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NUTRITIONAL BIOCHEMISTRY
BIOCHEM-405
3(3-0)
Course Contents
(Theory)
Introduction to nutritional biochemistry, Recommended dietary intake and energy levels, Protein Energy malnutrition and its Global scenario, Protein Energy malnutrition, Factors
affecting food nutrition, Water and electrolytes: functions, regulation in body, Nutritionally important macromolecules, Micro-molecules (requirements and roles in health), Dietary
proteins, Biochemistry of dietary fiber, Sweeteners and their biochemical effects, Nitrogen Economy, Pre-and probiotics, Micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and selected bioactive
nutrients), Nutritional assessment methodologies, Nutrient and dietary deficiency disorders, Nutritional therapeutics, sources and dose, Nutrient-nutrient and drug-nutrient interactions,
Nutrigenomics.
Functions Essential to Life
a. Ability to grow and reproduce (making more
of themselves)
b. Find and use food — metabolism (transform
food to energy and raw materials)
c. Maintain structural integrity and repair
d. Genetic intelligence
e. Discard waste
f. Sense and respond to stimuli, communication
g. Adapt to the environment
h. Movement
Introduction to Nutritional
Biochemistry
Nutritional biochemistry is a sub discipline that is made up of the
basic knowledge, concepts, and methodology related to the chemical
properties of nutrients and other nutritional constituents and to
their biochemical, metabolic, physiological, and epigenetic functions.
Epigenetics allows the muscle cell to
turn “on” genes to make proteins
important for its job and turn “off”
genes important for a nerve cell's
job. Your epigenetics change
throughout your life.
Your epigenetics at birth is not the
same as your epigenetics during
childhood or adulthood.
Nutrition
“The process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.”
Nutrients are the substances found in food which drive biological activity and are essential for the human body.
They are categorized as:
proteins, fats, carbohydrates (sugars, dietary fiber), vitamins, and minerals, and perform the following vital functions.
1. Building all parts ofthe body such as muscle, bone, teeth, and blood
2. Producing energy (powerand heat)
3. Keeping the body in goodworking order
How do we relate the role of
biochemistry in Nutrition??
The history of biochemistry actually started with nutrition.
The first biochemists explored vitamins and
how they worked, and
what kind of deficiencies you’d see if someone lacked those particular nutrients.
Basically, they observed certain disease states, like pellagra or rickets and were
able to link to lack of certain foods. Chemists would then isolate various chemicals
from the food to learn what the missing ingredient was. Only years later when
technology evolved could biochemists discover that it was vitamin C in the limes
that reversed the disease.
Scientists felt that if we understood the chemistry of the body (biochemistry) and what wasn’t
working, we could fix anything. In other words, it was better living through chemistry, just plug in
the missing or ‘broken’ molecule and illnesses would be fixed.
WHY DO WE NEED TO STUDY
Nutritional biochemistry ????
1. It will provide knowledge upon which nutrition-based public health
interventions are designed and implemented.
2. Many common diseases and disabilities afflicting human populations in
both developing and developed countries result from general
malnutrition, deficiencies of specific nutrients, or overnutrition.
3. Inadequate diets or poor dietary habits are associated with increased
risk for morbidity(the rate of disease in a population) and mortality, including
birth defects, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and certain
cancers.
4. Specific nutrients, food components, or metabolites, singularly or in
combination, can contribute to risk for disease or, alternatively, can be
protective by preventing disease.
Core Knowledge that Defines Nutritional Biochemistry
cont..
•Structure and function of nutrients and other dietary
constituents
•Chemical structure and metabolic functions of essential and
nonessential nutrients
•Physiological and biochemical basis for nutrient requirements
•Absorption and transport of nutrients
•Integration, coordination, and regulation of macro-and
micronutrient metabolism
•Regulation of nutrient metabolism and nutritional needs by
hormones and growth factors
•Food sources of nutrients and factors affecting nutrient
bioavailability
Core Knowledge that Defines Nutritional Biochemistry
•Effect of food processing and handling on nutrient content and
bioavailability
•Nutritional toxicology—upper limits of intake; nutrient–nutrient and
drug–nutrient interactions
•Food Guide Pyramid
•Nutrient supplements—risks/benefits, life stage, bioavailability
•Molecular markers of nutrient intake—gene arrays and analytical
chips
•Nutrition and disease
•Impact of disease and genetics on nutrient function and
requirements
•Genetic basis of inherited metabolic disease
Categories of nutrition:
Ideal Nutrition
A healthy nutrition is the one that helps maintain or improve overall health.
A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients,
micronutrients, and adequate calories.
Under Nutrition
is usually thought of as a deficiency primarily of calories (that is, overall food
consumption). Deficiencies of vitamins and deficiencies of minerals are usually
considered separate disorders. However, when calories are deficient, vitamins and
minerals are likely to be also. Undernutrition, which is often used interchangeably with
malnutrition, is actually a type of malnutrition.
Malnutrition is an imbalance between the nutrients the body needs and the
nutrients it gets. Thus, malnutrition also includes overnutrition (consumption of too
many calories or too much of any specific nutrient—protein, fat, vitamin, mineral, or
other dietary supplement), as well as undernutrition.
Difference between diet and
Nutrition
Nutrition refers to “the act or process of nourishing or being nourished”.
To be nourished, to have good nutrition, means getting appropriate amounts of nutrients (i.e., protein,
fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water).
Diet refers to the food and drinks one regularly consumes.
The calorie is a unit of energy defined as “the amount of heat needed to raise a quantity of water by
one degree of temperature.”
For historical reasons, two main definitions of calorie are in wide use.
The small calorie or gram calorie (usually denoted cal) is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the
temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius (or one kelvin).
The large Calorie, food calorie, or kilocalorie (Cal, calorie or kcal), most widely used in nutrition, is
the amount of heat needed to cause the same increase in one kilogram of water.
Thus, 1 kilocalorie (kcal) = 1000 calories (cal). By convention in food science, the large calorie is
commonly called Calorie (with a capital C by some authors to distinguish from the smaller unit).
Recommended Dietary
Allowances (RDAs)
“These are the levels of intake of essential nutrients that, based on
scientific knowledge, are judged by the Food and Nutrition Board to be
adequate to meet the known nutrient needs of practically all healthy
persons.”
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is a modest 0.8
grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
Why is RDA important?
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is the value to be used in
guiding healthy individuals to achieve adequate nutrient intake. It is a goal
for average intake over time; day-to-day variation is to be
expected. RDAs are set separately for specified life stage groups and
sometimes they differ for males and females.
Micronutrients and
Macronutrients
Macronutrients: Macros are macronutrients. Your body needs
these nutrients in larger amounts in order to function
properly as macro means large. In addition, all of these
nutrients provide your body with energy measured in the
form of calories or kcals. There are three types of
macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
•Carbohydrates contain 4 kcal per gram
•Proteins contain 4 kcal per gram
•Fats contain 9 kcal per gram (this is roughly double the
amount found in the other two macros)
Micronutrients and
Macronutrients
Micronutrients:
are essential elements required by organisms in varying quantities
throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to
maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between
organisms; for example, humans and other animals require numerous
vitamins and dietary minerals, whereas plants require specific
minerals. For human nutrition, micronutrient requirements are in
amounts generally less than 100 milligrams per day, whereas
macronutrients are required in gram quantities daily.
Energy Production in body
We capture energy present in
carbon-carbon bond present in the
macronutrients. The human body
uses three types of molecules to
yield the necessary energy to
drive ATP synthesis: fats, proteins,
and carbohydrates. Mitochondria are
the main site for ATP synthesis in
mammals, although some ATP is
also synthesized in the cytoplasm.
Energy producing Nutrients:
• Carbohydrates provides 4 Calories
per gram
• Proteins provides 4 Calories per gram
• Fat provides 9 Calories per gram
Non-Calorie Nutrients
What does Non-Calorie
Nutrients mean?
• No ability to generate ATP
• No Calorie value
• Some none calorie nutrients
can be essential for the body
• Physiological failure or death
occurs if the nutrient is
withheld from the diet
Characteristics of a sound diet
Calorie Control: An appropriate number of Calories
are eaten to maintain a healthy body weight.
Adequacy: Essential nutrients, fiber, and energy
(Calories) are present in the diet.
Balance: Food types complement one another in the
diet. Not any one nutrient or food type is overbearing.
Moderation: The diet does not contain an excess of
unwanted substances.
Variety: Different foods are used for the same purpose
in the diet
Diet Results
Result of a sound diet:
Health: The state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being.
Result of a poor diet:
Malnutrition: Impairment of health
resulting from deficiency, toxicity or
imbalance of nutrient intake or body
utilization ( including over-nutrition and
under-nutrition).
Nutrient Density
The basic concept of nutrient
density is “the amount of nutrients you
get for the calories consumed.”
The nutrient density is expressed in
terms of the amount of a
specific nutrient (in weight) per 1000
calories or joules, e.g., the nutrient
density of iron in eggs is 13.6 mg/1000
Cal
in comparison to 19.4 in meat and 150 in
spinach.
Factors effecting food choices
Personal preferences: The food likes and
dislikes of an individuals.
Availability: Food supply, geographical area,
climate, soil.
Economics: Social status and income.
Social Factors: Family, friends, holidays,
celebrations etc
Cultural Traditions: Believes, values,
customs.
Advertisements: TV, radio, magazines,
knowledge, etc
• Diet is the collection of food consumed by an individual within a 24 hours
period.
• Food nourishes the body, it contains nutrients that can be essential,
nonessential, calorie, our non-calorie.
• Nutrition is the study of how food nourishes and affects body functions
through the day and health over several years.
• The goal of eating should be to fuel and nourish the body optimally.
