Designing a Healthy Diet: Unit 1 Flashcards

Vocabulary practice flashcards generated from Unit 1 notes on designing a healthy diet, molecular structure, nutrient classifications, and Dietary Reference Intakes.

Food

The plants and animals that humans consume for survival and health.

Nutrition

The study of how food affects the health of the body, including nutrient digestion, absorption, metabolism, energy production, and disease risk.

Phytochemicals

Non-nutrient compounds found in plants that give them their smell, taste, and color, many of which provide health benefits.

Satiety

The feeling of fullness that prolongs the period between eating meals, often enhanced by high-protein and high-fiber foods.

Dietary habits

An individual's personal patterns of food intake, including what is eaten, meal size, meal frequency, and dining away from home.

Atom

The fundamental unit of matter and the smallest unit of a chemical element.

Molecule

A chemical structure composed of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds.

Covalent bond

A strong, stable chemical bond formed when two atoms share one or more pairs of electrons to complete their outer electron shells.

Biological macromolecules

Large, carbon-containing biological molecules—such as carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins—covalently bonded with hydrogen that serve as raw materials for living organisms.

Nutrients

Chemical substances found in food that are required by the body to yield energy, supply structural components, and regulate biochemical processes.

Macronutrients

Nutrients required by the body in large daily quantities, encompassing carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and water.

Carbohydrates

Organic molecules made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that provide a primary fuel source of $4\text{ kcal/g}$ for cells, especially the central nervous system and red blood cells.

Lipids

A family of water-insoluble organic molecules—including triglycerides, phospholipids, and sterols—that supply $9\text{ kcal/g}$ of energy, insulate organs, and compose cell membranes.

Proteins

Large organic macromolecules made of amino acid chains containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen that provide body structure, run chemical reactions, and yield $4\text{ kcal/g}$ of energy.

Micronutrients

Essential nutrients needed in small amounts that do not yield energy directly but assist metabolic processes as cofactors and coenzymes, including vitamins and minerals.

Enzymes

Specialized protein molecules that catalyze and accelerate biological chemical reactions in the body.

Major minerals

Essential inorganic minerals required by the body in daily amounts of hundreds of milligrams or more, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, chloride, and sulfur.

Trace minerals

Essential inorganic minerals needed by the body in tiny daily quantities of a few milligrams or less, such as iron, zinc, iodine, selenium, copper, manganese, fluoride, chromium, and molybdenum.

Vitamins

Essential organic micronutrients categorized as water-soluble or fat-soluble that regulate critical cellular processes, red blood cell synthesis, and tissue formation.

Pellagra

A severe nutritional deficiency disease caused by a lack of niacin (vitamin B3), characterized by diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia, and death.

Kilocalorie (kcal)

The amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of $1\,\text{kg}$ of water by $1^\circ\text{C}$; standard unit of measurement for food energy.

Bomb calorimeter

A laboratory apparatus that measures the exact calorie content of food by igniting a sample in a sealed container and measuring the heat transferred to a surrounding water bath.

Organic nutrients

Nutrients whose molecular structure contains both carbon and hydrogen atoms, including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and vitamins.

Inorganic nutrients

Nutrients that do not contain both carbon and hydrogen, which cannot be destroyed by heat or digestion, encompassing water and minerals.

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI)

A set of quantitative nutritional intake standards developed by scientific experts for healthy populations in the United States and Canada.

Estimated Energy Requirement (EER)

An estimate of the average daily caloric intake needed to maintain energy balance in a healthy adult based on age, sex, weight, height, and physical activity level.

Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDR)

The recommended percentage ranges of daily energy intake for macronutrients: $45\text{--}65\%$ from carbohydrates, $20\text{--}35\%$ from fats, and $10\text{--}35\%$ from proteins.

Estimated Average Requirement (EAR)

The daily nutrient intake level estimated to meet the requirement of $50\%$ of healthy individuals within a specific life stage and sex group.

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)

The average daily nutrient intake target calculated to meet the requirements of nearly all ($97\text{--}98\%$) healthy people in a target life stage and sex group.

Adequate Intake (AI)

A recommended nutrient intake value established from observations of healthy target groups when scientific evidence is insufficient to calculate an EAR or RDA.

Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL)

The maximum continuous daily intake level of a nutrient unlikely to cause adverse health effects or toxicity in healthy individuals.

Daily Value (DV)

A standardized reference value created by the FDA for food packaging labels to show what percentage of a daily requirement one serving provides.