---
title: "Nutrients in a Healthy Diet"
description: "Identify seven dietary components: carbohydrates, lipids (fats), proteins, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and water. Explain their sources and roles, including which supply energy."
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/nutrients-in-a-healthy-diet-mt_sDmrVCfzqt
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/nutrients-in-a-healthy-diet-mt_sDmrVCfzqt.md
retrieved: 2026-11-12
---

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# Nutrients in a Healthy Diet

Identify seven dietary components: carbohydrates, lipids (fats), proteins, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and water. Explain their sources and roles, including which supply energy.

Subject: Science · Area: Organisms & Life Processes · Ages 11 to 13
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/nutrients-in-a-healthy-diet-mt_sDmrVCfzqt

## Ready when they can

- Names the seven dietary components used in this model and gives a source for each
- Explains the roles of dietary components, including protein for growth and repair
- Identifies carbohydrates, fats and proteins as energy sources; distinguishes them from vitamins, minerals and water, and explains that gut microbes break down some fibre

## Lesson: Nutrients in a Healthy Diet

Animals get nutrients from food. Your body uses nutrients for energy, growth and repair. This lesson uses seven dietary components: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water. These describe parts of a diet, not seven separate kinds of food. One food can contain several components.

*(drawing: These components have different roles, and some roles overlap.)*

Bread, rice and pasta supply carbohydrates, a main source of energy. Oils, butter and nuts supply fats, also called lipids. Fats provide energy. Stored body fat holds energy for later and helps cushion organs. Foods are mixtures: wholegrain bread supplies both carbohydrates and fibre.

Protein supplies material for building and repairing body tissues, including muscles and skin. Meat, fish, eggs and beans are protein sources. Protein can also supply energy. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins all provide energy, even though protein is often discussed mainly for its growth and repair role.

Vitamins and minerals do not themselves supply food energy. Vitamin C from oranges and peppers supports wound healing. Calcium from milk and yoghurt helps build and maintain bones. Some vitamins help release energy from food, but are not fuel. Water from drinks and foods such as cucumber supplies no energy. It carries dissolved substances around the body and helps cells work.

*(drawing: These foods and drinks supply several components. Each box names just one of them.)*

Fibre from wholegrains, beans, fruit and vegetables adds bulk and helps waste move through the gut. Humans do not digest fibre like starch. Gut microbes break down some fibre, and this provides a little energy. Human digestion and microbial breakdown are different processes, so saying that humans do not digest fibre like starch does not mean that nothing in the gut can break it down.

**Recap.** A varied diet supplies seven dietary components. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins provide energy. Components can have several jobs, and one food can supply several components.

*Lesson, questions and study cards written for this dataset.*

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Animal Nutrition](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animal-nutrition-mt_E1wR8IfCV6)

## Opens up

- [Digestion & Enzymes](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/digestion-and-enzymes-mt_0NlbulkB5P)
- [Reading a Food Label](https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/reading-a-food-label-mt_1oQ_cPb_-T)
- [Calculating Dietary Energy](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/calculating-dietary-energy-mt_83KkBCtVyR)
- [Diet Imbalance & Deficiency](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/diet-imbalance-and-deficiency-mt_NZHFcEtTyI)