Exam I Flashcards
What is the ORAC value?
The ORAC value names antioxidants based off of their ability to move or slow down oxidative processes and repair free radical damage, particularly in cells.
What are antioxidants capable of?
Reversing cell death, cell dysfunction and DNA dysfunction.
How can you measure an ORAC value in your body?
Blood test
How do carbohydrates serve the body?
Provide glucose to cells as primary energy source, manurfacture genetic material (DNA), maintain health of digestive system (through fiber)
What do carbohydrates do?
Carbohydrates digest and absorb into the bloodstream, and breakdown glucose, which is the prime energy source of cells.
Name the macronutrients found in cell membranes.
Proteins, lipids and carbohydrates.
What component of a carbohydrate aids in cell signaling?
The carbohydrate tail on a glycoprotein
What sources are not the best choices of food when it comes to carbohydrates?
White and yellow foods
white bread, pasta, bananas, corn
What foods are good choices when it comes to carbohydrates?
Fruits and vegetables
sweet potatoes, mangos, papayas, oranges, green leafy foods, avocados, etc.
What does a protein contain in terms of its chemical composition?
Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur atoms
What functions do proteins carry out?
They are a source of energy, provide major structural material in the body (muscle), allows humans to move, create antibodies for infections, hemoglobin, and are important for normal heart and liver functioning.
Name some high protein containing foods.
Nuts, beans, eggs Milk: rice, almond, soy, cow Meat Avocado, fish, banana, grapes, cherries, dates, chia seeds, spirulina (has all essential amino acids) Protein powders: whey, pea Brown rice, hemp
What chemical composition makes up carbohydrates?
Carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms
What chemical composition makes up lipids?
Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms
What do lipids do?
Provide large amounts of energy, are components of cell membranes, regulate cellular processes and cell signaling, and assist with the development and structure of the brain, nervous and reproductive systems.
Lipids are capable of providing “more bang for your buck” in terms of energy, so why are they not the main energy source in the body?
It is more difficult to break down in the body - they are not energy efficient.
Name a few lipid containing foods.
Olive oil, fish, meats, avocados, nuts, eggs
How much weight does water make up in the human body?
~60%
What does water do within the body?
Transports nutrients, gases and wastes products, regulates body temperature, protects internal organs from damage
What chemical composition makes up vitamins?
They consist of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms.
Some may contain phosphorus and sulfur
What are the functions of vitamins? What do they aid in?
Normal cell function, growth and development, support chemical reactions, protect body from damaging effects of toxic compounds, assist in using energy from carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. Assist in disease prevention and treatment.
What can be said that is true about vitamins?
Each vitamin has a specific function in the body
How is Vitamin D beneficial?
It has tremendous immune properties. It’s what stimulates immune cells to produce neuropeptides, which are natural antibiotics.
Name water soluble vitamins.
Vitamin C and B vitamins
Name fat soluble vitamins.
Vitamins A, D, E, K
Where can minerals be found?
Naturally occur in the earth
How many minerals are considered essential nutrients?
16 minerals
True of False. Minerals are used directly for energy.
FALSE. They are involved in energy-producing reactions.
Functions vary by specific minerals. Name a few of these functions.
Some provide matrix (functional unit of bone) for various major structural component in the body (calcium)
Help regulate a variety of body processes, such as water balance (sodium)
Faciliate chemical reactions (Selenium)
They may also have possible roles in preventing and treating disease.
Define energy.
Energy is defined as the capacity of a physical system to do work
What is adenosine triphophate (ATP)?
Chemical the body uses when it needs to perform work
How many of your daily calories should be from carbohydrates, according to the AMDR?
45-60%
How many of your daily calories should come from proteins, according to the AMDR?
10-35%
How many of your daily calories should come from lipids, according to the AMDR?
20-35%
What are morbidity rates?
The number of illnesses in a given period of time
What are mortality rates?
The number of deaths in a given period of time
What is longevity? What indicators of health impact this?
Longevity is the life expectancy at birth.
Indicators include: stress, diet, exercise, smoking or non-smoking, etc.
What are the three big chronic degenerative diseases that are, for the most part, preventable, and are the top three ways we, as Americans, are most likely to do from?
Cancer, diabetes, and heart disease
What number are we in terms of the infant mortality rate?
33 in the world
True or False. Diseases are infectious or noninfectious
True
What are infectious diseases caused by?
Pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites
Define etiology
Cause or origin of a disease
Name two categories of noninfectious disease.
Autoimmune disease and chronic, degenerative disease
Define an autoimmune disease
The immune system attacks an otherwise healthy part of the body
What is a chronic, degenerative disease?
Noninfectious disease that develops slowly over time
Name examples of chronic disease that have replaced infectious diseases
Heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, stroke
In 1900, what were people in the United States most likely to die from? Are these infectious or noninfectious diseases?
What are they most likely to die from now? State whether these three diseases or infectious or noninfectious.
Tuberculosis, pneumonia, diarrhea, bronchitis and diptheria. They are noninfectious diseases.
Cancer, diabetes, heart disease. They are noninfecious diseases.
What are the top three lifestyle risk factors associated with heart disease, cancer, and stroke?
Tobacco use, lack of physical activity, range of poor dietary habits
What can we do to make healthy lifestyle changes?
Increase our dietary changes, increase our activity and decrease our use of any toxic substances.
Decrease chronic stress
Just how unhealthy is chronic stress?
It is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.
How has modern society shifted in terms of its nutrition?
Shift from undernutrition to over-nutrition as societies adopt more industrialized ecomonies.
What does over-nutrition do?
Cause people to be overweight and is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases.
What percentage of U.S. adults are overweight or obese?
66%
How many deaths are caused annually from obesity?
280,000 deaths
How many Americans have cardiovascular disease?
64 million
How many Americans have high blood pressure?
50 million Americans
How many Americans have Type 2 diabetes?
> 1 million
How many deaths in the U.S. are related to cancer?
25% :(
What was the Smart Choice program? Why did it fall apart?
The FDA and the USDA introduced this program to try to inform consumers of “healthier choices” when it came to everyday foods like cereals, granola bars, popsicles.
It fell part because the program was fraudulent.
What is nutritional status?
The health of a person related to how well their diet meets their individual nutrient requirements.
What is malnutrition?
Poor nutritional status caused by either undernutrition or overnutrition
What is undernutrition (nutritional deficiency)?
Inadequate intake of nutrient and/or energy
What is overnutrition?
Excessive intake of a nutrient and/or energy
What is primary malnutrition? What is secondary malnutrition?
Primary: caused by inadequate diet
Secondary: due to factors besides diet (illness, drug-nutrient interaction - think steroids impacting hormones like cortisol)
How can we decide what an adequate nutrient intake looks like for each person? In other words: what do we base this off of?
Different people need different amounts of nutrients: age, gender, genetics, physical activity and state health
What is nutritional adequacy ?
The required amount of nutrients needed to meet physiological needs
What are the ABCD’s of nutritional status assessment?
Anthropometric measurements
Biochemical measures
Clinical assessment
Dietary assessment
What is osteoporosis?
Weakening of the bone as people get older and some people are more genetically driven to this than others.
What is a food sensitivity?
It’s a food allergy or a food that elicits some sort of reaction
What are the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs)?
The minimum amount of nutrition needed in order to avoid illness for 97% of the population.
What is adequate intake (AI)?
The recommended average daily intake level based on estimates of nutrient intake
What do the RDA’s not cover/consider?
Disease states, environmental pollutants, genetic metabolic defects,
What do the ABCD’s of Nutritional Status Assessment stand for?
Anthropometric measurements, biochemical measures, clinical assessment, dietary assessment
Define anthropometric.
Measuring the human body by height and weight (an example) compared to reference standards.
What does AMDR stand for?
Acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges
What does a good basis for a food pyramid include?
Fruits, vegetables, grains, lean meats and beans, dairy products, and oil.
This is a question Dr. Sayer said would be on the exam (from her audio slides)
Macromolcules consist of thousands of atoms bonded together. These all have carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. What distinguishes protein from carbohydrates and lipids in this regard?
Protein also has sulfur and nitrogen
In order to achieve or facilitate a maximum chemical reactivity, we use _______, which are an assortment of vitamins and minerals that play a role in chemical reactions.
cofactors
Define metabolism.
The entirety of chemical activity going on within the body.
Define an anabolic pathway.
Build large molecules.
Define a catabolic pathway.
Break down large molecules.
Metabolism can be divided into two states. What are they?
Absorptive: (fed) state is anabolic
Post-absorptive (fasted) state is catabolic
What are the stages of metabolism?
Digestion, anabolism (where nutrients are built into lipids, proteins and glycogen), and oxidative breakdown: nutrients are catabolized
What is the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)?
A measurement based on age, gender, height and weight.
In a healthy person without diabetes, glucose is not necessarily a problem. Most of the glucose will go into cells for the production of AtP. But what happens when a healthy person has a huge amount of glucose in their blood?
Liver will store the extra glucose as glycogen.
What hormone decreases blood glucose levels after you have a high glucose meal?
Insulin, which is released by beta cells in pancreas
Name a few hormones that will increase blood glucose levels.
Glucagon, epinephrine, cortisol, thyroid hormones
What are the metabolic effects of glucagon.
Increases hepatic glycogenolysis, increases gluconeogenesis, increases amino acid transport, increases ketogenesis.
True or False. Most vegetables and fruits are alkaline.
True.
Why is intrinsic factor important in the lower part of the small intestine (ileum)?
It binds to B12 and then absorbs it. Without intrinsic factor, B12 cannot be absorbed
What stimulates the production and release of gastric juice?
Gastrin
What protein is the only protein-digestingn proenzyme in the stomach?
Pepsinogen
What is ELISA? Describe the process of performing this test.
A blood-enzyme test.
Take a portion of patient’s blood, place into 80 tubes. Each tube has a peptide form of a certain food (dairy, wheat, citrus, shrimp, etc.) Run another 80 on environmental things like molds and odors.
One of the wells has one particular antigen coded at the bottom of it and when you add a small drop of patient’s blood in the well, the specific antibody to that antigen will bind. If there is a reaciton, the color will change.
The depth of color is on a scale from 0-3. 0 is no reaction, 3 is very strong reaction.
