Osteoporosis - disease of the skeletal framework, where there is loss of normal bone density, mass, and strength, bones become porous, and the bones usually get less sturdy. Osteoporosis frequently fails to be identified as such until there is a fracture on slight trauma, usually in the spine, hip, or wrist. The NOF (National Osteoporosis Foundation) reports that approximately 1,500,000 such fractures take place annually in the US, at an estimated yearly expense of $18 billion in `02.
Nutritionist - an expert who has exclusive formal training in the field of nutrition and who can give advice in regard to choosing the right foods and plan healthy diets. Also called a dietician.
Cholesterol (Dietary) - cholesterol that comes from animal products in the foods consumed. Cholesterol is not really a fat, but is instead a fat-like substance classified as a lipid. Cholesterol is crucial to life and is found in all cell membranes. Cholesterol is essential for the production of bile acids (that help digest fat) and steroid hormones (steroids that act like hormones). Dietary cholesterol is found only in foods from animal sources. With high levels present in animal-organ meats and egg-yolks, cholesterol is also found in meats and poultry. Fats found in vegetable oils contain no cholesterol.
Plants generate and store carbohydrates as their principal energy source. The glucose produced in the foliage is utilized as the basis to create more complex types of carbohydrates. The grouping of carbohydrates is on the basis of saccharides (the sugars that form their structural core). The main monosaccharides (simple carbohydrates consisting of a single sugar molecule) that are found in food are glucose (also called dextrose) and fructose. Three standard disaccharides (sugars composed of two monosaccharides) are sucrose, maltose, and lactose. Polysaccharides (several sugars linked together) of interest in nutrition include starch, dextrin, glycogen, and cellulose.
Retinopathy - damage to the retina of the eye.
Toxicologist - a scientist who studies the nature, consequences and recognition of poisons and how toxic attacks are to be treated.
Sugars - the subunits of simple and complex sugars which can be broken down by the digestive system to generate energy. While many people link sweet foods to sucrose or table sugar, this white sugar is merely one class of sugar providing a sweet flavor. Fruits contain simple sugars such as glucose and fructose; other foods have sugars, like high fructose corn syrup, and honey, that are combinations of fructose and glucose. Another simple sugar found in milk, known as lactose, is an organic blend of galactose (a simple sugar) and glucose. All sugars are carbohydrates that have 4 calories per gram, and all carbohydrates are made up of 1 or more than 1 molecules of simple sugar. After they have been synthesized and absorbed by the body, sugars are transported by the blood to tissues and cells of the body, that deploy them in the role of the main energy source for the body, to help metabolize fat, form proteins, or store for future use. Sugars make a far larger contribution than merely providing foods with a sweet flavor. Sugars also give food unique functional characteristics, such as browning and texture and also contribute to the joy of consuming a healthy diet. Even though today`s consumer can pick from a broad variety of sugars - sucrose, raw sugar (partially refined, coarse brown sugar that contains the natural molasses present in sugarcane), turbinado sugar (cane sugar that retains the natural molasses found in the sugar crystals), brown sugar (refined sugar with a thin coating of molasses), honey, corn syrup - there is hardly any difference in the number of calories or amount of nutrition each of these varieties provide, and hence no benefit of any one variety, in terms of degree of nutrition, over any other variety. Furthermore, there is no proof that the human body is able to discern any difference (in taste or effect) between organic sugars and artificial sugars added to edible goods.
Nutrition - (i) the ingestion and use of food and other nourishing material by the body; (ii) the study of food and diet.
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