Comparison of Chemical Composition of Various Food Stuff

Title: Chemical composition of various foods Introduction Carbohydrates are polymers composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Carbohydrates or sugars are divided into four groups: monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Starch is one of the polysaccharides, which consists of numerous glucose molecule units joined by glycosidic bonds. Starch consists of two kinds of molecules, linear and helical amylose and branched amylopectin.

In chemical digestion, digestive secretions from the mouth degrade complex food molecules into their chemical structural units (eg, proteins are broken down into individual amino acids). These secretions differ in composition, but usually contain water, various enzymes, acids and salts. This process is done in the small intestine. Decomposed food is of no value to the body unless it enters the bloodstream and its nutrients do not work. This mainly occurs through the absorption process occurring in the small intestine. There, most nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream from the digestive tract through epithelial cells that constitute the mucosa. Lipids are absorbed by milk and transported through lymph ducts to blood (subclavian veins near the heart). Details of these processes will be described later.

Data on nutrient contents of foods are found in various food ingredient databases. Information on nutrients in specific foods varies depending on factors such as climate, soil, plant type, animal husbandry (Greenfield and Southgate, 2003)). Different vegetable oils in the vegetable oil market have different fatty acid compositions for human consumption. Coconut oil and palm kernel oil are enriched in lauric acid (C 12: 0), oil about 45 g / 100 g, and also contain considerable amounts of myristic acid (C 14: 0) and palmitic acid (C 16: 0). The palm oil is rich in saturated fatty acids (SFA), which is about 50% but 1, soybean oil contains about 50% linoleic acid (LA). The sunflower oil content in LA is high (about 66% LA), but the market also has high oleic sunflower oil (about 83% oleic acid). Olive oil is rich in oleic acid