Food is essential to life. Absent adequate nutrition, depletion in both fat and fat-free mass leads to detrimental effects on an individual’s health, ultimately progressing
to death. Moreover, coexisting disease causes catastrophic effects on nutritional health, and poor nutritional health leads to acute and chronic disease. The magnitude
of nutritional depletion from any cause depends to a large extent on the nutrient reservoir accumulated over time in each individual. In our increasingly older population,
nutritional health is more marginal and the magnitude of the effect on nutritional health is amplified.