Nutriment is food or nourishment that provides what your body needs to grow, heal, and stay healthy. When you eat a balanced meal with vegetables, proteins, and grains, you're giving your body nutriment. The word emphasizes that food serves as fuel and building material for your body.

Scientists and doctors often use this word when discussing what our bodies actually need from food. A slice of cake might taste good, but an apple provides more genuine nutriment because it contains vitamins, fiber, and natural sugars your body can use efficiently. Your muscles, bones, and brain all depend on different kinds of nutriment to function properly.

You might see it in biology textbooks discussing how plants draw nutriment from the soil, or how animals in the wild seek nutriment from their natural food sources. While “food” is the everyday word, nutriment highlights the essential, life-sustaining qualities of what we eat.