chapter 4

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Your body is made up of chemicals. You get these chemicals from the food that you eat. What do you think your body uses your food for?

For energy
You need food to work your muscles and other organs. Your food is the fuel that keeps you going. Just like a car won't start without petrol, your body won't work without food.

For growth and repair

As you grow, you make new cells. You also need to replace old or damaged cells. You make new cells from chemicals in your food.

To stay healthy
Lots of reactions take place in the cells of your body. Chemicals in your food are needed for these reactions. So nutrition means getting food to provide energy and substances needed for growth and repair.

What's in the food we eat?

These are some of the nutrients that are in our food: proteins carbohydrates vitamins minerals fats fibre water

Some foods may have a lot of protein in them. Other foods may not have much protein at all. Some foods may have a lot of carbohydrate or fat. Different foods have different vitamins and minerals. If we are to stay healthy our bodies must have: enough food a variety of foods - so that our body gets all the different things it needs. We need a healthy, balanced diet. Remember also that a balanced diet will change depending upon a person's age, gender and how active they are.
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Which is the better balanced

meal?

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is made up of billions of cells. are made mainly from protein.

-~ are made up of the elements carbon, hydrogen ,;en, but they also contain nitrogen (N) and many
~'"J~ur (5).

:::.:. grow your body needs protein to make new cells.

:-=:; may need to replace old or damaged cells. 2:: enough protein in your food for this as well.

Some protein-rich

foods

- :::remade up of lots of amino acids. ;: about 20 different types of amino acids.

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different proteins: what makes them different? (e.g. insulin) are soluble proteins.

~_.Jbin, enzymes, antibodies and some hormones - a fibrous protein found in the skin and hair.

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digestion

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when the proteins are digested they are split up into single amino acids

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amino acid pool

are now used to make new proteins two proteins in food that is eaten amino acids from the pool

Testing for protein /I\. drops of copper sulphate solution to ::':2in solution in a test-tube. efully add a few drops of sodium hydroxide
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care as sodium hydroxide solution is corrosive.

_wlein go purple?
corrosive

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Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are made up of the elements carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (0). Sugars are carbohydrates. Did The The The you know that there are different kinds of sugars? kind of sugar you put in your tea is called sucrose. kind of sugar that is in milk is called lactose. sugar that our bodies use most is glucose.
Some foods rich in carbohydrates

We need carbohydrates to give us energy. Sugars are the fuel that our bodies need. Experiment 4.2 Testing for glucose Pour some glucose solution into a test-tube. Add a few drops of Benedict's solution. (Be careful, this is harmful.) Carefully heat the test-tube in a water bath. Did the glucose turn orange?

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Starch is also a carbohydrate . You already know that starch is a large molecule. It is made up of lots of smaller glucose molecules joined together.
What do you make when you digest starch? Experiment 4.3 Testing for starch Half fill a test-tube with starch solution. Add two drops of iodine solution. Does the starch turn blue-black?

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large starch molecule

digestion

small glucose molecules

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Plants often turn their glucose into starch to store it. molecule like starch. Glycogen is also made up of glucose molecules joined together. We store glycogen in our liver and muscles. Our bodies change glycogen to glucose when we need it. Many cheaper foods contain a lot of carbohydrates. Do you think foods containing a lot of protein would be more or less expensive?
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Glycogen is a large carbohydrate

Fats
::re made up of the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. ~ ~e many different kinds of fats. ::re made up of three fatty acids joined together. ~~e different kinds of fatty acids. ;:...!. think that different fats have different ~fatty acids in them? wO give us energy. :::illally contain more energy than carbohydrates. ies use fats as an energy store. ::~re fats under the skin and around the heart and kidneys. ,::::we are short of energy our body uses the fat. -=: do you think happens if we eat too much fat?

fattyacidC molecule

C~-A molecule of fat

~ ,?eriment 4.4 Testing for fat Jj\ - =: four d;OPS of cooking oil i~to a test-tube. ~

e~hanol is highly flammable

~ o~~hanol

P
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-:d 2 cm3 of water to the test-tube and shake again.

:-;_d J2S2the turn cloudy white? cmoil of ethanol to the Oil and shake the test-tube.
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shake pour into wa,s-

are good insulators. They cut down heat loss. -!ch animals have a lot of fat under the skin? -::.s also give buoyancy. -~ do whales have a thick layer of blubber?

e need: proteins for growth and repair of cells carbohydrates for energy fats as a store of energy and for warmth ,by can fat be bad for us?
-:ere are two main types of fat:

~aturoted fat that comes from animals and

saturated fat that comes from plants. - __TIated fats increase the level of cholesterol
in our blood.

Some foods rich in fat

-~erol is a chemical made in the liver and :'-_2 blood. :.-:;: of cholesterol that we produce depends ::;ur diet, but also inherited factors. ::-_~evels of cholesterol are linked to an increased -' of heart disease and an increase in blood pressure :0 a narrowing of the blood vessels (see page 85). - ~-unsaturated fats have little effect on blood :.esterol. Poly-unsaturated fats may help to reduce ::esterollevels. -:.: would your advice be to reduce heart disease?
clean shiny inner surface Howa fatty deposit can narrow an ar:51
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