FOOD & ENERGY

Chap 2 Section 1

Why You Need Food

Food provides your body with materials for growing and for repairing tissues. Food also provides energy for everything you do.

Nutrients & Energy:Substances in food that provide the raw materials and energy.

Six Groups:Carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water.

CarbohydratesIn addition to providing energy, carbohydrates provide the raw materials to make cell parts.

Simple Carbohydrates:Glucose: major source of energy for your body’s cells.

Complex Carbohydrates:Many sugar molecules linked together in a chain. Starch & Fiber

FatsIn addition to providing energy, fats have other important functions. Fats form part of the cell membrane, the structure that forms the boundary of a cell. Fatty tissue protects and supports your internal organs and insulates your body.

Kinds of FatsSaturated: solids, normally comes from

meat.Unsaturated: liquid, plants

FatsCholesterol:

Waxy, fatlike substance found only in animal products. Important part of the body’s cells.

Liver can make the cholesterol your body needs, making it an unnecessary part of the diet.

ProteinsProteins are needed for tissue growth and repair. They also play an important part in chemical reactions within cells.

Amino Acids:The small units which proteins are made up of, there are about 20 different amino acids.

Your body can make about half of these, the others are called essential amino acids, and must come from the food you eat.

Complete and Incomplete

ProteinsComplete Proteins:Come from animal sources, such as meat and eggs, they contain essential amino acids.

Incomplete Proteins:Come from plant sources, such as beans, grains, and nuts, they are missing one or more essential amino acids.

Vitamins and Minerals

1. Are needed by the body in very small amounts.

2. Do not provide the body with energy or raw materials.

3. Help the body carry out processes, are considered “helper molecules”.

Fat-Soluble vs. H2O-Soluble

Fat-Soluble:Dissolve in fat, and are stored in fatty tissue in the body. Vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Water-Soluble: Dissolve in water, and are not stored in the body, must replenish them everyday by your diet.

Importance of Vitamins

A lack of certain vitamins in the diet can lead to health problems.

A list of essential vitamin and minerals along with their function are on next pages.

Essential VitaminsFat-Soluble

A: Maintains healthy skin , bones, teeth, and hair; aids vision in dim light.

D: Maintains bones and teeth; helps in the use of calcium and phosphorous.

E: Aids in maintenance of red blood cells.

K: Aids in blood clotting.

Essential VitaminsWater-Soluble

B1 (thiamin): Needed for breakdown of carbohydrates.

B2 (riboflavin): Needed for normal growth.

B3 (niacin): Needed for release of energy.

B6 (Pyridoxine): Helps in the breakdown of proteins, fats, and

carbohydrates.

Essential VitaminsWater-Soluble

B12: Maintains healthy nervous system; needed for red blood cell formation.

Biotin: Aids in the release of energy.

Folic Acid: Needed for red blood cell formation.

C: Needed to form connective tissue and fight infection.

Pantothenic Acid: Needed for the release of energy.

Essential Minerals

Calcium: Helps build bones and teeth; aids in blood clotting; muscle and nerve function.

Chlorine: Helps maintain water balance.

Fluorine: Helps form bones and teeth.

Iodine: Helps in the release of energy.

Essential Minerals

Iron: Needed for red blood cell function.

Magnesium: Aids in muscle and nerve function; helps in the

release of energy.

Phosphorus:Helps produce healthy bones and teeth; helps in the release of energy.

Essential Minerals

Potassium: Helps maintain water balance; muscle and nerve

function.

Sodium: Helps maintain water balance; nerve function.

Importance of Minerals

Minerals: Nutrients that are not made by living things. They are present in soil and are absorbed by plants through their roots, you eat the plant or the animals that ate the plant to get them.

With out vitamins and minerals we could not survive, they are needed by your body in small amounts to carry out chemical processes.

WaterWater is the most important nutrient because the body’s vital processes- including chemical reactions such as the breakdown of nutrients-take place in water.

Under normal conditions, you need to take in about 2 liters of water everyday.