Diet (nutrition)

Lore & Background

Diet encompasses the total food intake of a person or organism, often tailored for health or weight management. Complete nutrition requires vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, and food energy from carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Dietary choices are influenced by personal tastes, ethical reasons, culture, religion, education, income, and mental health. Exclusionary diets, such as vegetarianism and veganism, avoid certain foods for health, moral, or environmental reasons, and can provide adequate nutrition with attention to specific nutrients like protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.

Reader's Guide

Diet is central to human health and longevity. A healthy diet can improve mental and physical health and help manage chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Dietary recommendations vary by country but emphasize balanced, culturally appropriate eating. The DASH diet is an example used in treatment of chronic conditions. Weight management diets alter energy balance to promote weight loss or gain, but rapid changes can be harmful. Meat consumption, particularly processed meat, is linked to cancer and cardiovascular disease, leading to recommendations to limit red meat. Environmental concerns drive sustainable dietary choices, such as reducing meat and dairy. Religious and cultural diets, like Kosher, Halal, and vegetarianism in Hinduism and Jainism, shape food practices. The Mediterranean diet and vegetarianism are common among Christians and associated with better health outcomes.

Did You Know?

• In 2025, only 30.8% of children aged 6–23 months consumed a minimally diverse diet.
• Processed meat is classified by the IARC as a cause of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer.
• The food system accounts for about one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Jains are strictly vegetarian and also avoid consumption of any roots such as potatoes and carrots.