Nutrition Vocabulary Flashcards

The rate at which energy is expended in a basal condition, calculated as calories per hour per square meter of body surface and compared with a normal standard expressed as the percentage above or below the amount of oxygen normally used at rest, −15 to +5 percent being considered normal. Abbreviation: BMR

A unit equal to the kilocalorie, used to express the heat output of an organism and the fuel or energy value of food.

Substances composed of long chains of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon molecules. Sugar, starch, and cellulose are all carbohydrates. In the human body, carbohydrates play a major role in respiration; in plants, they are important in photosynthesis.

A sterol, C27H46O, that occurs in all animal tissues, especially in the brain, spinal cord, and adipose tissue, functioning chiefly as a protective agent in the skin and myelin sheaths of nerve cells, a detoxifier in the bloodstream, and as a precursor of many steroids: deposits of cholesterol form in certain pathological conditions, as gallstones and atherosclerotic plaques.

1. Also called di·a·be·tes mel·li·tus [mel-i-tuhs, muh-lahy-]. a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism, usually occurring in genetically predisposed individuals, characterized by inadequate production or utilization of insulin and resulting in excessive amounts of glucose in the blood and urine, excessive thirst, weight loss, and in some cases progressive destruction of small blood vessels leading to such complications as infections and gangrene of the limbs or blindness.

Food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health:

Dietary fiber is found in wholegrain cereals and fruit and vegetables.

The system by which ingested food is acted upon by physical and chemical means to provide the body with absorbable nutrients and to excrete waste products; in mammals the system includes the alimentary canal extending from the mouth to the anus, and the hormones and enzymes assisting in digestion.

Any of certain inorganic compounds, mainly sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, and bicarbonate, that dissociate in biological fluids into ions capable of conducting electrical currents and constituting a major force in controlling fluid balance within the body.

Fats are a type of nutrient that you get from your diet.

Any of the nutritional components of the diet that are required in relatively large amounts: protein, carbohydrate, fat, and the macrominerals.

The sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by which energy is made available.

An essential nutrient, as a trace mineral or vitamin, that is required by an organism in minute amounts.

In the diet, certain substances necessary for the maintenance of life and good health. Some are essential components of bodily substances, such as the calcium in bones and the iron in hemoglobin, whereas others help regulate the activities of metabolism.

Containing or conveying nutriment, as solutions or vessels of the body.

Any of numerous, highly varied organic molecules constituting a large portion of the mass of every life form and necessary in the diet of all animals and other nonphotosynthesizing organisms, composed of 20 or more amino acids linked in a genetically controlled linear sequence into one or more long polypeptide chains, the final shape and other properties of each protein being determined by the side chains of the amino acids and their chemical attachments: proteins include such specialized forms as collagen for supportive tissue, hemoglobin for transport, antibodies for immune defense, and enzymes for metabolism.

The kind of fat in which the molecules are arranged so that every valence electron in each of the atoms making up the molecule is used to form a bond with one electron from another atom (called a single bond). Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature and are found in butter, red meat, poultry, and milk products.

A sweet, crystalline substance

A type of dietary fat.

1. A triglyceride fat containing at least one unsaturated fatty acid. Fats derived from plants are often unsaturated fats. Eating foods high in unsaturated fats can reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood.

Complex organic compounds that are needed in small amounts by the body for normal growth and metabolism. An important part of a balanced diet, vitamins occur naturally in foods and may be added to processed foods to increase their nutritional value. Many vitamins have been identified, and each plays a specific role in the functioning of the body. For example, vitamin C is needed for the proper healing of wounds and broken bones; vitamin A helps the body resist infection. Some vitamins are so important that without them certain diseases or conditions could develop. For example, a deficiency of vitamin D may cause rickets, and a deficiency of vitamin B12 could result in a form of anemia.

A transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen.