Nutrients and Metabolism Flashcards
6 categories of nutrients
Water
Carbohydrates
Lipids
Proteins
Vitamins
Minerals
Energy producing nutrients
Carbohydrates, proteins, fats
Non energy producing nutrients
Water, vitamins, minerals
Essential nutrients
Those an animal cannot manufacture within their own body
Must obtain from diet
Taurine
Organic compound
Found in meat and fish
Virtually non-existent in plant-based foods
taurine deficiency in cats
Must obtain it in diet
If fed vegetarian diet can develop taurine deficiency
Retinal degeneration
Associated with dilated cardiomyopathy
May have decreased reproductive success
Glucose
Monosaccharide
Simplest, smallest dietary carbohydrate
Used to make ATP through glycolysis
Excess converted to glycogen and stored in liver -or- converted to fat and stored in adipose tissue
Saturated fatty acids
Single bonds between carbon atoms
Can accommodate the greatest number of H+ atoms
Tend to have long chains
Found in meats and dairy foods
Unsaturated fatty acids
One or more double bonds between carbon atoms
Can accommodate fewer H+ atoms
Tend to be liquid at room temperature
Polyunsaturated fats examples
Corn, soybean, safflower oils
Monounsaturated fats examples
Olive and peanut oils
Essential fatty acids
Cannot be synthesized
Linolenic acid
Linoleic acid
Arachidonic acid
Natural fats functions
Make food taste good, stave off hunger
Help body absorb fat-soluble vitamins: A,D, E, K
Important insulator, when stored
Protect and cushion vital organs
Rebuilt by liver
Forming different kinds of triglycerides
Major energy source for hepatocytes and skeletal muscle cells
For a body to make protein
All of the needed amino acids must be present in the cell
Essential and nonessential
Must be in sufficient quantity
Must all be present at the same time
If one amino acid is missing, the protein cannot be manufactured
Essential amino acid
Must be present in diet
Animal cannot make them at all, or cannot make them fast enough to meet body’s need for tissue maintenance and growth
Complete proteins are
Food products that contain all the essential amino acids for a species
Eggs, meat, dairy
Complement proteins are
Food products, when ingested together, contain all the essential amino acids for a species
Legumes and grains
Amino acids cannot be _______ and what happens if not used immediately
stored
If not used immediately to make proteins
Oxidized by cell to make energy
Converted to carbohydrates or fats
Nitrogen balance is the
Rate of protein synthesis equals rate of protein breakdown and loss
Nitrogen from protein breakdown is packaged by liver into urea before it is excreted by the kidney
Urea can be measured by blood urea nitrogen (BUN) test
Positive nitrogen balance is when
Body incorporates more protein into tissue than it is using to make energy (ATP)
Healing, pregnancy, animal growth
Negative nitrogen balance is when
protein breakdown exceeds amount of protein being incorporated into tissue
stress, infection, starvation, poor dietary protein
Ideal protein content in foods include
Includes all essential amino acids needed by a species to meet its metabolic requirements
Biologic value of ideal protein content in food
Percentage of absorbable protein available for body functions
Not same as protein content
Protein quality of food is improved by
Feed is not over processed or overheated in storage
Ruminant digestion of protein
Facilitated by microbes
Microbial-made protein has consistent quality regardless of the source
Protein in lower-quality feed is improved by microbial metabolism
Rumen has ability to convert non-protein sources of nitrogen into protein
Vitamins
Essential for life
Do not produce energy when metabolized
are not broken down into building block units
Vitamins function as _____ and _____
co-enzymes or parts of co-enzymes
Molecular structure is “key” to activate an enzyme
Examples: riboflavin and niacin required for breakdown of glucose
Most vitamins must be _____ except for
Must be consumed in diet
Exceptions:
Vitamin D – made in skin
Vitamin K and biotin – made by bacteria in intestine
Vitamin A – made by conversion of beta carotene
Water soluble vitamins are
Absorbed through GI wall when water is absorbed
Very few stored in body
Hypervitaminosis conditions rare
Excesses excreted in urine
Water soluble vitamins examples
Vitamin C and 8 of the B-complex vitamins (except B12)
Fat soluble vitamins group
Vitamins A, D, E, and K
Fat soluble vitamins function and location
Bind to ingested lipids before they are absorbed with ingesta
Stored in body (except for Vitamin K)
Possible toxicity due to hypervitaminosis
Free radicals are genrated by and are disarmed by
Potentially harmful to body
Generated when carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids are oxidized as part of normal metabolism
Disarmed by antioxidants
Vitamins A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E
Minerals are
Inorganic substances essential for life
Non-energy producing
Work with other nutrients to ensure normal body function
Types of chemical reactions
Redox
Synthesis
Decomposition
Exchange
Redox oxidation rection is
To combine with oxygen
To lose hydrogen
To lose electrons
Redox reduction reaction is
To lose oxygen
To combine with hydrogen
To gain electrons
Redox reaction function
electron that is removed during the oxidation of an atom or molecule must be transferred to another atom or molecule, which is reduced
Synthesis chemical reaction
Smaller molecules are bonded together to form larger more complex molecules
Example – amino acids joined to form a protein molecule
Occurs in body as an anabolic process
Decomposition chemical reaction
Bonds in larger molecules are broken down resulting in smaller less complex molecules
Example – glycogen being broken down to glucose
Occur in body as a catabolic process
Exchange chemical reaction
Bonds are broken and made
Example – ATP transfers a phosphate to glucose to make glucose-phosphate
Factors influencing reaction rates
Concentration of reactants
Temperature of environment
Activation energy
Presence of a catalyst
Which 4 vitamins can be manufactured by an animals body
D, K, Biotin, A
3 classes of minerals
Macrominerals
Microminerals
Trace elements
Digestion of food uses which type of chemical reaction
Decomposition
What is a dietary source of saturated fatty acid
Meat, dairy, coconuts
Three energy producing nutrient groups
Carb
Proteins
Fat (lipids)
Cats fed a vegetarian diet can develop a deficiency of what essential nutrint
Taurine
List two dietary sources of carb
Dairy products, legumes
