Nutritive value is the measure of how much a food contributes to meeting the body’s nutritional needs: its content of energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, and beneficial compounds like fibre, weighed against any negative components. Food composition tables quantify it nutrient by nutrient, while diet-level assessment considers how foods combine across meals and days. Processing can raise or lower nutritive value: milling strips B vitamins and minerals from grains, fermentation can improve mineral bioavailability, and fortification deliberately adds value. The concept guides everything from product formulation and school meal standards to famine relief rations. It is distinct from economic or hedonic value: a food can be delicious and expensive while contributing little nourishment, which is precisely the tension at the heart of modern food environments.