Studying for Science of Nutrition 101

Placebo

We use this term when talking about a fake product that is given to the control group during a nutritional study to allow scientists to compare people receiving treatment with those who do not.

Credibility of Nutritional Testimonials

This source of nutritional information is not considered reliable because it focuses solely on personal experiences with a nutritional source.

Fats

This nutrient provides your body with 9 Calories per gram, more than any other nutrient. It offers energy that can be used during activities that require a lot of endurance, like marathons.

Alcohol

A substance that doesn't provide any nutrients to your body, though it does offer seven Calories per gram. Beer and wine are examples.

Water

A class of inorganic nutrient that accounts for about 60% of your body weight.

Sources for reliable nutritional information

Registered dieticians

Universities

Government agencies

Reputable organizations

Research studies supported by the peer-review process

Proteins

A nutrient that can offer four Calories per gram. Your body avoids using this as a source of energy because it is important for tissue repair and growth. It's contained in meat products.

Organic Nutrients

These nutrients contain carbon and many of them provide your body with energy. Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and vitamins are all this kind of nutrient.

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs)

You can look at this dietary reference value to learn about the level of nutrients that would satisfy the dietary needs of at least 97% of a given population.

Classes of Nutrients

There are six of these classes. They include proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water.

Carbohydrates

Your body prefers to use this nutrient as its first source for quick energy, though it only provides four Calories per gram. You can find this nutrient in vegetables, fruits and grains.

Estimated Average Requirements (EARs)

A dietary reference value which states the amount of nutrients that would fulfill the dietary needs of half of a given group of people.

Adequate Intakes (AIs)

We use this dietary reference value to find approximate information about nutrient needs if we can't find enough information about the nutrient for an RDA value.

Clinical Element of a Nutritional Assessment

This part of a nutritional assessment is kind of like a physical exam. During this, a doctor will try to identify nutritional health problems by examining physical clues.

Control Group in a Nutritional Study

In a nutritional study, this group receives no treatment. Instead, they are given a placebo.

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)

A set of recommendations that offer facts about the amount of nutrients a person should consume in order to stay healthy.

Dietary Element of a Nutritional Assessment

A section of a nutritional assessment characterized by digging into a patient's eating habits and food intake.

Biochemical Element of a Nutritional Assessment

A doctor will complete laboratory tests, including those for urine and blood, during this part of a nutritional assessment.

Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs)

This dietary reference value can provide you with information about the maximum amount of a nutrient that you can eat in a day before it will affect you negatively.

Anthropometric Element of a Nutritional Assessment

The part of a nutritional assessment that involves measuring the human body by finding a patient's body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).

Inorganic Nutrients

Nutrients in this category don't contain any carbon, but they're still important to your body. Minerals and water are both examples of this kind of nutrient.

Micronutrients

Your body only needs small amounts of the nutrients in this category, which includes minerals and vitamins.

Steps in setting up a healthy diet plan

Evaluate food intake

Determine nutritional needs

Design your plan

Monitor your progress

Fruits Food Group

You eat foods from this group when you pick up apples, pears or grapes. They contain important vitamins and nutrients.

Six Accepted Diet-Planning Principles

Adequacy

Balance

Calorie control

Density (nutrient density)

Moderation

Variety

Vegan Diet

This involves eating only foods that are plant based, increasing the amount of fiber, minerals and phytochemicals that person consumes. No animal by-products, like eggs and cheese, are eaten.

Calories

This unit of measurement can be used when expressing amounts of energy. It can come from fats, carbohydrates and proteins.

Leptin

Fat cells secrete this hormone, which suppresses your appetite after you eat.

Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs)

This refers to the largest amount of a given nutrient that you can safely consume on a daily basis.

How Hormones Affect Digestion

These biological tools play a vital role in coordinating digestive processes in the human body.

Calories per gram of fat

1g = 9 calories

Benefits of Plant-Based Diets

Risk of obesity is lowered

Occurrences of cardiovascular disease decrease

Phytochemicals increase

Daily Values

The nutritional information we find on labels for food. This information is a simplified form of what you'd find in a recommended dietary allowance (RDA)

Hypothalamus

This area of your brain is responsible for the regulation of your hunger and appetite.

Food Labels

This label is found on food products and provides information about the percentage of the daily recommended amount of nutrients the food contains based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet.

Special nutrient needs for women

In order to remain healthy, these individuals may need to ensure they're consuming enough calcium and iron, in order to prevent osteoporosis and anemia.

Estimated Energy Requirement (EER)

An estimate of how many total calories you need to consume in order to keep a healthy energy balance throughout the day.

Dairy Food Group

A food group that includes milk products. Foods in this group can offer you calcium, vitamin D and extra potassium.

Grains Food Group

Foods made from flour form this group, which can provide you with dietary fiber.

Factors used to determine nutritional needs

Gender

Age

Height and weight

Activity level

Ghrelin

A hormone produced by your stomach in order to stimulate your appetite.

Vegetables Food Group

This important food group includes things like spinach, carrots and peppers. These foods provide fiber and vitamins.

Percentage of body fat that indicates obesity in women

A body fat percentage of 33% or more.

Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs)

You can look at this to find specific information about the amount of calories you should get from different sources.

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)

A tool that you can use to find reference values regarding health nutrient intake.

The 5/20 Rule

Use this rule to read a food label and determine if the product is high or low in any given nutrient. Foods with 5% or less of a nutrient are low in it, while foods with 20% or more are high.

Protein Food Group

Meat and eggs are included in this group, along with nuts and seeds. You get iron and zinc from this group, as well.

Neuropeptide Y

Your body produces this hormone in your hypothalamus. Along with ghrelin, it stimulates hunger.

Estimated Average Requirements (EARs)

A number that provides the nutritional intake level that will meet the needs of at least 50% of a given group of people.

Fiber

A carbohydrate that can't be digested or used for energy, though it can act to slow how fast glucose enters the blood as well as limiting the body's absorption of cholesterol.

Dietary Fiber

This type of fiber occurs in nature and is found in vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes.

Fructose

You can find this monosaccharide in fruits.

Lactose

This disaccharide is found in milk. It's comprised of the monosaccharides galactose and glucose.

Total Fiber

You can use this term to refer to both dietary and functional fibers when they are considered together.

Pancreas

This organ releases insulin, which in turn works to regulate the level of glucose in our blood.

Maltose

A disaccharide created by linking two monosaccharides of glucose

Ketosis

You can experience this condition, which can cause headaches and a dry mouth, if your body becomes too low in carbohydrates. This can occur after exercise if you're on certain low-carb diets.

Normal range for blood glucose

70 mg/dl to 110 mg/dl

Galactose

Milk contains this monosaccharide.

Simple Carbohydrates / Simple Sugars

These carbohydrates are very easy to break down, so your body digests them first. They're found in sugar, sodas, syrup and candy.

Possible effects of excessive carbohydrate consumption on humans

Obesity

Type II diabetes

Dental cavities

Sucrose

This disaccharide is created by connecting the monosaccharides fructose and glucose. It's also referred to as table sugar.

Carbohydrates

These molecules make up fiber, sugars and starches. They provide calories and can be simple or complex.

Soluble Fiber

Eating this kind of fiber can make a person feel full by slowing the rate at which the stomach empties. It also lowers the body's absorption of cholesterol.

Insoluble Fiber

A type of fiber that reduces instances of constipation and hemorrhoids by making it easier to pass stool

Glucose

A sugar that our bodies obtain by breaking down carbohydrates. It is used for energy, but too much of it can lead to health problems.

Functional Fiber

A kind of fiber that's either constructed in a lab or removed from a natural source and then added to some other kind of food afterwards

Omega-3 Fatty Acid

This fatty acid can be found in flaxseeds, walnuts and canola oil. One specific type is called alpha-linolenic acid, one of the essential fatty acids.

Monounsaturated Fats

A type of unsaturated fat with only one double bond. It may be found in vegetable oils and nuts, but not in meat products.

Very Low-Density Lipoproteins

This type of lipoprotein is used to transport cholesterol and triglycerides.

Low-Density Lipoproteins

Cholesterol is moved from the liver to the rest of your body by these lipoproteins.

High-Density Lipoproteins

Lipoproteins that are responsible for taking cholesterol from the blood stream and carrying it to the liver where it can be disposed of.

Categories of Lipids

Glycerols, or triglycerides

Steroids

Fatty Acids

Both saturated and unsaturated fats are an example of these. They are formed by hydrogen atoms attached to chains of carbon atom with a carboxyl group hooked to one end.

Fats found in nature

Saturated fats

Unsaturated fats

Cholesterol

Your body produces more of this when you consume improper amounts of fat. High levels can increase the chances of developing heart disease.

Recommended daily allowance of cholesterol

No more than 300mg per day.

Solid Fats

This includes saturated fats, or fats without double bonds, and trans-fats, or saturated fats with a hydrogen attached. Dietary intake of these fats should be limited.

Steroids

This type of lipid includes no fatty acids and has four rings that contain carbon atoms. Cholesterol is the most common example.

Lipoproteins

These molecules are used by the body to move lipids around within our bloodstream.

Omega-6 Fatty Acid

You can find fatty acids of this type in vegetable oils and nuts. This group contains linoleic acid, which is considered an essential fatty acid.

Phospholipids

Lipids of this type have a phosphate group within them and only two fatty acids.

Triglycerides

The type of lipid that is most commonly found in human body fat and in food. It's made of a glycerol molecule with three fatty acids attached.

Obesity

This can occur if you consume more calories than you burn on a daily basis. Eating an overly large amount of any kind of fat can make this more likely.

Peptide

This kind of chemical bond occurs when the amino group of an amino acid bonds with another amino acid's carboxyl group.

Complete Protein Source

Animal products serve as this source of protein, which contains every essential amino acid that our bodies need.

Arginine

An amino acid that can be considered semi-essential because our bodies can make it, but we may not be able to make enough of it during times of rapid development and growth.

Kwashiorkor

A type of malnutrition that occurs if an individual gets enough nutrients to meet their overall energy needs without meeting the body's protein needs.

Effect of Protein on the Nitrogen Balance

Eating more of this nutrient will raise an individual's nitrogen balance, which can be important if they are expending a lot of energy or trying to build muscle.

Protein

A nutrient composed of amino acids that is used to regulate body processes, move material around our bodies, assist with our immunities and provide a possible source of energy.

Disadvantages of diets very high in protein

Consuming a diet like this could cause you to have kidney problems and / or to suffer from dehydration.

Dipeptide

This refers to a compound that is made when two amino acids bond together, losing a water molecule in the process.

Marasmus

Individuals suffering from this form of malnutrition are not able to get enough of any kind of calories.

Essential Amino Acids

Your body can't make these amino acids so you must get them from food. They include phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, isoleucine, methionine, histidine, arginine, leucine and lysine.

Amino Acids

Our bodies use these building blocks to form proteins, which may then form enzymes. There are a total of 20 of these that our bodies need, 10 essential and 10 nonessential.

Polypeptide

When many amino acids bond together into a chain we get this.

Nitrogen Balance

This refers to the relationship between the amount of nitrogen we bring into our bodies and the amount that we excrete. It determines the amount of protein we need to eat.

Macrominerals

This term refers to minerals that our bodies require in fairly large quantities, such as sodium and calcium.

Sodium

A mineral that your body uses when regulating fluid balance. This mineral is considered an electrolyte and has a salty taste.

Tannins

These compounds are found in tea and some grains. They can make the absorption of iron more difficult.