Unit 2.2 Food And Health Flashcards
(150 cards)
Why is good nutrition important? (Name 5 reasons)
It will:
- Provide better health
- Ensure a stronger immune system
- Help you learn more effectively
- Mean that you become ill less often
- Make you stronger
- Make you more productive
What are the 7 components in a balanced diet?
Carbohydrates Proteins Fats Vitamins Minerals Water Fibre/roughage
Why is fibre needed in the diet?
It is essential for healthy functioning of the digestive system, because it is indigestible
How can you calculate BMI?
(Mass in kg) / (height in m)^2
Why is excess salt in your diet bad?
- It will decrease the water potential of your blood
- So more water is held in the blood and the blood pressure increases
- This can lead to hypertension
What is hypertension?
- A condition in which the blood pressure, and particularly the diastolic pressure, is maintained at a level that is too high
- This can damage the inner lining of the arteries
Which are healthier; saturated or unsaturated fats?
Unsaturated fats
Where is cholesterol made?
In the liver from saturated fats
How is cholesterol used in the body?
- In cell membranes
- In the skin
- To make steroid sex hormones
- To make bile
How is cholesterol transported around the body?
In the blood, in the form of lipoproteins (tiny balls of fat combined with protein)
What are high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) made from, and what do they do?
- They are a combination of unsaturated fats, cholesterol and protein
- They tend to carry cholesterol from the body tissues back to the liver
- The liver uses the cholesterol for cell metabolism, to make bile
- Or the cholesterol is broken down
Why are HDLs good?
They are associated with reducing blood cholesterol levels:
- They reduce deposition in the artery walls by atherosclerosis
- May help to remove the fatty depositions of atherosclerosis
Since they use unsaturated fats, these are thought to be more beneficial to health than saturated fats
What are low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) made from, and what do they do?
- They are a combination of saturated fats, cholesterol and protein
- They tend to carry cholesterol from the liver to the tissues
- The tissue cells have receptor sites that allow LDLs to bind to their cell surface membranes
What happens if too much saturated fat and cholesterol is consumed in the diet?
The concentration of LDLs in the blood will rise
Why is a high blood concentration of LDLs bad?
It causes deposition in the artery walls
How do saturated fats affect the LDL receptors?
- Decrease the activity of the LDL receptors
- So as blood LDL conc rises, less is removed from the blood
- This results in higher concs of LDL in the blood and they are deposited in the artery walls
How do polyunsaturated fats affect the LDL receptors?
- They increase the activity of the LDL receptors
- So they decrease the concentration of LDL in the blood
How do monounsaturated fats affect the LDL receptors?
They seem to help remove LDLs from the blood
What is atherosclerosis?
The deposition of fatty substances in the walls of arteries
What is coronary heart disease (CHD)?
The deposition of fatty substances in the coronary artery walls (atherosclerosis)
Why is CHD bad?
- Deposition in the coronary artery walls narrows the size of the lumen
- This restricts blood flow to the heart muscle
- This can cause oxygen starvation
How can we make food production (plants) more efficient?
- Improve the growth rate of crops
- Increase the size of yield from each plant
- Reduces losses of crops due to diseases and pests
- Make harvesting easier by standardising plant size
- Improve plant responses to fertilisers
How can we make food production (animals) more efficient?
- Improve the rate of growth
- Increase productivity
- Increase resistance to disease
What is selective breeding?
Where humans select the individual organisms that are allowed to breed according to chosen characteristics