The role of nutrition in maintaining health and preventing disease.

Health is much more than the absence of disease. It is a positive quality, emphasizing physical, social, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual well being. Optimum nutrition, providing all nutrients in both kind and amount, is the cornerstone of good health and the cutting edge of prevention. The foods we eat, and the nutrients they should provide, are the most important continuing environmental factors influencing our growth, development, functional abilities, and health. Nutritional knowledge, with education of both the general public, and particularly health professionals is critical if we are to succeed in significantly reducing the excessive premature morbidity and mortality from our leading killer diseases - heart disease, cancer, and stroke. How we structure our lifestyles, with proper nutrition, health habit discipline, and exercise programming, will have a great influence on personal health, and will help reduce our current catastrophic medical care expenditures.