Option D Flashcards
What are nutrients?
Chemical substances in foods that are used in the (human) body
What are essential nutrients?
- Cannot be synthesised by the body
- Must be taken in by diet
What can be used for energy?
(In aerobic cell respiration)
- Carbohydrates
- Lipids
- Amino acids
(If energy in diet is insufficient)
- Glycogen + fat reserves
Measuring energy content (equation)
temp rise (c) x water volume (ml) x 4.2J
/ mass of food (g)
Measuring energy content (other)
Burning the food in a food calorimeter which traps heat from combustion (more efficiently)
What is there a correlation between for CHD?
High levels of cholesterol (in blood plasma) and an increased risk of CHD
Note: lowering cholesterol may not reduce risk of CHD
Vitamin D Deficiency (consequences)
- Not enough calcium is absorbed from food (in the gut)
- Same as calcium deficiency symptoms (eg. Osteomalacia)
What is osteomalacia and its consequences?
- Inadequate bone mineralisation (due to calcium salts not being deposited or reabsorbed)
- Bones become softened
Note: In children, it’s called rickets
How is vitamin D synthesised and stored?
- Contained in oily fish, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and liver
- Can be synthesised in the skin (by UV light)
- Liver can store vitamin D in liver (for winter)
How is cholera caused?
- (Disease) Caused by infection of the gut w/ the bacterium ‘Vibrio cholerae)
- Releases toxin which binds to receptor on intestinal cells -> brought into cell (endocytosis)
- When in cell: triggers release of Cl- and HCO3- ions (from cell into intestine)
- Water leaves cell by osmosis (leads to watery diarrhoea)
- Water taken from blood into cells to replace the lost fluid (leads to dehydration)
Vitamin C deficiency (in mammals)
AKA ascorbic acid
- Needed for the synthesis of collagen fibres (in many body tissues + blood vessel walls)
- Scurvy = deficiency of vitamin C
- Essential nutrients for humans
How is stomach acid secreted?
Proton pump (H+/K+ ATPase) in parietal cells in stomach epithelium
- Pumps exchange protons from cytoplasm with potassium ions from the stomach
How is tyrosine synthesised?
Phenylalanine –(phenylalanine hydroxylase)—-> tyrosine
- Phenylalanine is an essential nutrient
What is phenylketonuria (PKU)?
Disease caused by too much phenylalanine in blood (due to lack of phenylalanine hydroxylase)
- Caused by mutation of gene coding for the enzyme
- Recessive allele
what are the consequences and treatment of PKU?
- Diet with low levels of phenylalanine (Eat small amounts of meat, fish, nuts, cheese, and beans) AND (maybe) tyrosine supplements
- Causes reduction in head + brain growth in newborns
What causes stomach ulcers?
Partial digestion of the stomach lining by the enzyme pepsin + hydrochloric acid (in gastric juice)
How are digestive juices secreted?
Exocrine gland: secrete through duct onto surface of the body or into the lumen of the gut
Endocrine gland: ductless, sectete hormones directly into the blood
- Only exocrine glands secrete digestive juices
What does gastric juice do?
- Secreted by cells in epithelium that lines the stomach
- Hydrogen ions are secreted by the parietal cells -> makes contents of stomach acidic
- Helps w/pathogen control + assist w/some hydrolysis reactions
How is the secretion of gastric juice controlled?
- By nerves AND hormones
Nervous mechanism:
1. Sight + smell of food triggers response by which gastric juice is secreted by the stomach
2. When food enters stomach -> distension (detected by stretch receptors)
3. Signals sent to brain to release digestive hormones
Hormonal mechanism:
1. Gastrin is secreted into bloodstream + stimulates release of stomach acids
2. If stomach pH is too low (becomes acidic) gastrin secretion is inhibited
3. When digested food passes into small intestine, digestive hormones are released