Facts about nutrition

Do we become hungry because our stomach is empty or is it because of something else?

That is a tricky question. There are people who have studied this and can boil it right down to all kinds of enzymes and mechanisms that kick into play, stimulating appetite or depressing appetite.

When I go out to exercise and I get back and sit down, I need to replenish my water intake. The next thing that I find is I find a combination of fruits to eat, primarily because they are made up of water, and sugar carbohydrates. But the digestive process is pretty rapid when it comes to breaking down sugars into glucose. I can consume a lot of fresh fruits and it doesn't satisfy my hunger.

I will still have hunger pains because the digestion is completed so rapidly as opposed to protein, which takes longer. It almost seems like exercise can suppress appetite but I think you have to balance that whole idea with how much exercise you are doing and how many calories your body needs to replace and what kinds of food you are going to consume.

It is complex and is another whole area to think about as to why people are gaining weight, whether it is emotional or whether it is the amount of exercise they have done.

Everyone studying this issue, trying to help people lose weight, may have their own theories and their own recommendations. They all study it in a different way - some try to understand the psychology and some try to understand the nutritional aspects of it. If it was well understood, we probably wouldn't be having the

problems we are having today.

We have discussed foods in general, but what are "functional foods"?

It is a term that gets bantered about by people who are food scientists or food companies that are talking about different kinds of foods. Usually when they are talking about a functional food it is a food analog, which is a food that has been put together by a food manufacturer. It might also be called a nutraceutical. Functional foods can also be natural foods which have been found to be beneficial for a specific purpose.

Some companies manufacture internal tube feeding formulas for hospital use. The composition of the product contains all the nutrition in the right proportions for protein and amino acids plus fat with the right fatty acids and the right vitamins and minerals and you put all that together and it has a particular food functionality.

There are foods that are designed to resolve particular health

problems. Let's take something common like lactose intolerance, people have trouble digesting the lactose because they are missing an enzyme called lactaid. So an example of a functional food would be a food that was put together without any milk protein or lactose sugar. It functions with that person who is lactose intolerant. You can take that example and apply it to anyone else who has special feeding needs.

Does functional food convert differently into energy than normal food?

No, functional food behaves the same way as normal food as far as converting into energy. Functional foods are still broken down into their respective nutrients and provide energy, it's just that their specific nutrients have been seen to be beneficial in certain areas for certain members of the population.

Nutrients decrease the risk of some diseases, is that correct? In other words you can't eat a magic vegetable to cure cancer but you can eat certain nutrients that lend themselves to good

health, can't you?

There was one company who developed a "magic pill" that you could take to get all of your nutrients in the proper proportions that you needed for the day. They actually gave it to the astronauts but they had to take six of those a day.   Each magic pill was the size of a softball.

The bottom line is there is no magic pill. It wasn't until the 1940's that we as a country started to put together nutritional requirements in relation to disease and when we started to establish the different recommendations.

Something that has always intrigued me is that if you do take that historical perspective and go back you find that in the early years there were just a few nutrients for which the recommended daily allowances were established and through the years, through the studies and the whole process of understanding we have continued to add to the list of things that are required. It hasn't been until quite recently that we have learned about trace nutrients like selenium and things like that, that have recently been added to the list. Those levels continue to change as we

learn more. One of the things that interest me is the addition to the list; it is almost a never-ending process. I always come back to the concept of nutrition and variety and not getting locked into a few fixed food items.

Just to clarify, in the most basic form what are the basic nutrients?

There are seven nutrients that your body just can't live without. These are carbohydrates, fiber, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and water.

So then what is a non-nutrient?

Basically it is a naturally occurring component of food that doesn't contain any calories, protein, carbohydrates or vitamins and minerals.   Phytochemicals (food chemicals having anti¬oxidant effects) may be an example of a non-nutrient.