Nutrition labels are the labelings that one sees on food packaging. Nutrition labels have important values and information. All of the values and information involved in a nutrition label involve chemistry. The chemistry within these nutrition labels are essential to everyone and affect people’s daily lives so they know what they are consuming in their bodies. There are many big ideas revolving around nutrition labels. Fats, proteins, carbohydrates and the Kjeldahl Method are just four big ideas that have a major involvement in nutrition labels and there is lots of chemistry behind these big ideas.
Fats
The chemistry involved with fats is in the creation of fats and the breakdown of fats and food preparation. Fats are a subgroup of compound
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Protein is one of the many things that can be seen on a nutrition label. “A protein is a linear sequence of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds…” (Food Proteins p.1). Amino acids make up a protein because they are connected by the peptide bonds. There are charged and uncharged amino acids as well as hydrophobic and hydrophilic amino acids. A charged amino acid is an amino acid “that can carry a charge depending on the pH” and an uncharged amino acid just doesn’t have a charge (Food Proteins p.1). A proteins structure can also be changed or denaturalized. “The native structure of a protein is energetic minimum under physiological protein. Any change in conformation away from this shape will represent an energy cost” (Food Proteins p.5). Proteins that are apart of our food and nutrition labels have the ability to be changed but energy needs to be used in order for the denaturalization of the protein to occur. There is a process known as the Udy Dye Binding Method that is used to analyze proteins. “In this procedure, ground grain is shaken with an orange dye solution. This acid dye forms an insoluble dye-protein complex with the basic amino acid building blocks of protein” (McDonald p.3). The dye used in this method is acidic and makes a protein that cannot be dissolved and has the building blocks of proteins still within it called amino …show more content…
Nitrogen in food can be found within protein. “In the basic method for protein, nitrogen is determined by a method of chemical analysis known as the Kjeldahl procedure. The nitrogen found, times a factor of 5.7 for wheat and 6.25 for other grains, gives the content of crude protein” (McDonald p.3). In doing the Kjeldahl Method, one has to multiply the amount of nitrogen, the amount of wheat and the amount of other grains in order to determine the crude protein. “The Kjeldahl Method is used to determine the nitrogen content in organic and inorganic samples. It is based on the digestion of the sample in boiling concentrated sulphuric acid, with the addition of a catalyst. The sample is digested until dissolution and oxidation. The nitrogen contained in the sample becomes Ammonium Sulphate” (Panreac p.2). When performing the Kjeldahl method, a catalyst is used to speed up the chemical reaction(s) in order to help with finding the nitrogen
Many people have mixed emotions about implementing menu labeling. Sometimes it requires a lot more than just simply crunching the numbers. Eating healthy involves so much more than just looking at the number of calories in a particular food. It also involves looking at the sugars, trans fat, protein, sodium, etc. It is very important to have an experienced professional conduct the nutrition analysis to make sure the calorie information is
In conclusion, all aspects of food labelling, from nutrition facts to words and symbols, are all regulated to help provide consumers with accurate information about products. However, industry practices seeking to inflate product values through labelling or hide seemingly undesirable facts only serve to limit the consumers’ knowledge. Legislation attempts to deal with this, but food companies are still generally able to work around laws. If implemented correctly, the benefits of nutrition labelling according to the Food and Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC), " over the next 20 years will save $5 billion in health costs in preventing cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, according to a government study." (Starphoenix). Sadly, labelling is still used as a method of influencing sales and international trade rather than helping consumers make good purchasing choices.
Nutritionism is an ideology that believes that the nutrients in foods are the key to understanding them. Nutritionism believers are so focused on the nutrients that food contains that they forget about all other aspects of food. The problem is that consumers rely on packaging to tell them what nutrients a food provides, since nutrients cannot be obviously seen, and they rely on science to tell us what nutrients are good and which are “evil”.
Fats: Fats or lipids are important in diet to provide the body with energy. The British Nutrition Foundation state that fats are made up of amino acids. There are two types of fats they are saturated and unsaturated. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature such as cheese, butter etc. Too much saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease. Whereas unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature such as nuts, vegetable oil etc. These maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
In conclusion, the potential implications of the proposed research for practice is that if supplements are being used as a substitute for a healthy diet in today’s society due to a lack of understanding food labels. Investigate what the impacts of this are on health, if any and further education about food labelling may be necessary. The benefit of this understanding to the NHS is the possible reduction in chronic conditions related to nutrition. However the theory practice gap can only be eliminated by the implementation of evidence such as this study into practice. To implement this study to practice the researcher will need to understand, identify and overcome barriers to change (NICE, 2007).
Since more people are becoming conscious of how nutrition affects health, they have come to rely on nutrition information to help them make healthier food decisions. Some sources of nutrition inforamtion that people may encounter are the inernet, product labels, friends and family. People receive most of their nutrition information from media sources like television, magazines, newspapers and books. After reading the article about food and nutrition misinformation I think there is a lot of nutrition misinformation because a lot of sources dont have complete nutrition information. Most people use the internet to get information and the internet deosnt always give accurate information to readers. Another reason for nutrition misinformation is
A food label is a source of advertising a food product. Manufacturers try their best to make their product food label as attractive as possible, by using bright colours, bold text, food claims, and a lot of information. Too much information on a food label might have caused a lot of painful headaches for consumers; but it's all worth it, due to many health and nutrition problems. By law, manufacturers must abide by the standard code terms of what is put on their food label. By this, a food label must have no false claims or information, be in English and legible and easy to see. Also must contain a barcode, name of food, list of ingredients in descending order of weight, net weight, any additives in the food, country of origin, use of imported ingredients, name and address of manufacturer, date marking and nutrition panel if any claims are made.
When eaten, protein is broken down into amino acids. Proteins and amino acids are used for almost every metabolic process in the body, and are the building blocks for every tissue in your body.
Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
Imagine your friends take you out to eat on your birthday. Or you and your family are celebrating you graduating college and they take you to a restaurant. You order a salmon and when you start eating it your hands start swelling. Later after a quick trip to the hospital you find out that the salmon contained GMOs which you are allergic to. This is just one of the many reasons menu choices should be labeled with nutritional information. First, it would help people make healthy decisions when it comes to what they eat. Second, some people have allergies and when they eat out they need to know what is in their food. Some people could say that it isn’t necessary because people only go to restaurants once in a while but nowadays people are eating out more. This is why I think there should there be a law that
More and More people are becoming concerned about what they eat, especially if they consume food products that are manufactured in food industries. However, it is hard to know what exactly you are consuming if food industries provide false nutrition content and mislead consumers by placing false advertisements on the packaging. When a company produces a product that contains misleading label, consumers are not receiving complete information about the food they are eating which could lead to health issues including allergies and problems with diabetes.
On every food product there is a table of nutritional information that states the exact health contents of the food. There is also a list of ingredients that provides consumers with details regarding the food. In today’s times, consumers are flooded with choices of seemingly similar products. I do not know the difference in nutrition amongst these products. Food labelling is often misleading and deceptive, and I feel as if I have been left in the dark, but also that there is a hidden shadow side that may exist as consumers’ ignoracne may lead to naive incorrect choices.
Food is “composed of synthetic chemical additives, such as colorings, preservatives, sugar substitutes and trans-fats” (Fitzgerald, 2006, p.72). Fitzgerald reported that by the “1970s most meats and dairy products that were factory farmed were laced with growth hormones, antibiotics and a range of pesticides” (p.72). Furthermore, food that is frozen, packaged and canned is considered processed food. A brief explanation of the chemical additives in processed food. 1.
1998 Neuhouser et al. 1999; Perez-Escamilla & Haldeman 2002; Huang 2004). To begin, food labeling is information on the packages that tells you about the nutrients the food has like the calories, fat or other nutrients. Food labeling has a different importance in our lives.
Food is anything we consume, whether it is for taste or for nutritional value. The nutritional value of a food is the value the food gives to the body to function. To identify whether a food has poor or good nutritional value, people use a nutrition facts chart. These charts can display the amount of fat, sugar, calories, fiber, carbohydrates, cholesterol, calories, and more.