CH 1 Nutrition Flashcards
What senses allow humans to select their food?
The senses that we have leads to the appeal we get from food. This goes well beyond
simply needing energy and nutrients. The senses that we use are sight, smell, taste, and feel. These allow us to select our food based on our knowledge of what is best for us.
Sight is provided by the eyes, and this is the first impression someone gets of the food. The information provided will be about the size, shape, color, shine, texture, and any defects that might be present.
Smell is collected through the human olfactory system. We are actually able to discern between 2,000 and 4,000 different smell, with the highly sensitive people being up in the 10,000’s.
Taste is provided by the taste buds on the tongue, and this is possibly the most influential of all of the senses. The taste buds extend even further into the palate and in the pharynx, also. The saliva added in the mouth adds to our abilities to taste. Around 9,000 – 10,000 taste buds exist in the mouth of humans, and this number gradually decreases as we age.
Feel is the texture of the food. You get this when you touch food, whether you are simply touching with your hands to feel the food or you are touching with your tongue.
Emphasize how mouthfeel and flavor affect our selection.
Mouthfeel is defined as the physical sensations in the mouth that are caused by food items or by drinks. This sensation is different for everyone, and the texture may affect the way that the brain actually processes the tastes and smells of a food. Some people may dislike a tomato, for example, and then completely enjoy the taste of tomato paste. This is just due to the mouthfeel of the food.
Flavor is not an actual sense that the human body is capable of. Instead, it is a combination of the senses of taste, smell, and mouthfeel. This is the reason behind the nose having so much influence over the ability to taste foods. Flavor can be heavily influenced by the presence of fat in the food. This is also true for the presence of sugars and other sweetening products.
What are functional foods?
foods that are specialized for health uses.
They’re chosen, produced, or consumed for reasons regardless of their nutrient and calorie content.
How does our culture affect our diets?
Culture is a mix of the ideas, customs, skills, and the art of a group of people in a period of civilization. All cultures have small variations that make them have different variations of those aforementioned aspects. Part of this involves the person’s ethnicity and their place of birth. Around 25% of the American population is made up of ethnic minorities or were born in another country prior to being in the united states. These factors must all be considered when we are looking at our clients and helping them with nutrition.
How do religious considerations play a role in a person’s diet?
The religions of the world have made their way to America and spread throughout the other continents. So much can vary based on the religious group someone is in. The selection of foods and the way we prepare those foods can be vastly different. Some terms are important to know, like kosher and halal. Kosher means foods are fit for
consumption per the requirements of Jewish law. Halal foods are foods that are defined as acceptable for consumption based on Muslim law.
What does economic status reflect in our diets?
Economic considerations need to be made for food since the availability can change based on the local economic status of a city or a neighborhood. Many Americans actually live in what is known as food deserts, which are urban areas where fresh fruits, veggies, and meats are not readily available. These areas put the foods out of reach financially for people.
What are modified foods?
functional foods that have been modified through the enhancement, enrichment, or fortification of nutrients.
This often takes the form of calcium-fortified juices, folate-enriched breads, and beverages enhanced with energy promoting substances like B vitamins and caffeine.
Conventional foods
functional the foods that are simple, unmodified whole foods like our veggies and fruits.
The conventional foods have been often linked to reductions in the risks for cancer, chronic disease, heart health, and even urinary tract function. Some examples of these are food items like tomatoes, kale, and broccoli.
Medical foods
are functional foods that are intended to be ingested with the supervision of a physician for the specific management of some condition or disease. These will be with food items like canned or bottled supplements that are used to treat conditions like diabetes or liver disease.
Special Dietary foods
Functional foods that have 3 distinctions set by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act:
- They support a dietary need by being a sole item in a diet.
- They supply vitamins, minerals, or other ingredients with the intent being to increase intake.
- They support a dietary need from a physical, physiological, or pathological condition.
What is DRI?
The new Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are a set of four nutrient-based reference values that replace the former Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) in the United States and Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) in Canada
Set of four reference values: Estimated Average Requirements (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), Adequate Intakes (AI) and Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL).
