Chapter 1 - Overview of Nutrition Flashcards
Nutrition
The science of the nutrients in foods and their actions within the body. A broader definition includes the study of human behaviors related to food and eating. foods: products derived from plants or animals that
Diet
Diet does not mean a restrictive food plan designed for weight loss. It simply refers to the foods and beverages a person consumes.
Functional foods
Foods that contain bioactive components that provide health benefits beyond their nutrient contributions.
May include whole foods, modified foods, or fortified foods.
Phytochemicals
Manufacturers fortify foods by adding nutrients or phytochemicals that provide health benefits.
Ex. Orange juice fortified with calcium
Energy
The capacity to do work. The energy in food is chemical energy. The body can convert this chemical energy to mechanical, electrical, or heat energy.
Nutrients
Chemical substances are obtained from food and used in the body to provide energy, structural materials, and regulating agents to support the growth, maintenance, and repair of the body’s tissues. Nutrients may also reduce the risks of some diseases.
Six classes of nutrients:
- Carbohydrates
- Lipids
- Proteins
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Water
These are substances that the body uses for the growth, maintenance and repair of its tissues.
Inorganic:
Not containing carbon or pertaining to living things.
Organic
Contain carbon, an element found in all living things. They are therefore called organic compounds (meaning, literally, “alive”).
Essential nutrients:
- “Needed from outside the body”
- Nutrients a person must obtain from food because the body cannot make them for itself in sufficient quantity to meet physiological needs
- also called indispensable nutrients.
- About 40 nutrients are currently known to be essential for human beings. energy-yielding nutrients: the nutrients
Energy-yielding nutrients
The nutrients that break down to yield energy the body can use:
- Carbohydrate
- Fat
- Protein
Sometimes called macronutrients because the body requires them in relatively large amounts
Non energy-yielding nutrients
Vitamins, minerals, and water
Micronutrients required only in small amounts
Calories
Units by which energy is measured.
Energy provided by foods and beverages is measured in kilocalories (1000 calories equal 1 kilocalorie), abbreviated kcalories or kcal.
One kcalorie is the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram (kg) of water 1°C.
The scientific use of the term kcalorie is the same as the popular use of the term calorie.
Energy density
- A measure of the energy a food provides relative to the weight of the food (kcalories per gram).
- Food with high energy density help with weight gain, whereas those with low energy density help with weight loss
Vitamins
Organic essential nutrients are required in small amounts by the body for health.
Do not provide enegery
13 vitamins has its own special roles to play
Facilitate the release of energy from carbohydrate, fat, and protein and participate in numerous other activities.
Vitamins can function only if they are intact, but because they are complex organic molecules, they are vulnerable to destruction by heat, light, and chemical agents.
.
Minerals
Inorganic elements. Some minerals are essential nutrients required in small amounts by the body for health.
Do not yield energy
Only 16 minerals are known to be essential in human nutrition
Indestructible and need not be handled with the special care that vitamins require. Minerals can, however, be bound by substances that interfere with the body’s ability to absorb them.
