Nutrients are substances, usually provided by food, necessary for carrying out the functions that lead to the development of life ultimately cell life, which provide the energy requirements and provide materials for building structures biological. Molecules are involved in chemical reactions that sustain life, constituting the basic elements for conducting metabolic exchange processes necessary for life. Build, therefore, the biology and it provides energy.
Nutrition
Balanced supply of nutrient requirements and micronutrients and their effective use by the agency, will depend on the possibility for natural systems and defense development and adaptation to maintain the organic equilibrium in each of energy functions, regulatory and plastic and in maintaining a balanced metabolism adapted to the circumstances, in short, for the maintenance and development of life on health.
The nutrients are water, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, minerals, vitamins. Besides involving the catalysts are substances that act in chemical reactions but after the reaction are unchanged. Its action is to initiate, stimulate, or enhance the reaction. To highlight the enzymes and some micronutrients (certain trace elements …)
The sugars or carbohydrates are classified into simple sugars such as glucose, lactose or sucrose, and the most complex, consisting of larger molecules, like starch or glycogen. Glycogen is the way our body stores glucose Glucose is the energy molecule essential to the cellular level, something like “gasoline” usual cell. But when taken too much glucose and this can not be stored, it becomes fat. For use by the cell is necessary for glucose insulin secreted by the pancreas. The essential function of carbohydrates is energy. From 50 to 60% of the energy needed for the organism must be supplied by carbohydrates.
Fats are composed of simple molecules and fatty alcohol. These fatty acids may be saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, depending on the presence or absence of double bonds in the molecule and the number of such double bonds. Saturated fatty acids are the cause of increased blood cholesterol. Some fatty acids are essential, ie can not be synthesized by our body and therefore must be ingested in the diet, as with the linoleic. The role of lipids is energy and plastic, comes as part of the structure of cell membranes. It is important to have a balanced intake of different dietary fatty acids. Thus the total fat intake should not exceed 30% of total caloric needs, and about half around 15% should be monounsaturated, polyunsaturated about 8-9% and not exceed 7% intake saturated fatty acids in total diet.
The protein function is basically plastic, ie, as structures become something like the building blocks of our body. The basic elements of proteins are amino acids in a total of twenty, some critical and therefore are not synthesized by our organism and which must be supplied by the diet. Proteins are chains of amino acids. When these channels are formed by less than 10 amino acids peptides and talking about the chains of polypeptides containing more than 10 amino acids. Protein consumption should provide approximately 10 to 15% of energy needs.
All these elements, along with vitamins and minerals, therefore constitute an interrelated system and work together to carry out the vital functions of cells, including metabolic and adaptive (adaptive functions are part of the generically reaccional)
