From the series of IFT experiments "Food Chemistry"
What is food chemistry? Food science deals with the production, processing, distribution, preparation, evaluation, and use of food. Food chemists work with plants that are harvested for food and animals that are slaughtered for food. Food chemists are concerned with how these food products are processed, prepared and distributed. For example, to meet consumer needs, some food chemists are looking for substitutes for fat and sugar that do not change the taste and texture of food.
Basic food chemistry deals with the three main components of food: carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. To buy food chemicals, we recommend the store - https://megachem.com.ua/pishevaya-himiya/.
Carbohydrates are a group of chemical compounds found in plant and animal cells. They have the empirical formula CnH2nOn or (CH2O) n. Since this formula is essentially a combination of carbon and water, these materials are referred to as "carbon or carbohydrate hydrates". Carbohydrates are the main product of plant photosynthesis and are consumed by plants and animals as fuel. Dietary carbohydrates include simple carbohydrates (sugars) and complex carbohydrates (starches and fiber).
Lipids include fats, oils, waxes and cholesterol. In the body, fat serves as a source of energy, a heat insulator and a cushion around the organs; and it is an important component of the cell. Since fats contain 2.25 times more energy than carbohydrates and proteins, most people try to limit their intake of dietary fats in order not to gain excess weight. In most cases, fats are obtained from animal products - meat, dairy products, eggs and seafood, and oils - from plants - nuts, olives and seeds. We use lipids to flavor, cook and improve food texture.
Squirrels are important food ingredients. Every cell needs protein for structure and function. Proteins are complex polymers made up of amino acids. There are 20 amino acids in the body. Eight of them are necessary for adults and children, and nine for babies. Essential means that we cannot synthesize them in large enough quantities for the growth and repair of our body, and therefore they must be included in our diet. Proteins are made up of long chains of 100-500 amino acids that form three-dimensional structures in their natural state. When you change the natural state of a protein, you change the 3D structure, which is called denaturation. Factors that cause denaturation include heat, acid, whipping, and freezing.
Vocabulary - food chemistry
• Amino acids - contain carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sometimes sulfur and serve as monomers for the formation of peptides and proteins. Amino acids have a basic structure that includes an amino group (NH2) and a carboxyl group (COOH) attached to a carbon atom. There are 20 amino acids in the body.
• Amylase - an enzyme (protein) of saliva that breaks down starch.
• Antioxidant - a substance that prevents or slows down oxidation; inhibits reactions stimulated by oxygen; often used as a preservative.
• Carbohydrates - a combination of carbon and water. Carbohydrates are the most abundant of all carbon-containing compounds, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the dry mass of all plant life on Earth. It is a product of photosynthesis. Examples: glucose, sucrose (table sugar), starch and cellulose.
• Casein - protein from milk.
• Coagulation - the transformation of a liquid into a soft or solid mass.
• Denatured - changed from its natural state. In a denatured protein, its characteristics or properties have been altered in some way by heat, chemicals, or enzymatic action, resulting in the loss of its biological activity.
• Digestion - chemical breakdown of large food compounds into smaller molecules that can be absorbed by the intestines of humans and animals. Smaller food molecules move around in the blood and are used by the cells to make other components or produce the energy the body needs. Digestion begins in the mouth as salivary amylase begins to break down starch into simple sugars. It involves the hydrolysis of proteins to amino acids.
• Emulsion - the property in which two liquids are evenly distributed in each other, but not dissolved in each other. Oil and water form the most common emulsions, and milk is an emulsion of milk fat in water. Emulsions are important in the production of products containing water and fat, such as mayonnaise or margarine. These products require the addition of an emulsifier to stabilize food emulsions.
• Enzymatic browning A biochemical process in which the tissues of fruits or vegetables turn brown when exposed to oxygen. This process is catalyzed by polyphenol oxidase.
• Enzymes - protein catalysts that control certain chemical reactions in living systems (plants and animals). Enzymes are active at low concentrations.
• Ester bonds - bonds between fatty acids and glycerol molecules.
• Fatty acid are the building blocks of fats containing hydrogen atoms attached to chains of carbon atoms and an oxygen-containing carbonyl group (-C=O). Fatty acids are found in every cell of the human body.
• Glycerol - the basis for fatty acid molecules.
• Glucose - simple sugar (C6H12O6) and the main source of energy for all mammals and many plants. It is also known as dextrose, grape sugar, and corn sugar. It is about twice as weak as table sugar.
• Hormones - Substances that can affect the action of enzymes, metabolism and physiology.
• Insoluble - does not dissolve. Fats do not dissolve in water. On the other hand, sugar is soluble in water unless more is added than a given volume of water can dissolve, meaning that the solvent has become saturated with sugar.
• Lecithin is an emulsifier found in eggs and soybean oil.
• Lipids are compounds usually composed of fatty acids and glycerol. Lipids are the most efficient source of fuel for living beings.
Dietary lipids are divided into
1) fats, which are usually obtained from animal sources and remain solid at room temperature;
2) oils, which are usually obtained from vegetable sources and are liquid at room temperature. Another type of lipid is cholesterol. Cholesterol is a sterol compound produced by animals that is used to make certain steroid hormones in the body. Not found in plants.
• Melanin - any of the group of brown or black pigments found in plants and animals.
• Organic - refers to the section of chemistry associated with carbon compounds. Although all living things contain carbon and are therefore considered organic, other carbon-containing compounds have been produced in the laboratory.
• Peptide bonds - covalent bonds between two amino acid molecules.
• Peptides - short chains of amino acids.
• Photosynthesis A process in which a plant uses water and carbon dioxide to produce simple sugar (glucose) and oxygen. Plants store excess sugar as starch.
• Polymers - contain ten or more monomers. Starch is a polymer of the glucose monomer. Protein is a polymer of amino acids.
