Chem w1-part1

• Food Chemistry deals with the composition and properties of food and the chemical changes it undergoes during handling, processing, and storage.
• A fad diet is a diet that is popular for a time, similar to fads in fashion. Fad diets usually promise rapid weight loss or other health advantages, such as longer life.
• Food is the source of materials needed to maintain health and prevent diseases.
• Nutrients are molecules found in foods that nourish the body by providing energy and materials essential for growth and development.
• Nutrition is the process of providing and obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.
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• The major classes of nutrients are also categorized as macronutrients or micronutrients depending on how much of them the body needs.

1. MACRONUTRIENTS

Supply energy needed by the body to
grow and function

The body requires these nutrients in
relatively LARGE amounts.

Carboydrates, Proteins, Fats

2. MICRONUTRIENTS

Do not provide energy but keep the body

functioning

The body requires these nutrients in relatively SMALL amounts.

Vitamins and Minerals

• Potential chemical energy is the stored energy in food. “Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but can be converted from one form to another.”
• Metabolism refers to all the chemical reactions that take place inside an organism’s body. In order for metabolism to occur, energy from the food must be provided.
• Although most foods are mixtures of nutrients, many of them contain a lot of one nutrient and a little of the other nutrients. Foods are often grouped according to the nutrient that they contain in abundance.
• In order to have a healthy life and good nutritional status, a person needs to eat a balanced diet. You need to know the commonly used food groups in order to advise the people in your community on how to have a balanced diet.