The Diet

A diet is the amount of food and beverages that is provided to an organism in a period of 24 hours, regardless of whether or not it covers their nutrition needs, in summary is the set of nutrients that are absorbed after the usual consumption of food .

Popularly, and in the case of humans, diet is mistakenly associated with the practice of restricting food intake to obtain only the necessary nutrients and energy, and thus achieve or maintain a certain body weight.

The human diet is considered balanced if it provides the nutrients and energy in such quantities that allow maintaining the functions of the organism in a context of physical and mental health.1 This balanced diet is particular to each individual and adapts to their sex, age, weight and health situation. However, there are several factors (geographical, social, economic, pathological, etc.) that influence the balance of the diet.

Diets (quantities and varieties of food to be consumed), are used for the treatment and prevention of various pathologies (diet therapy) and to adapt the diet to various physiological