Basic Nutrition Terms and Concepts Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes covering basic nutrition terms, dietary guidelines, macronutrients, micronutrients, digestion, energy balance, minerals, and vitamins.

Art of Nutrition

The practical application of nutritional science to meet an individual's specific needs, with the ultimate goal of achieving optimal health.

Nutrition

A scientific field that explores how the body uses food for energy, maintenance, and growth, including the processes of ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, utilization, and excretion.

Food

Products derived from plants or animals that provide the necessary fuel for bodily functions and materials for growth, repair, and overall health.

Nutrient

A chemical substance present in food required by the body, classified into carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water.

Macronutrients

Nutrients the body needs in large quantities, measured in grams or liters, which include carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water.

Micronutrients

Nutrients the body needs in small quantities, measured in milligrams or micrograms, which include vitamins and minerals.

Kilocalorie (kcal)

A unit of measure expressing the fuel value of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, where $1\,\text{kcal} = 4\,\text{kJ}$.

Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT)

Previously known as diet therapy, it involves treating diseases through nutritional interventions to maintain status, correct deficiencies, manage weight, or rest organs.

Phytochemicals

Non-nutrient components in plant-derived foods possessing health-promoting properties, such as lycopene in tomatoes and allylic sulfites in garlic.

Zoochemicals

Non-nutrient components found in animal foods that offer health-promoting properties, such as zeaxanthin and lutein in eggs, and omega-3 fatty acids in fish.

Dietary Essential Nutrients

Nutrients that the body cannot produce in sufficient quantities to meet its requirements, meaning they must be obtained from the diet (e.g., linoleic and linolenic acids).

Non-Dietary Essential Nutrients

Nutrients that the body can synthesize in sufficient amounts under normal conditions, such as cholesterol, alanine, and cystine.

Body Building Foods

Foods rich in protein and minerals that support growth and tissue repair, such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dried beans.

Energy Giving Foods

Foods rich in carbohydrates and fats that supply calories for daily activities, such as rice, corn, root crops, pasta, sugar, and butter.

Body Regulating Foods

Foods rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water that support metabolic functions, such as fruits and vegetables.

10 Kumainments

A popular version of the revised Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos developed by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Estimated Average Requirement (EAR)

The daily nutrient intake level meeting the median requirement of healthy individuals within specific life stage and sex groups, adjusted for bioavailability.

Recommended Energy/Nutrient Intake (REI/RNI)

The intake level considered adequate for maintaining health and well-being in the population.

Adequate Intake (AI)

A daily nutrient intake level based on observed average intake by apparently healthy groups, assumed to sustain a defined nutritional state.

Tolerable Upper Intake Level or Upper Limit (UL)

The highest average daily nutrient intake level unlikely to cause adverse health effects for most individuals.

Food Exchange Lists

Lists that divide foods into groups with similar macronutrient and calorie content to assist in dietary planning.

Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)

A healthcare professional who assesses swallowing function to prevent food aspiration and recommends appropriate food consistency and feeding strategies.

Glucose (Dextrose)

Also known as blood sugar, it is the principal form of carbohydrate used in the body, serving as fuel for cells, nerve tissue, the brain, and red blood cells.

Fructose (Levulose)

The sweetest of simple sugars, found in honey, moist fruits, and some vegetables, which is converted into glucose in the body.

Galactose

A monosaccharide produced from lactose digestion that is converted into glucose in the body; it is not found free in foods.

Sucrose

Ordinary table sugar processed from cane and beet sugar, composed of glucose and fructose.

Lactose (Milk Sugar)

A disaccharide found in milk and milk products (except cheese) composed of glucose and galactose, which forms approximately $40\,\%$ of milk solids.

Maltose

A disaccharide produced by the hydrolysis of starch, composed of glucose units and found in malt products, germinating cereals, and beer.

Starch

The most significant polysaccharide in human nutrition, found in cereal grains, potatoes, and legumes, which converts entirely into glucose upon digestion.

Cellulose

An indigestible polysaccharide forming the structural framework of plants, providing bulk in the human diet to stimulate peristalsis.

Insoluble Fibre

Structural plant components (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin) that accelerate gastrointestinal transit, increase fecal weight, and slow starch hydrolysis.

Soluble Fibre

Viscous plant fibers (pectins, gums, mucilages) that delay gastrointestinal transit and glucose absorption, and lower blood cholesterol.

Pectins

Non-digestible, colloidal plant components occurring in ripe fruits that form gels, absorb intestinal toxins, and help reduce blood cholesterol absorption.

Glycogen

Known as animal starch, it is formed from glucose and stored in liver and muscle tissues as a reserve fuel supply.

Glycemic Index (GI)

A scale measuring the effect of foods on blood glucose levels, classified as low ($< 55$), intermediate ($55\text{--}70$), or high ($> 70$).

Glycemic Load (GL)

A measure of blood glucose impact calculated as $\text{GL} = \frac{\text{CHO content (g) per serving} \times \text{GI}}{100}$.

Essential Amino Acids

The nine amino acids that cannot be synthesized by the body and must come from diet: Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, and Valine.

Trypsin

An active pancreatic enzyme formed from trypsinogen by enterokinase that converts proteins, proteoses, and peptones into polypeptides and peptides.

Chymotrypsin

A pancreatic enzyme activated by trypsin that converts proteoses and peptones into polypeptides and dipeptides, while also coagulating milk.

Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA)

Fatty acids with single bonds between carbon atoms that are fully saturated with hydrogen, such as stearic acid.

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA)

Unsaturated fatty acids possessing exactly one double bond in their carbon chain, such as oleic acid.

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA)

Unsaturated fatty acids possessing two or more double bonds in their carbon chain, such as linoleic and linolenic acids.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)

Fatty acids that cannot be synthesized by the human body and must be consumed in the diet, specifically linoleic acid (omega-6) and linolenic acid (omega-3).

Lecithin

A phospholipid containing choline-phosphate attached to glycerol, present in egg yolk, which acts as a structural component and emulsifier in fat digestion.

Lipoproteins

Liver-synthesized complexes containing lipid particles and proteins that serve as primary transport vehicles for fats and fat-soluble vitamins in blood.

Energy Balance Equation

The relationship defining changes in body energy stores: $\text{CHANGE IN ENERGY STORES} = \text{ENERGY IN (KCALORIES)} - \text{ENERGY OUT (KCALORIES)}$.

Basal Metabolism

The energy expended by the body at rest to fuel essential life-sustaining functions such as respiration, circulation, cell renewal, and body temperature regulation.

Tetany

A clinical state of increased nerve excitability and uncontrolled muscle spasms resulting from low circulating ionized calcium or vitamin D deficiency.

Osteomalacia

Adult rickets characterized by reduced mineral content and softening of the bones due to calcium or phosphorus deficiency.

Hyponatremia

An abnormally low concentration of sodium in extracellular fluid, resulting from dehydration, excessive fluid replacement without salt, severe vomiting, or blood loss.

Hypokalemia

Abnormally low serum potassium levels leading to mental confusion, apathy, abdominal distention, muscular weakness, and cardiac impairment.

Hyperkalemia

Elevated serum potassium levels that can cause palpitations, muscle pain, numbness, cardiac arrhythmias, and cardiac arrest.

Cystinuria

A hereditary defect in renal tubular reabsorption of cysteine leading to excessive urinary excretion and formation of cysteine kidney stones.

Anemia

A reduction in red blood cell number, size, or hemoglobin concentration that impairs the blood's oxygen-carrying capability.

Hemosiderosis

A condition characterized by excessive iron accumulation in body tissues due to high intake or impaired regulatory mechanisms.

Wilson's Disease

A metabolic disorder marked by excessive and toxic accumulation of copper in body tissues.

Goiter

An enlargement of the thyroid gland resulting from deficient or excessive iodine intake.

Cretinism

A congenital condition caused by severe thyroid hormone deficiency (iodine lack) resulting in physical and mental developmental delay.

Myxedema

A severe form of hypothyroidism occurring in adult life.

Dental Fluorosis

Hypomineralization of tooth enamel caused by excessive fluoride intake during tooth development.

Infantile Beriberi

A condition occurring in infants $2\text{--}5$ months of age breastfed by thiamine-deficient mothers, characterized by cyanosis, loss of voice, dyspnea, and potential heart failure.

Wet Beriberi

A form of thiamine deficiency characterized by lower extremity edema, cardiomegaly, irregular heartbeats, and breathing difficulties.

Dry Beriberi

A form of thiamine deficiency affecting peripheral nerves, characterized by paresthesia, loss of touch sensation, muscle weakness, and paralysis.

Pellagra

The classic niacin deficiency disease characterized by the 4 Ds: dermatitis, dementia, diarrhea, and death.