Cliff Canyon^® Views of Health

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Nutrition	Misc.
Carbohydrates Fats Minerals (and elements) Magnesium Proteins Vitamins Water Air	Food Safety Hypertension

rev: 06Mar10

Nutrients

Nutrients do one of three things:

1. Provide material to build things (like muscles)
2. Provide energy so those things can work (like gas in a car)
3. Regulate processes

Six nutrients are necessary for life (alphabetically):

1 Carbohydrates
2 Fats
3 Minerals (and elements)
4 Proteins
5 Vitamins
6 Water
and
7 Air - (my addition)
8 Radiation (my addition)

Everyone needs all six nutrients. Everyone needs different amounts. Amounts needed vary with genes, age, size, activity level, gender, diet, and lifestyle.

Notice each of the six are distinct and chemically different, though all can appear in food.

Carbohydrates

Usage: Carbohydrates ("carbos") are mostly used for energy, much like gas in an engine.

Sources
With one exception, there are no carbohydrates in food from animals. The exception is lactose in milk. That is, there are no carbos in meat, poultry, eggs, etc.

What are they?
Carbohydrates are sugars. Some taste sweeter than others, but all are sugars. Sugars are made by plants as a result of photosynthesis.

The name "carbohydrate" comes from "carbo" (for carbon, chemical symbol "C") and "hydrate" (for water, chemical symbol "H₂O"). The general chemical formula for a carbohydrate is C_x(H₂O)_y, meaning "x" atoms of carbon and "y" molecules of water. The chemical term for sugar is "saccharide".

There are two types: Simple and Complex. What makes them different are the number of sugar molecules and how they are linked together.

**Carbohydrates**
Simple		Complex
1 sugar molecule "monosaccharides"	2 sugar molecules "disaccharides"	3 or more sugar molecules "polysaccharides"
Examples	Examples	Examples
glucose (blood sugar)	sucrose (table sugar)	starch
fructose (fruit sugar)	maltose	dietary fiber
galactose (milk sugar)	lactose (from milk)

This table is to help you understand the terminology used about carbohydrates and how they relate to each other.

Digestion works from right-to-left, complex to simple, polysaccharides to disaccharides to monosaccharides. In some cases, digestion can't proceed very far to the left, as with fiber, but digestion always moves leftward.

Simple Carbos

Have one or two units of sugar

Monosaccharide

   glucose (blood sugar), C₆H₁₂O₆.
   fructose (fruit sugar). Liver converts to glucose
   galactose (milk sugar). Liver converts to glucose

Disaccharide

Sucrose (table sugar)
    fructose
    glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆).

Maltose (from plants and beer malt)
    glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆)
    sucrose (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁)

Lactose (from milk)
glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆)
galactose (C₆H₁₂O₆)

**Components of Disaccharides**
Disaccharide	Sucrose (table sugar)		Maltose (from plants and beer malt)		Lactose (from milk)
Monosaccharide	glucose	fructose	glucose	sucrose	glucose	galactose

Complex Carbos

Are polysaccharides (many sugars).

Starch

Starch is a polysaccharide.

Dietary Fiber

Dietary fiber is a polysaccharide. "Dietary" is sometimes used to distinguish fiber you eat from fiber in fabrics.

Fiber is different from other complex carbos because of the bond between sugars. Fiber is barely digested as it passes through the the digestive system. It has little or no nutritional value, but does serve a different necessary function.

There is no fiber in food from animals.

There are two types, classified by whether they dissolve in water or not.

Insoluble fiber

Examples: Cellulose (leaves, roots), hemicellolose (seed coverings), lignin (plant peels and stems). They absorb water, make you feel full, and stimulate peristalsis (intestine contractions that move the food along). Relieves constipation and diverticulosis. Softens stool.

Soluble fiber

Examples: Pectin (in apples), beta-glucans (in oats and barley). Lowers cholesterol. Forms gels with water to make you feel full.

Excess fiber can cause gas and diarrhea. If too little water is consumed, bowel obstruction can occur.

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Proteins

Use: Proteins are used as building material, as in making structures. Proteins are used to make enzymes, which are tools which speed up specific chemical reactions.

A protein is a class of molecules. Proteins are made from amino acids. "Every protein has a unique, precisely defined amino acid sequence." A sequence of nucleotides in DNA are used to specify the sequence of amino acids to make a specific protein. The nucleotides in DNA are used to make a complementary set of nucleotides in RNA, which in turn are used to specify the amino acid sequence of the target protein.

The function of a protein is defined by its 3-dimensional shape (its "conformation")

**Amino Acids**
#	Amino acid	Abr..	Symbol	Side Chain
1	Alanine	Ala	A	aliphatic
2	Arginine	Arg	R	basic
3	Asparagine	Asn	N	amide
4	Aspartic acid	Asp	D	acidic
5	Cysteine	Cys	C	sulfur
6	Glutamine	Gln	Q	amide
7	Glutamic acid	Glu	E	acidic
8	Glycine	Gly	G	aliphatic
9	Histidine	His	H	basic
10	Isoleucine	Ile	I	aliphatic
11	Leucine	Leu	L	aliphatic
12	Lysine	Lys	K	basic
13	Methionine	Met	M	sulfur
14	Phenylalanine	Phe	F	aromatic
15	Proline	Pro	P	aliphatic
16	Serine	Ser	S	hydroxyl aliphatic
17	Threonine	Thr	T	hydroxyl aliphatic
18	Tryptophan	Trp	W	aromatic
19	Tyrosine	Tyr	Y	aromatic
20	Valine	Val	V	aliphatic

An amino acid has four parts:
1. an amino group (- NH₃+)
2. a carboxyl group (- COO-)
3. a hydrogen atom
4. an R-group (the "side chain") bonded to a carbon atom (the "alpha-carbon")

Enzymes
All enzymes are proteins. That is, enzymes are a class of proteins.

Fat

The body needs something that won't dissolve in water - otherwise we'd all be puddles in the mud. Fat is that - something in our bodies that doesn't dissolve in water.

Fats, sometimes called "lipids", are used for two general functions:
1. In nutrition, for energy storage,
2. In biological structures, like cell walls and skin

I'll focus on the nutritional aspect of fats here.

Food contains three kinds of fats: triglycerides, phospholipids, and sterols.

Glossary

Oxidation

A chemical change where electrons are lost

Reduction

A chemical change where electrons are gained

Copyright 2003,2006 by Ken Westover at Cliff Canyon Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be distributed without the written permission of the author. E-mail questions or comments to cliffcan@indra.com.