Midterm 1 Flashcards
What is significant about pomegranates?
• Been on earth since the biblical times
• Contains natural aromatase inhibitors: makes things multiply less quickly
- In the lab, the multiplication of cultured breast cancer cells is reduced when bathed in pomegranate juice
- We don’t know if this has an effect on humans, but advertisers blow this information out of proportion
What is beta carotene?
An antioxidant
What is significant about apricot seeds?
They contain laetrile, which was advertised as a cancer remedy
What do flax seeds contain?
- omega-3 fats
- lignans
- fiber (soluble and insoluble)
What are omega-3 fats?
- Linked with reduction of risk of cardiac problems
- Not as biologically active as in fish
What are lignans?
- They have beneficial estrogen-like properties
- Anything that has those properties is controversial, as it depends on the dosage
What is fiber?
Indigestible component of foods, passes through to the colon
What is the risk of breast cancer is reduced by?
phytoestrogen intake but only in premenopausal overweight women
What is significant about eggs?
- Linked with heart disease because the yolk contains lots of cholesterol, but this is controversial
- There was a study in China suggesting the opposite
What’s in blood cholesterol?
Part dietary cholesterol, but mostly dietary saturated fats, trans fats and sugar
What is significant about donuts?
• Made of many trans fats because they’re stable; the oil doesn’t break down easily
- Raises levels of cholesterol
What is oat bran?
• Said to have lowered cholesterol levels; eaten by horses
• Contains beta glucan, a soluble fiber, which helps with reducing blood cholesterol
- You have to eat 3 grams of beta glucan a day = a cup of cooked oat bran = 3-5 muffins = 1.5 cups of oatmeal
What is significant about the preservatives in bread?
• If it didn’t have preservatives in it, it would go bad very quickly
- The preservative is called calcium propionate
• Baguettes don’t have preservatives, so a lot of Frenchmen carry them under their arms (a natural preservative)
What is resveratrol?
Found in wine and can have an effect in the reduction of risk of heart disease
What is a carcinogen?
Capable of causing cancer, found in alcohol
What is significant about beyond meat?
• Beyond meat has a much higher sodium content
- In terms of nutrition, there is no superiority
- Environmentally, beyond meat is better
What is significant about fruit juice?
It has a lot of sugar, but you also get nutrients from it
What is produced when we grill or charcoal something?
Polycyclic hydrocarbons and advanced glycation end products
Why are processed meats bad for you?
Consuming an average of 60 grams of processed meat a day increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer by 50%
What is used to make packaging oil proof?
We use polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) so it doesn’t seep into the food
How can calcium be properly absorbed?
It has to have vitamin D
Every __ seconds, someone dies from hunger
3.6 seconds
What is communal reinforcement?
the process by which a claim becomes a strong belief, through repeated assertion by members of a community
How is a theory useful?
• A theory can be useful to predict what will happen in the future
- To overcome a theory, you need to make a hypothesis about a certain part of the theory
What is simultaneous discovery?
Discovery of the same thing in different places
What was the first peer-reviewed journal?
the journal of the chemical society (UK)
What is a full paper?
a complete description of research findings
What are notes?
a short description of current research findings that are considered less urgent or important
What are communications?
a short description of important current research findings
What is the peer review process?
- Starts with a researcher that has to contend with an editor
- Most researchers don’t get their work published in a journal of choice, the accept pile is slim
- You have to contend with one or more referees, who judge the work and edit quickly
- Referee sends feedback to editor, who sends those to the researcher
- Then a decision is made by the editor (influenced by referee)
- If it is not accepted, the paper is sent to another journal, which isn’t very good for the researcher’s reputation
- The referee’s identity does not become known by the researcher
How did publications use to be done?
by writing them on punch cards, which eventually made their way to the library
What is methods reproducibility?
you have to spell out exactly what you used and how you did the experiment
What is results producibility?
can someone else redo the experiment and get the same results?
What is robustness and generalizability?
converging lines of evidence
- We don’t value it very much; we value numbers more (ex: money)
What is the reason behind half the retractions in publications?
errors and lack of reproducibility
4 out of 10 000 papers are retracted
What are observational (epidemiological) studies?
studies where the assignment of subjects is not controlled by the investigator
What are case control studies?
compare people with a specific condition (case) to other people who are otherwise similar except for that condition (control)
What are vitamins?
nutrients needed in small amounts to prevent deficiency diseases
- there are 13
Which vitamins are fat soluble?
A, D, E, K
Which vitamins are water soluble?
B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12
Why is bone broth not capable of sustaining life?
it is low in vitamins
What is beri beri?
a disease caused by a nutritional deficiency and a change in diet form brown rice to white rice
Who coined the term for “vitamin” for “vital amines”?
Casimir Funk
Who was asked to undertake an investigation of a disease called pellagra?
Joseph Goldberger
Explain the significance of the extraction of niacin (vitamin B3) from food
- Helped with preventing pellagra (vitamin B3 deficiency)
- Can be made in the body from tryptophan
- Niacin reduces cholesterol; main goal is to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol
- Statins do this much better than niacin does, but niacin has more of the advantage of raising HDL (good) cholesterol
- It also lowers triglycerides, fats in the blood that can increase the risk of heart disease
- But dose needed is high and causes facial flushing
What are B vitamins involved in?
• B vitamins are involved in energy production by the body but are not “pep” pills
- Energy supplements usually contain B vitamins but this is just marketing
What is vitamin B6 deficiency?
- Weakness, sleeplessness, peripheral neuropathy, personality changes, dermatitis, red tongue
- Very high doses with cause some neuropathies
What is vitamin B12?
- Involved in metabolism and formation of red blood cells and maintaining the CNS
- We are not capable of synthesizing it; only bacteria
- Contains cyanide
- We need vitamin B12 from an outside source (ex: eating animal products, no plants)
What increases vitamin B12 deficiency?
Vegan diet, Crohn’s disease, and celiac disease increase risk of B12 deficiency
- So they should supplement it
Poor vitamin B12 absorption may occur in those who:
- use alcohol excessively
- take antibiotics
- use stomach-acid controlling drugs (including H-2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors)
- take metformin to treat type 2 diabetes
What is pernicious anemia?
type of vitamin B12 deficiency caused by lack of intrinsic factor produced by the stomach
What are the most common side effects of vitamin B12 deficiency?
Weakness, tingling, numbness, smooth red tongue, palpitations, shortness of breath, depression, memory loss
Explain the controversy around folic acid
- During pregnancy, folic acid can reduce the risk of malformations in the baby (when the spine doesn’t close properly –> neural tube defects)
- In 1947, researchers discovered that the administration of folic acid made leukemia worse, and that a diet deficient in folic acid could, conversely, produce improvement
What is a precursor of vitamin A?
Beta-carotene
What is vitamin A good for?
- Good for bone growth, reproduction, and immune system health
- Helps the skin and mucous membranes repel bacteria and viruses more effectively
- Essential to vision, and may slow declining retinal function in people with retinitis pigmentosa
- Can treat certain skin diseases
Where is vitamin A found?
found in animal foods (ex: liver)
- We don’t need to eat animal foods; we can eat beta-carotene found in plant products
Who does vitamin A deficiency affect?
estimated to affect approximately one third of children under the age of 5 around the world
- Claims the lives of ~670 000 children under 5 annually
- ~250 000 – 500 000 children in developing countries become blind each year
What are the solution to vitamin A deficiency?
• Golden rice: Genes from daffodil and bacteria code for an enzyme that will produce beta carotene in the rice
• Golden potato: Developed same way as golden rice, yet not on the market yet
- It’s very difficult for people in developing countries to take pills, so it’s a better approach to improve the foods that they are already eating
Why shouldn’t smokers take beta-carotene supplements?
It has been shown to increase the risk of lung cancer
Is it possible to overdose on vitamin A?
YES
Ex: you turn orange (beta carotene overdose) polar bear liver (vitamin A overdose)
What is vitamin D capable of preventing?
• Capable of preventing a disease called rickets (prevalent in the industrial revolution, when children had to work in mines)
- Causes weak bones
- Cod liver oil was given to children as a supplement of vitamin D
- Milk products are supplemented for vitamin D
- MAY reduce falls among the elderly
Explain the relationship between sunlight and vitamin D
Sunlight can unleash a cascade of reactions to form vitamin D
What helps with absorption of vitamin D?
Calcium
What is vitamin E?
A mix of 8 different compounds of tocopherol and tocotrienol
- found in many plants, so deficiency is uncommon
What does vitamin E do?
• Necessary for structural and functional maintenance of skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle
- Assists in the formation of red blood cells and helps to maintain stores of vitamins A and K, iron and selenium
- May have a positive effect on immune health, protect against oxidative damage that can lead to heart disease, have preventative effects against cancer, help relieve symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and may help prevent some diabetes-related damage, particularly to the eyes
What is the daily value of vitamin E?
• Daily value of vitamin E is 30 IU or 20 milligrams of alpha tocopherol
- Supplements usually contain 400 IU or 133 milligrams
What is significant about vitamin E and heart disease?
• No significant effect has been noted for heart disease or cancer
- May increase the risk of heart failure
What is vitamin K?
A group of structurally similar, fat-soluble vitamins the human body requires for synthesis of certain proteins that are prerequisites for blood coagulation and which the body also needs for controlling binding of calcium in bones and other tissues
What is prothrombin?
A protein involved in blood clotting and is activated with the aid of vitamin K
What is osteocalcin?
A protein that plays a major role in incorporating calcium into bones
- Osteoporotic fractures have been linked with low blood levels of vitamin K
- If osteocalcin is not properly activated by vitamin K, the calcium that it should be delivering to the bones ends up floating around the bloodstream and contributes to calcification, or hardening of the arteries
What is there daily recommended dose for vitamin K?
• You need 2-3 micrograms a day; safe at larger doses, even up to 1000 micrograms
- There is a concern for anyone taking blood thinners (ex: coumadin), as vitamin K would counteract its effects
What is associated with vitamin C deficiency?
Scurvy (plague of sailors)
- Gums bleed, sores all over the body, can result in death
Who is the father of vitamin C?
James Lind
What does vitamin C do?
- It increases the absorption of iron
- Most animals can make their own
Explain the discovery of vitamin C
• It wasn’t until 1795 that the British navy began to provide a daily supply of lime or lemon juice to all its men
- It took 175 between the discovery of citrus fruit as a cure for scurvy and the discovery that vitamin C is the primary component of citrus fruit
• In the 1930s, albert Szent-Gyorgyi isolated the “antiscorbutic factor” in 1927
- After its molecular structure was determined by Norman Haworth in 1933 it was named “ascorbic acid”
True or false: the body cannot produce most vitamins
True
What makes gypsum?
Ca + SO4
What makes Epsom salts?
Mg + SO4
What decomposes into limestone?
Ca + HCO3
What makes dolomite?
- Magnesium and calcium pills
- Does not contain much iron
- Can have dangerous trace elements, but it depends on the dose
What is significant about sodium and chloride?
Sodium and chloride are both highly toxic substances individually, but together they make a household item TABLE SALT
- ~40% of it is sodium, ~2.4g or twice recommended intake
- Too much salt can result in hypertension
Normal: 120/80
High: >140/>90
What is significant sodium in our diet?
It is sodium that has lost an electron
Explain the reaction of elemental sodium
- Elemental sodium reacts with water
- Elemental hydrogen is produced by this reaction
What is significant about KBr?
- K+ Br-
- crystalline solid
- high melting point
What are some well-ionized substances?
Lemon juice, salt, V8 juice, and soya sauce
- Vinegar is not
- Soya sauce has the strongest affect due to its sodium content
What is significant about lemon juice’s salt content?
Even though lemon juice doesn’t have salt in the label, it contains potassium and other kinds of salts
What is the most prevalent mineral in our diet?
Calcium
What is significant about potassium?
- Same charge as an ion, located just below sodium
- It is a salt, but it’s not the conventional one (KCl: “no salt”)
- Potatoes have 50% more potassium per gram than bananas
Why does potassium have a bigger size than sodium?
- Potassium has a bigger spherical size
- Has to do with electrolyte concentration and how they transport substances around
What is iodine?
• A solid- pretty high vapour pressure, it doesn’t melt
• As you heat it, purple fumes are given off (elemental iodine)
• Table salt and sea salt are potential sources of iodine
- Needed by the thyroid gland for fat metabolism
What does iodine deficiency cause?
GOITER
- Symptoms: enlarged neck, because thyroid is expanding to look for more iodine
- Theodore Kocher: thyroid work
How many grams of heme do we need per day?
• 2-4 grams in the body associated with heme
- We need 10-20 mg per day
What is linked with iron deficiency?
Anemia
What is hemochromatosis?
- It is genetic
- Body absorbs abnormal amounts of iron
- Excess iron stored in heart, liver pancreas, and joints
- Necessary in heme (in the middle of heme molecule) because it transports oxygen in the body