Pillar of Wellness 1:
Nutrition and bodily ingestion (causative)
Interestingly, we could not find a definition of nutrition on any of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) or the National Health Service (NHS) websites. Perhaps it is seen as implicit, but a lack of clarity and understanding may well be part of our problem. According to Wikipedia, ‘Nutrition is the science that interprets the nutrients and other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. It includes ingestion, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism and excretion.’
Many people talk of nutrition when discussing the importance of health, but rarely do we recognise the other modes of ingestion: our skin is not an impermeable membrane and our mouths and noses do not filter out noxious fumes or micro particles. Bodily ingestion therefore includes eating, drinking, absorption and inhalation of the following:
food;
drink;
non-foods;
additives;
chemicals;
other substances, such as dust particles and micro-plastics;
medication and drugs;
cosmetics such as beauty and personal care products;
consumer goods such as home care and cleaning products;
industrial products such as fertilisers, pesticides and fuel;
manufacturing, processing and packaging chemicals.