Literally, "Ying" means "seeking", "keeping" means "keeping in good health" and "nutrition" means "seeking for keeping in good health". Health preservation is a term used in traditional Chinese medicine, which means to maintain, regulate and support life. Describing "nutrition" concretely in the language of modern science can be said: nutrition is a process in which the body ingests food, digests, absorbs, metabolizes and excretes it, uses nutrients and other beneficial components in food to build tissues and organs, regulates various physiological functions, and maintains normal growth and development, disease prevention and health care.

According to expert Li's definition, nutrition refers to the process description of the human body taking in effective components through decomposition, transportation, absorption and metabolism.