Health can be brought about by an imbalance of nutrients, producing either an excess or deficiency which in turn affects body functioning in a cumulative manner. In addition, as mentioned, the type and amount of foods we eat affect the body's hormonal environment directly, and a persistent intake of (a certain amount of) certain foods may induce hormonal imbalance and thereby disease. Moreover, because most nutrients are, in some way or the other, involved in cell-to-cell signalling (e.g. as building block or part of a hormone), deficiency or excess of various nutrients affects hormonal function also indirectly. Thus, because they largely regulate the expression of genes, hormones represent a link between nutrition and how our genes are expressed, i.e. our phenotype. The strength and nature of this link are continually under investigation, but observations especially in recent years have demonstrated a pivotal role for nutrition in hormonal activity and function and therefore in health.
Mineral and/or vitamin deficiency or excess may yield symptoms of diminishing health such as goitre, scurvy, osteoporosis, weak immune system, disorders of cell metabolism, certain forms of cancer, symptoms of premature aging, and poor psychological health (including eating disorders). The list goes on and on; for reference, see Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease by Shils et al.
As of 2005, twelve vitamins and about the same number of minerals are recognized as 'essential nutrients', meaning that they must be consumed and absorbed - or, in the case of vitamin D, alternatively synthesized via UVB radiation - to prevent deficiency symptoms and death. Certain vitamin-like substances found in foods, such as carnitine, have also been found essential to survival and health, but these are not strictly 'essential' to eat because the body can produce them from other compounds. Moreover, thousands of different phytochemicals have recently been discovered in food (particularly in fresh vegetables), which have many discovered and yet to be discovered properties including antioxidant activity (see below). Other essential nutrients include essential amino acids, choline and the essential fatty acids.
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