B3.3 The Chemistry of Food Flashcards
What are the main compounds that make up the structure of a cell?
Carbohydrates
Lipids
Proteins
What are the main compounds made up of?
Smaller molecules joined together as part of the cell metabolism.
What are carbohydrates?
Fuel that makes all other reactions possible, containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Explain the difference between one-unit and multi-unit carbohydrates.
Some carbohydrates only have one or two units of sugar, such as glucose or sucrose (sugar in everyday life). These are called simple sugars.
Some carbohydrates are many simple sugars bonded together in a chain, like starch or cellulose.
What are lipids?
Lipids are fats (if solid) and oils (if liquid). They are the most efficient energy store in your body and, when combined with other molecules, become very important in cell membranes, as hormones, and in your nervous system.
What are lipids made up of?
Three molecules of fatty acids joined to a molecule of glycerol.
What are proteins?
Proteins are used to build up cells / tissues in the body, and are the basis of all enzymes.
What are proteins made up of?
Long chains of small units called amino acids. There are roughly 20 different amino acids, and different arrangements of them in a chain give you different proteins.
What shapes are proteins, and how does this change?
The long chains are folded and coiled to make 3D shapes, which allow other molecules to fit into them. These bonds are very sensitive to changes in temperature and pH, meaning they can easily be broken, changing the shape of the protein and making is denatured.
What are some functions of proteins in the body?
Acting as: structural components of tissues hormones, like insulin antibodies, which destroy pathogens enzymes, which act as catalysts
