Malnutrition Flashcards
why is nutrition important?
- Essential to support growth, maintenance and repair tissues
- Common health problems can be prevented with balanced diet
what type of energy does carbohydrates provide?
Provide readily available source of chemical energy to generate ATP to drive metabolic reactions
what are the different types of carbohydrates?
- determined by number of monomers
- polysaccharides (glycogen, starch, cellulose)
- disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, maltose)
- monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose, deoxyribose, ribose)
what are triglycerides and how much energy do they provide?
- Triglycerides-most plentiful lipid, more than twice as much energy as carbohydrate or protein
- each contains a glycerol molecule with 3 fatty acids.
- They can be saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated
what type of lipids can the body not produce?
essential fatty acids
what are phospholipids?
consists of glycerol backbone with 2 fatty acid chains and also a phosphate group (amphipathic), found in cell membranes
what are the 2 main nutritional requirements?
macronutrients
micronutrients
what are macronutrients?
Macronutrients-needed in large quantities for energy and organic building materials
-carbohydrates, proteins, lipids
what are micronutrients?
needed in smaller quantities for special biochemical functions
-minerals, trace elements, vitamins
what are proteins?
Large range of function and more complex
Made up of amino acids
Amino acids joined by peptide bonds
what are the functions of proteins?
- structural (collagen in bone)
- regulatory (hormones like insulin)
- contractile (myosin and actin in muscle cells)
- immunological (antibodies)
- transport (haemoglobin)
- catalytic (enzymes)
give examples of proteins?
- Steroids
- cholesterol
- bile salts
- adrenocortical hormones
- sex hormones
- eicosanoids
- lipoproteins
what are eicosanoids?
lipids derived from fatty acids called arachidonic acid, sublasses=prostaglandins and leukotrienes, involved in inflammatory reactions, gastric protection, airway calibre, clotting
what is the function of lipoproteins?
carry triglycerides and cholesterol around the body
what are minerals and give examples?
- Inorganic elements
- Ions in solutions, in combination with each other or in combination with organic compounds
- Calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, iodide are in the body in quantities greater than 5 grams
what are vitamins and how are they absorbed?
- Organic nutrients not synthesised by the body but are vital for metabolism and maintenance of growth
- Most are coenzymes
- Do not provide energy
- Water soluble are absorbed along with water (B1, B2, B6, B12, C, folate, niacin) or fat soluble which are absorbed with other dietary lipids in small intestine and dependent on bile salts (A, D, E, K)
what are trace elements?
- Inorganic elements in body in quantities less than 5 grams
- Manganese, copper, cobalt, zinc, fluoride, selenium, chromium
which vitamins are antioxidants and what do they do?
C, E and beta-carotene act asantioxidants, they inactivate oxygen free radicals to prevent damage to DNA, cell membranes and structures in the cell
what is basal energy expenditure?
how much of this do people usually consume to stay at steady state?
energy used at rest for metabolism
1.5x basal energy expenditure