Perfect food and perfect nutrition

The creation of ideal food seemed important for many reasons, and first of all, because a number of diseases, and the most serious ones, arise from defective nutrition. When consuming high-calorie foods, such common cardiovascular diseases as hypertension, atherosclerosis, etc., diabetes, gastrointestinal tract diseases, liver diseases, etc. develop. Defective nutrition is also the cause of violations of physical and mental development of a person and a decrease in his so-called physiological standards. One example of the negative consequences of improper nutrition in industrial societies is overeating, which results in excess weight and obesity. In particular, more than 20% of the population of our country currently suffers from obesity. This disease, as a rule, is accompanied by metabolic disorders, as well as a whole bunch of diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, and leads to premature aging.

Biochemical analysis of substances necessary for the vital functions of the organism led to the conclusion that the creation of ideal food can ultimately be ensured by industrial means. The transition from agricultural to industrial food production would mean a new greatest revolution in the history of mankind. This was repeatedly emphasized by one of the greatest scientists of our country, A.N. Nesmeyanov, who devoted many years of his life to the problem of creating synthetic food by industrial methods. Finally, it is becoming increasingly obvious that ideal food should be sufficiently individualized.

The scientific definition of ideal food is formulated from the standpoint of the theory of balanced nutrition, which was developed thanks to the flourishing of experimental European science. Ideal food is food that contains in optimal proportions all the components necessary for the constant composition and functioning of the body. Consequently, ideal food does not contain any ballast or harmful substances typical of ordinary natural (i.e., natural) food. This gave rise to attempts to improve and enrich food by removing ballast and toxic compounds, and useful components must be contained in it in optimal proportions.

The idea of an ideal food, composed entirely of the necessary substances in their optimal proportions, seemed especially attractive in the middle of the 20th century. Such a flourishing of this idea was due to many reasons, and first of all, to the rapid development of a number of sciences, in particular chemistry and chemical technology, as well as astronautics with its need for an ideal food. A detailed discussion of these reasons goes far beyond the scope of this chapter (partially this is done in other chapters), but they are understandable to everyone in the first approximation.

The first attempts to create ideal food and ideal nutrition were very encouraging. However, it quickly became clear that the idea was fraught with unexpected complications, which ultimately led to a revision of views not only on ideal food and ideal nutrition, but also on the classical theory of balanced nutrition. As we have repeatedly noted, a new theory of adequate nutrition is currently being formed, which differs significantly from the classical one. The main provisions of both theories were considered in more detail earlier. Here, only those aspects will be covered that are important in connection with the consideration of the problem of ideal food and ideal nutrition, as well as in connection with the real optimization of nutrition of modern man and man in the future.

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