Why do Living Organisms Need Food? Here Are Some Interesting Facts Your Kids will Love

Food is the essential and basic component of our life. It provides us with all the essential nutrients like fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, proteins, etc., and we already know that to stay alive, we need food. But the question here arises, why do living organisms need food?  All the nutrients present in food provide energy to the body of living organisms which is further used for our body’s metabolism, and our body functions properly. We will find answers to this question in detail below.

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How Food Helps Our Metabolism?

All living organisms need food to stay alive, grow, and get energy. When food is consumed, our body starts functioning, and our organs start functioning when food and energy are supplied.

Here are some points why organisms need food to help our body’s metabolism:

Points – Why Do Organisms Need Food?

#. To get energy and to perform life processes, organisms need to take food.

#. To perform life processes like respiration, digestion, excretion, blood circulation, and reproduction, organisms need energy and nutrients.

#. Food intake also helps to develop immunity to fight against infectious diseases.

#. The blood of the living organisms also absorbs the vital nutrients from food, and it plays a major role in healing the wound and curing diseases that attack the organisms.

Hence, food plays a superior role in proper functioning, maintaining, and developing living organisms.

Living things need food to grow, as it contains the nutrients which our body needs to replace worn-out cells, stay healthy, and stay strong. Every living organism needs food for the same reasons. Organisms like plants and animals have special organs or parts to absorb the nutrients from the food we eat.

Let’s dig into details on plants and animals a little more.

Plants

Plants use different nutrients like sugars, fats, and proteins to grow and stay healthy. Plants are self-reliable. They produce these nutrients themselves with the help of sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water. Plants are essential to the animals that eat these plants as they pass self-produced nutrients.

Plants also absorb many more nutrients like salts, potassium, starch, minerals, nitric acids, and phosphates from soils. When living organisms die and rot in the ground, the nutrients in the dead organisms end up in the soil and get dissolved in it.

Animals

As we have discussed above, animals also need nutrients to survive, and some of them get it from eating plants, whereas some get it by eating other animals.

Animals that get nutrients by eating other animals are called carnivores. Such animals are often predators. Aquatic animals (such as fish) eat tiny water insects, plankton, worms, etc. and larger animals eat other small animals.

In some other cases, organisms like fungi get their food by breaking down nutrients in organic matter.

Reasons Why Living Organisms Need Food

Let’s now discuss in detail the reasons why living organisms need food.

Organisms need food because of the vital nutrients present in them. Those nutrients are important to perform the different bodily functions properly. Different essential body functions are needed to perform properly, and those are as follows: –

#1. Respiration

Each organism performs different functions through the cells present in their body, and for this objective, it needs energy which we get from food. Our body performs different functions from the food as it is the stored energy released during respiration. Respiration is how we inhale the air rich in oxygen and exhale the air with carbon dioxide. The air we inhale, oxygen, is then transported to all the body parts and ultimately to each cell.

The oxygen we inhale is brought into play by the cell for respiration. The food we eat is then broken down into the cells of an organism with the release of energy, which is called cellular respiration.

#2. Digestion

Though we know that we need food to get energy, what we eat is a complex substance as the components of food such as carbohydrates are complex which can not be consumed directly. Hence, they need to be broken down into simpler substances. Therefore, digestion is the process of breaking down complex substances into simpler substances. There are different methods of digesting food, which is, physical method- it includes chewing and grinding of food in the mouth, and the chemical method- it is the addition of digestive juices by the body itself.

#3 Transportation

Basically, the word transport means to carry things from one place to another. So is the case with living organisms. Organisms need nutrients to carry out different life processes, but what is the use of nutrients if it gets absorbed at one place only. Therefore, the body also needs to transport the nutrients from one part of the body to another. They also need to transport and remove the waste products produced during different functions of the body. All in all, transportation is the process in which the material is absorbed in one organ and is then carried to another organ of the body.

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#4 Excretion

As we know, the food we consume gives us the energy to perform different functions, one of which is excretion. The body of living organisms also produces waste like carbon dioxide, urea, sweat, faeces, etc., during different body functions that need to be excreted from the body. Living organisms have different organs to perform different functions. Similarly, the human body has lungs, kidneys, and sweat glands to excrete the waste. Therefore, we can say that excretion is the removal of waste materials produced by the cells of living organisms.

#5 Reproduction

All living organisms have the potential to reproduce during their lifespan. The process of producing the new organism from the parent organism is called reproduction. They produce new organisms that are copies of their parents. The process of reproduction is one of the important life processes which also requires energy. Therefore, food is required for the process of reproduction as well. Reproduction is essential for the continuity of the species, as it increases the number of members of a species.

The above mentioned are some of the basic functions which living organisms perform, and these are the answers to why do living organisms need food. Living organisms require energy to perform these functions properly, and the energy can be obtained from a well-balanced diet only.

Overall, we can say that food is the basic component of life as it is composed of different nutrients and proteins. It is required by every living organism to obtain nutrients to gain the energy required by the body to perform different functions in a much more efficient manner.

Conclusion

These were the reasons why organisms need food, which will help your kid understand the need for food by different living organisms. We, at the Real School Of Montessori, ensure the perfect and comprehensive development of your kids.

With Real School Of Montessori, you can ensure the best education for your child and secure their way to a brighter tomorrow at the same time. Forget conventional learning; we believe in one-on-one mentoring and innovative thinking through project-based learning. Visit our website and nudge your kid towards the new normal of the education sector.