Читать книгу Nutrition For Dummies - Carol Ann Rinzler - Страница 14

A reasonable person may assume that an essential nutrient is one you need to sustain a healthy body. But who says a reasonable person thinks like a nutritionist? In nutrition speak, an essential nutrient is a very special thing:

 An essential nutrient can’t be manufactured in the body. You have to get essential nutrients from food or from a nutritional supplement.

 An essential nutrient is linked to a specific deficiency disease, such as scurvy, the deficiency disease that may afflict people who go without sufficient vitamin C for extended periods of time, or kwashiorkor, the protein deficiency disease. A diet rich in the essential nutrient prevents or cures the deficiency disease, but you need the proper nutrient. In other words, you can’t cure a vitamin C deficiency with extra amounts of protein.

Not all nutrients are essential for all species of animals. Take vitamin C (and you should, every day). It’s an essential nutrient for human beings but not for dogs because a dog’s body manufactures the vitamin C it needs. Check out the list of nutrients on a can or bag of dog food. See? No vitamin C. The dog already has the vitamin C it — sorry, he or she — requires.