nutrients

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Food

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Autotrophs make their own energy by turning sunlight and carbon into sugar while heterotrophs eat other living beings to stay alive.

Photosynthesis is the chemical reaction through which sunlight and Carbon Dioxide are transformed into sugar to use as:

1). usable energy to power cellular functions

2). stored energy that is kept in oils as potential energy and

3). some energy is used as building blocks for cell structures.  

​The molecule that cells use to power energy requiring functions is called ATP. 
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Metabolism: all biochemical reactions hat happen in an organism reactions that break down food molecules and reactions that build new cell structures 

Insulin: a hormone that os secreted by the pancreas, it regulates blood sugar.  It is also a protein, a chain of amino acids that is produced by the pancreas.  Insulin binds to cells in the body and enables them to absorb sugar from the blood.

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What is in Food

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• Food is a source of macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats

• Micronutrients: vitamins and minerals that organisms must ingest in small amounts to maintain health 

 

• Carbohydrates: fruits and veggies, grains, legumes

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• Complex Carbohydrate (Polysaccharide): a carbohydrate made of many simple sugars linked together, a polymer of monosaccharides; examples are starch and glycogen

 

• • Starch: a complex plant carbohydrate made of linked chains of glucose molecules; a source of stored energy
• • Fiber: a complex plant carbohydrate that is not digestible by humans
  • Glycogen: a complex animal carbohydrate made of linked chaind of glucose molecules; a source of stored energy
    • Extra sugar/ glucose is converted into glycogen, this type of starch is then stored in the body.  When your body needs more glucose the glycogen is converted back into glucose.  If the body's glycogen stores are full, the excess carbohydrates are stored as fat.
  • Simple Carbohydrates/Simple sugar (Monosaccaride): a carbohydrate made up of a single sugar subunit; an example is glucose

 

• • Complex carbohydrates and starch turn into sugars

 

• Proteins: Meats, Dairy, Legumes, also grains and veggies

 

• Fats: Dairy, meats, oils

 

• A nutrient is a component in food that the body needs to grow, develop, and repair itself 

 

• WE get energy from food and it gives us the ability to do work like building complex molecules in our cells 

Essential nutrients: substances that cannot be synthesized by the body and need to be consumed, pre-assembled through the diet, this includes certain amino acids and fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals.
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Essential amino acids: there are eight amino acids that the body cannot synthesize and needs to get from food, some books list 9 amino acids, these are: 

In nuts, seeds, eggs, meats, whole grains, seaweed (algae)
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• Histidine 
• Isoleucine
• Leucine
• Lysine
• Methionine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Tryptophan
• Valine

Enzymes: We use enzymes to break down food , an enzyme is a protein that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction, they accelerate the activation energy

Activation Energy: The energy required for a chemical reaction to proceed, enzymes reduce activation energy to speed up chemical reactions 

Substrate: is the molecule that the enzyme binds to

Active site: is the part of the enzyme that binds to the substrate 

Catabolic Reaction: any chemical reaction the breaks down molecules 

Anabolic Reaction: any chemical reaction the combines simple molecules to build more complex molecules 

Digestion: we call the process of breaking down food digestion, the point of digestion is to extract energy from food and absorb it, and use it

Enzyme Names: some names include pepsin, rennin, and trypsin, most enzyme names end in "ase"

Different types of enzymes can break down different nutrients:

• Carbohydrase or amylase enzymes break down starch into sugar.
• Protease enzymes break down proteins into amino acids.
• Lipase enzymes break down fats into fatty acids and glycerol

Coenzyme: a small organic molecule, such as a vitamin , required to activate and enzyme 

Cofactor: An inorganic substance, such as a metal ion, required to activate an enzyme

Vitamin: an organic molecule required in small amounts for normal growth, reproduction, and tissue maintenance 

Water soluble vitamins:

• B1 (thianine): cofactor for enzymes involved in energy metabolism and nerve function, found in leafy vegetable, whole grains, meat
• Folate: cofactor for enzymes involved in DNA synthesis and cell production
• B12: cofactor for enzymes involved in the breakdown of fatty acids and amino acids and nerve cell maintenance, found in algae, eggs, meat and milk
• C: cofactor for enzymes involved in collagen synthesis, iron absorption and immunity, found in citrus fruits

Fat soluble vitamins:

• A (retinol): in eye pigment, supports skin bone and tooth growth, supports immunity and reproduction, found in fruits, vegetables egg yolk
• D: needed for calcium absorption and bone growth, found in fish and eggs, mushrooms, soy, we need sun to synthesize it 
• E: antioxidant, supports cell membrane, in green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains
• K: synthesis of blood clotting factors, in green leafy vegetables, cabbage 

Mineral: an inorganic mineral required by organisms for normal growth, reproduction, and tissue maintenance: calcium, potassium, iron, zinc

Inorganic elements not synthesized by animal bodies:

• calcium for bone and teeth, fund in dairy, green veggies, legumes
• Iron: carries oxygen through out the body in hemoglobin in red blood cells found in green vegetables and meats
• Potassium: needed for electrolyte balance, muscle contraction and nerver function, found in fruits, vegetables
• Sodium: needed for electrolyte balance, muscle use and nerve function, in salt, bread, milk​​

How to help your body absorb more nutrients:

• Fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K, and E need fatty acids for absorption

 

• Pair foods that are rich in these nutrients (many vegetables are) with a source of healthy fat, like nuts or oil

 

• To get more calcium from your yogurt or kale, increase your intake of foods that are high in vitamin D

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Biofuel

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We learned about Algae, a single celled organism that is not a plant but does photosynthesize.  

It is a protist.  

Algae can help us as food, fertilizer, and biofuel, it forms a big part of the base of the planetary food chain along with plankton.

Algae can be grown in open ponds, the cells can be broken and separated into many components (pg 86).  

We can get oil for biodiesel, the carbohydrates can be fermented and used to produce ethanol which can be burned as fuel or electricity, the proteins can be used to feed people or livestock and the leftover biomass can be used as an organic fertilizer or burned for heat or electricity.  It is good to consider our alternative, renewable energy sources.

​Energy many be measured in joules, a joule is equal to the energy transferred to an object when a force of one newton acts on that object in the direction of its motion through a distance of one metre.

A megajoule is 1,000,000.00 joules

Producing one megajoule of Biodiesel removes 183 Kilograms of the greenhouse gas CO2 from the air while producing one megajoule of energy in Ethanol from corn adds 81-84 Kilograms of CO2 to the air. 

We breathe out CO2 and plants use it to photosynthesize, a by product of photosynthesis is oxygen and we need a balance of chemicals in the air because breathing in too much CO2 is not good for us.

Here are some of the common symptoms of too much CO2, we call it respiratory acidosis:
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• fatigue or drowsiness.
• becoming tired easily.
• confusion.
• shortness of breath.
• sleepiness.
• headache.

We could die in an unbalanced environment.