body
(p. 12)
fiber a food substance that cannot
be digested but which helps
the process of digestion (p. 19)
herbivore an animal that only eats plants
(p. 9)
lipids fats and oils (p. 18)
minerals inorganic nutrients required
in small amounts for health
and normal growth (p. 20)
23
nutrients substances in food or soil that
organisms need to live, stay
healthy, and grow (p. 16)
omnivore an animal that eats both plants
and animals (p. 9)
oxygen an invisible, odorless gas
essential for life that makes
up part of the air (p. 7)
photosynthesis the process by which plants
convert energy from the Sun
into food (p. 5)
protein organic nutrients used by the
body to grow and to repair
cells (p. 19)
respiration the process by which cells
produce energy from stored
sugars (p. 7)
vitamins organic nutrients required
in small amounts for health
and normal growth (p. 20)
Index
agriculture,10 respiration,7, 8, 11, 14
digestion,1115, 17, 19 small intestine, 1214
energy,48, 10, 11, stomach,12, 13, 15
14, 1618, 22 villi,14
food chain, 10 water,58, 11, 12, 21
photosynthesis,58, 14 water vapor, 7, 8, 11, 15
24