Meaning & use
nutrition
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The process by which the body takes in and uses food for health, growth, and energy.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'good nutrition', not 'a nutrition' or 'nutritions'.
Patterns
- good/poor nutrition
- nutrition for something
- get nutrition from something
Good nutrition is especially important for growing children.
The clinic offers advice on nutrition for older adults.
Without proper nutrition, the body cannot repair itself well.
noununcountable
The scientific study of how food affects the body and health.
Grammar: Uncountable and often used before another noun: a nutrition course, nutrition research.
Patterns
- study nutrition
- a nutrition expert
- nutrition research
She studied nutrition at university and now works in a hospital.
The report is based on the latest nutrition research.
He teaches nutrition to nursing students.
Common combinations
- good nutrition
- Athletes need good nutrition to perform at their best.
- poor nutrition
- Poor nutrition in childhood can affect growth.
- nutrition facts
- Check the nutrition facts on the package before you buy it.
- a nutrition expert
- The school invited a nutrition expert to talk to parents.
- proper nutrition
- Proper nutrition helps the body fight infection.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nourishment
- More literary and focuses on the food itself that feeds you, not the whole process or science.
- diet
- Means the specific foods a person usually eats; it does not refer to the body's use of food or the scientific field.
Opposites
Word family
- nutritious adjective
- Describing food that contains substances your body needs.
- nutritional adjective
- Relating to nutrition, often before nouns like 'value' or 'needs'.
- nutritionist noun
- A person who is trained to give advice about food and health.
- nutrient noun
- A substance in food that the body needs to live and grow.
Commonly confused: nutrition or diet?
nutrition vs diet
Diet is the set of foods someone eats, often for weight loss; nutrition is the process or science of using food.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
'Nutrition' is uncountable, so it cannot take 'a' or a plural, and 'advice' is also uncountable, so 'some advice' is correct. 'A nutrition' and 'nutritions' are wrong because uncountable nouns have no plural, and 'an advice' is wrong for the same reason.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nutrition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.