Nutrition is about eating a healthy and balanced diet. Food and drink provide the energy and nutrients you need to be healthy. Understanding these nutrition terms may make it easier for you to make better food choices. Nutritional stages are ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, assimilation, and excretion. 

Dietetics is defined as ‘the application of the science of nutrition to the human being in health and disease.’ However, the term ‘dietitian,’ used to describe a practitioner of dietetics, was in use long before the science of nutrition had become an accepted discipline. The profession of dietetics is a relatively young one, first formalized in the United States in 1917 with the foundation of the American Dietetic Association (ADA). In the United Kingdom, the first dietitians were nurses and the first dietetic department opened in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in 1924.

Food Science is the study of the physical, biological, and chemical makeup of food; the causes of food deterioration; and the concepts underlying food processing. Food scientists and technologists apply scientific disciplines including chemistry, engineering, microbiology, and nutrition to the study of food to improve the safety, nutrition, wholesomeness and availability of food. Food technology is the application of food science to the selection, preservation, processing, packaging, distribution, and use of safe food. Related fields include analytical chemistry, biotechnology, engineering, nutrition, quality control, and food safety management.