Fluorine F
In nature, the element fluorine exists as a negatively charged atom or ion. Thus, similar to iodide iodine and chloride chlorine , we commonly refer to fluorine as fluoride F- . Fluoride salt NaF is routinely added to toothpaste. What Are Fluoride Sources in the Human Diet Most foods are poor sources of fluoride and probably should not be used exclusively to meet the human body's needs. However, the process of adding fluoride to drinking water fluoridation has greatly improved general fluoride...
What Are Fat Substitutes
Fat tends to impart a smooth texture and tastier quality to many foods. For example, most of ice cream's taste and mouth-feel are the result of its rich fat content. However, along with the positive attributes associated with fat in foods, there are some potential negative attributes as well. Fat enhances the energy content of a food. Furthermore, a diet rich in fatty foods contradicts nutritional recommendations. Therefore, food manufacturers have long searched for fat substitutes that would...
What Does Cortisol Do to Help Maintain Blood Glucose Levels During Fasting
Cortisol is often regarded as the stress hormone. It is important to realize that fasting, especially prolonged fasting, is a form of stress and stress results in the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands along with epinephrine mentioned in the previous question. Cortisol also supports the breakdown of glycogen and the conversion of amino acids, lactate, Table 4.5 Actions Of Insulin, Glucagon, Cortisol, and Epinephrine in Carbohydrate Metabolism Insulin Increases the uptake of glucose by...
Where Do High Density Lipoproteins Come From and What Do They Do
The last type of lipoprotein is HDL. HDL is made in our liver and to a lesser extent in our intestines. It is HDL's job to circulate and pick up excess cholesterol from tissues throughout our body and return it to the liver. The whole process is very interesting because in order for circulating HDL to return the cholesterol to our liver, some of the cholesterol is first passed to circulating LDLs. The LDL is then subject to removal from our circulation by the liver and broken down. HDL delivers...
Nervous Tissue Is Electrical and Excitable What Is Nervous Tissue
Nervous tissue is composed mostly of nerve cells or neurons, which serve as the basis for an extremely rapid communication system in our body. It also provides the basis for thinking. The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord and represents the thinking and responsive portion of our nervous tissue. Links of neurons extend from the central nervous system to various organs and tissues in our body, thus allowing the central nervous system to regulate their function. In...
Are There Advantages to Storing Energy as Fat
Storing excess energy as fat rather than as protein or carbohydrate has great advantages. First, we are able to store more than twice the amount of energy in 1 gram of fat 9 calories as we can in 1 gram of carbohydrate or protein 4 calories . Second, stored fat will have a lot less water associated with it than would be stored in carbohydrate and protein. The net effect of storing excess diet energy as fat versus carbohydrate or protein is that our body weight and volume are minimized. Said...
What Foods Provide Us with Triglycerides and Cholesterol
As displayed in Table 5.3, fats and oils, and thus triglycerides, are present in both animals and plants. Oil is a natural component of many plant tissues including leaves, stem, roots, kernels, nuts, and seeds. Common edible oils include sunflower, safflower, corn, olive, coconut, canola, and palm oil. Contrarily, butter is made from the fat in milk, while lard is hog fat, and tallow is the fat of cattle or sheep. Other animal flesh will contain fat, including poultry and their eggs....
How Does Epinephrine Adrenaline Help Maintain Blood Glucose Levels During
During a fasting period, a little epinephrine adrenaline is released into circulation from our adrenal glands see Figure 4.3 and Table 4.5 . Among epinephrine's many roles will be its influence upon the liver and skeletal muscle. It will support the effects of glucagon in the liver that were just mentioned. In skeletal muscle, the slightly elevated epinephrine will lightly promote the breakdown of glycogen to glucose. Contrary to the glucose produced from the breakdown of liver glycogen, this...
Is Being Overweight and Obese Due to Genetic Reasons
This is a difficult question to answer in the manner in which we would like it to be answered. Quite simply, obesity results from an energy calorie imbalance whereby more energy is brought into our body than is expended. We store the bulk of excessive energy as body fat and the weight gain also includes supporting materials such as connective tissue, muscle, bone, etc. Certainly that seems simple enough. However, identifying the underlying reasons for the imbalance is a bit more complicated. Is...
What Are Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods
The latter portion of the twentieth century was a time of great strides in modifying the way many nutritionists and health care practitioners viewed nutrition. For decades we made nutritional recommendations based upon what needed to be avoided or limited in our diet choices. The nutritional bad guys were fat, which evolved to saturated fat-rich foods, cholesterol, sodium, and arguably sugar. Today it is quite clear that the other side of the nutrition coin, or what we should eat, is probably...