NUTRITION The science of nutrition is constantly moving forward, almost in spite of itself. Plants need people to supply them with carbon dioxide so they can grow, and humans need the oxygen and nutrients plants give off to live.  Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use the energy of sunlight to convert the elements from the ground and carbon dioxide from the air into the nutrients we people live on.          Photosynthesis operates like this: Every plant absorbs carbon dioxide through its leaves, water and elements such as nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorous through its roots, and sunlight by way of its leaves that enter small areas of the plants cells called pigments, such as chlorophyll and carotene.        The plant uses the energy it derives from the sunlight to divide the water into its components of carbon and oxygen.  The plant releases oxygen through its leaves for anxious humans, while it uses the remaining elements to go about producing even more nutrients. Hydrogen combines with some of the remaining carbon dioxide to form the simple sugar called glucose.  This glucose is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and is the product our bodies use to make energy.  A portion of this glucose remains in various areas of the plants until we eat them.  Some glucose bonds with other carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to form more complex sugars such as sucrose, which also can remain in various areas of the plants. Another portion of this glucose combines with other carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to form compounds called lipids (usually called fats) and can remain in various areas of the plants, such as the seeds, nuts, and fruits.  A portion of glucose can mix with other carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, and with some of the minerals it has brought in from the soil such as chlorine and/or cobalt to form substances called vitamins, which also remain in the plant. A portion of the glucose mixes with the minerals nitrogen, and sometimes sulfur, that it brought in from the soil to form substances called proteins.  The newly developed proteins become active and some of them change their molecular structures.  The proteins then hook on to other minerals that the plant drew up from the soil to form substances called enzymes.  These enzymes are catalysts or substances that speed up biochemical reactions in cells.  Enzymes are very important for the plant because they allow the plant to metabolize and mature.  Enzymes are important for us because when the plants mature, we can eat them.  If we eat our food raw (without cooking and killing the enzymes), these enzymes in the food help us break down the food instead of requiring our body organs to produce the same enzymes.  Why make our bodies work any harder than they have to in the digestion process?  So, in eating raw foods, full of bioactive enzymes, vitamins, and protein, we save our bodies an unnecessary burden.