UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY FOOD AND NUTRITION 1 1 FOOD AND NUTRITION READING COMPREHENSION 5 10 All living organisms require food for survival, growth, and reproduction. Most broadly, the term food can be taken to include any kind of nutrient needed by animals, plants, and simpler forms of life, on down to bacteria. This would include, for example, the inorganic substances that plants draw from air and water. The processes that circulate these basic nutrients in the environment are called nutrient cycles, and the processes by which organisms make use of nutrients are collectively known as metabolism. In terms of the energy needs of humans and other animals, food consists of carbohydrate, fat, and protein, along with vitamins and minerals. Humans may consume a wide range of different food substances, as long as they meet nutrition requirements. Otherwise nutritional- deficiency diseases will develop. 2 ENGLISH FOR NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCES 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Nutrition is the science that interprets the relationship of food to the functioning of the living organism. It is concerned with the intake of food, digestive processes, the liberation of energy, and the elimination of wastes, as well as with all the syntheses that are essential for maintenance, growth, and reproduction. These fundamental activities are characteristic of all living organisms – from the simplest to the most complex plants and animals. Nutrients are substances, either naturally occurring or synthesized, that are necessary for maintenance of the normal function of organisms. These include carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins and minerals, water, and some unknown substances. The nutritionist, a scientist working in the field of nutrition, differs from the dietitian, who translates the science of nutrition into the skill of furnishing optimal nourishment to people. Dietetics is a profession concerned with the science and art of human nutrition care, an essential component of the health sciences. The treatment of disease by modification of the diet lies within the province of the physician and the dietitian. The foods consumed by humans must contain, in adequate amounts, about 45 to 50 highly important substances. Water and oxygen are equally essential. Starting only with these essential nutrients obtained from food, the body makes literally thousands of substances necessary for life and physical fitness. Most of these substances are far more complicated in structure than the original nutrients. Energy metabolism and requirements are customarily expressed in terms of the calorie, a heat unit. Adoption of the calorie by nutritionists followed quite naturally from the original methods of measuring energy metabolism. The magnitude of human energy metabolism, however, made it awkward to record the calorie measured, so the convention of the large calorie, or kilocalorie (kcal), was accepted. Atwater factors, also called physiologic fuel factors, are based on the corrections for losses of unabsorbed nutrients in the feces and for the calorie equivalent of the nitrogenous products in the urine. These factors are as follows: 1g of pure protein will yield 4 calories, 1g of pure fat will yield 9 calories, and 1 g of pure carbohydrate will yield 4 calories. Questions: Answer the questions about the reading. 1) What is food? 2) What are nutrient cycles? 3) What is metabolism? 4) How different are the nutritionist and the dietitian? 5) What are physiologic fuel factors? True-False: Write T if the sentence is true and F if it is false. _____ The term food does not include the inorganic substances that plants draw from air and water. FOOD AND NUTRITION 3 _____ The intake of food, digestive processes, the liberation of energy, and the elimination of wastes are the fundamental activities of all living organisms. _____ Unless food substances humans consume meet nutrition requirements, nutritional-deficiency diseases will develop. _____ Water and oxygen are equally essential. _____ The treatment of disease by modification of the diet lies within the province of the physician and the nutritionist. VOCABULARY Fill in these statements with the words in the box. diet dietetics nutrients metabolism organisms consume province nutrition synthesis nourishment 1) Improvements in ……………… have been mostly to do with persuading people to eat less fatty food and more raw vegetables. 2) Exercise is supposed to speed up your ………………. 3) A young baby obtains all the ……………… it needs from its mother's milk. 4) If you have a balanced ………………, you are getting all the vitamins you need. 5) ……………… is the scientific study of diet and its effects on health. 6) Humans may ……………… a wide range of different food substances. 7) The treatment of disease by modification of the diet lies within the ……………… of the physician and the dietitian. 8) Plants draw minerals and other ……………… from the soil. 9) All living ……………… require food for survival, growth, and reproduction. 10) Plants need sunlight for the ……………… of their food from carbon dioxide and water. WORD STUDY A. UN-, IM-, IN-, DIS-, AND NON- The prefixes un-, im-, in-, dis-, and non- can be added to the beginning of some words. These prefixes mean “not.” Look at this example: un- + healthy = unhealthy Smoking is not good for you. It’s unhealthy. 4 ENGLISH FOR NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCES Here are other words with these negative prefixes. un- unimportant, unpopular im- impossible in- incomplete, inexpensive dis- discontinue non- nonfat Exercise: Choose the best word to complete each sentence. 1) A person who is unfriendly is probably ………, too. A. unpopular B. unusual C. uncomfortable D. unimportant 2) The service at this restaurant is very slow. It’s ……… to have a quick lunch here! A. impossible B. important C. immoral D. immediate 3) The airline will ……… service to that city. It is not a popular place to go. A. discontinue B. disagree C. disable D. discover 4) ……… yogurt is better for you than ice cream. A. Nonstop B. Nonfat C. Nonstandard D. Nonstick 5) Jaime’s homework is ……… because he felt sick last night. A. inexpensive B. incomplete C. inflexible D. inevitable B. MENT AND ER Some nouns and verbs have the same form. We can add a special ending, or suffix, to other verbs to make noun forms. Here are some examples: same form -ment -er verb noun verb noun verb noun order order govern government drive driver drink drink agree agreement own owner cost cost run runner work worker Exercise: Complete the sentences with verbs and nouns from the chart. (If you need to, make the nouns plural. Also, make sure that each verb agrees with its subject.) 1) Susan is the fastest ……………… . She can ……………… the race in less than three minutes. 2) The bus ……………… will not ……………… an unsafe bus. 3) I think the two companies will ……………… to work together. They will both sign the ………………. 4) – Did Saul ……………… a salad and some tea? – Yes. Now he’s waiting for his ……………… . 5) Joseph bought a lot of food and ……………… for the get-together. He hopes that everyone will eat and ……………… a lot. 6) Even though they……………… hard, most of the ……………… FOOD AND NUTRITION 5 at fast-food restaurants do not make a lot of money. 7) – My aunt is the ……………… of that popular take-out restaurant on Main Street. – Does she ……………… the restaurant on Green Street, too? C. TH AND GHT Some nouns that end in th or ght are related to similar words that are not nouns. Read the following pairs of sentences and see how the words in bold print are related. 1) Some cities grow quickly. Their growth is fast. 2) The street is five kilometers long. The length is five kilometers. 3) The street is fifteen meters wide. Its width is fifteen meters. 4) The lake is thirty meters deep. Its depth is thirty meters. 5) Joanna is very strong. She has a lot of strength. 6) How high is that building? What is its height? 7) Anna weighs 50 kilos. Her weight is 50 kilos. Exercise: Now choose the best word for each sentence. Use each word only once. depth height strength width growth length weight 1) The flag is flying high above the ground. The …………………of that flagpole is about 20 meters. 2) The …………………of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is about 1,400 meters. It is a very long bridge. 3) What is the …………………of the Pacific Ocean at its deepest point? 4) People who build houses must be very strong. They must have great …………………in their arms. 5) Plants need a lot of water to grow. Without it, their ……………… is slow. 6) What is the …………………of your garage? Is it wide enough to park two cars inside? 7) David is very thin now. He weighs only 49 kilos. He lost a lot of …………………. STRUCTURE STUDY THE PASSIVE A sentence is often written in a passive form when the important idea is not WHO does something, but WHAT IS DONE. (a) They measured the extension in the steel bar. (b) The extension in the steel bar was measured. 6 ENGLISH FOR NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCES If the doer of the action has some importance (though less than the object), or is needed to complete the sense of the sentence, it is given, e.g. ‘A knowledge of statistics is required by every type of scientists.’ Passives can be formed in the following ways: A tense of be + past participle active: He cooked the food. passive: The food was cooked. Modal + be / have been + past participle active: He may cook the food. passive: The food may be cooked. to be / to have been + past participle active: He is to cook the food. passive: The food is to be cooked. being / having been + past participle active: Cooking / Having cooked … passive: Being / Having been cooked … Exercise: Rewrite the following sentences in the passive : 1) People apply mathematics in many different activities. 2) People use computers for many different purposes. 3) People use the decimal system even in countries with non- decimalized systems of weights and measurements. 4) Water covers most of the Earth’s surface. 5) Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived. 6) Huge ocean waves swept houses into the sea. 7) They have postponed the seminar. 8) A mystery is something that we can explain. 9) We are going to build a new zoo next year. 10) The vegetables didn’t taste very good. People had cooked them for too long. 11) The situation is serious. We must do something before it’s too late. 12) When we got to the stadium, we found that they had cancelled the game. 13) They are building a new ring road round the city. 14) I don’t like people telling me what to do. 15) We gave the police the information. 16) We will give you plenty of time to decide. 17) They must first clean sewage in treatment plants. 18) Has anybody told you about ecology? 19) In modern zoos, people can see animals in more natural habitats. 20) He said that he wanted somebody to wake him up at 6.30 next morning. ESSENRIAL NUTRIENTS 7 2 ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS READING COMPREHENSION 5 10 15 20 Water The human body contains 50 to 70% water, making it the most abundant compound in the body. Because there is no storage of water within the body water must be replaced continually. Water may be obtained from beverages, foods, and from energy metabolism within the body. Water functions in temperature regulation, as a solvent, in chemical reactions, and as a body lubricant. Adults must consume two to three liters of some form of water each day. Proteins Proteins are widely distributed in nature, and no life-forms are known without them. They are made up of relatively simple organic compounds, the amino acids, which contain nitrogen and sometimes sulfur. Humans and animals build the protein they need for growth and repair of tissues by breaking down the proteins obtained in food into their component parts, the amino acids, and then building up these components into proteins of the type needed. The protein-rich foods from animal sources contain complete proteins, which supply all the amino acids in the proper proportions necessary in the human diet. Although it was formerly believed that plant proteins had to be combined at each meal, research shows that a balanced diet will provide the proper combinations. Vitamins and Minerals 8 ENGLISH FOR NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCES 25 30 35 40 45 50 Most foods contain several vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are organic food substances, needed only in minute quantities but essential for the normal metabolism of other nutrients. Many vitamins and minerals act as catalysts or help form catalysts in the body. Minerals – such as calcium, iodine, and iron – are an essential part of all cells and body fluids and enter into many functions. Fats and Carbohydrates Fats, which are widely distributed in nature, are a concentrated food source of energy. Fats are glyceryl esters of fatty acids and yield glycerol and many different fatty acids when broken down by hydrolysis. Carbohydrates are the most abundant food sources of energy. Important dietary carbohydrates are divided into two groups – starches and sugars. The starches, which may be converted into utilizable sugars in plants or in the human body, are in the grains, the pulses, the tubers, and some rhizomes and roots. The sugars occur in many plants and fruits, the most important being sucrose, obtained from sugarcane or the sugar beet. Dietary Fiber Dietary fiber, also known as bulk and roughage, is also an essential element in the diet even though it provides no nutrients. It consists of plant cellulose and other indigestible materials in foods, along with pectins and gums. The chewing it requires stimulates saliva flow, and the bulk it adds in the stomach and intestines during digestion provides more time for absorption of nutrients. Diets with sufficient fiber produce softer, bulkier stools and help to promote bowel regularity and avoid constipation and other disorders, such as diverticulosis. Fruits, vegetables, whole-grain breads, and products made from nuts and legumes are all sources of dietary fiber. A diet overly abundant in dietary fiber, however, can cut down on the absorption of important trace minerals during digestion. Vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes constitute a rich source of dietary fiber. ESSENRIAL NUTRIENTS 9 Questions: Answer the questions about the reading. 1) What are the essential nutrients in human diet? 2) Where may water be obtained? 3) What are proteins used for? 4) Why are vitamins essential for the normal metabolism of other nutrients? 5) What are the two groups of important dietary carbohydrates? True-False: Write T if the sentence is true and F if it is false. 1) _____ Water functions in temperature regulation, as a solvent, in chemical reactions, and as a body lubricant. 2) _____ A few life-forms do not have proteins. 3) _____ Vitamins are inorganic food substances, needed only in minute quantities. 4) _____ Carbohydrates are the most abundant food sources of energy. 5) _____ A diet overly abundant in dietary fiber can help the absorption of important trace minerals during digestion. VOCABULARY Fill in these statements with the words in the box. bowel beverages indigestible tuber catalysts digestion absorption constipated starches balanced 1) You should eat more fiber and fruit if you are ………………. 2) Hot …………… include tea, coffee and hot chocolate. 3) Many vitamins and minerals help form …………… in the body. 4) Research shows that a …………… diet will provide the proper combinations. 5) Eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables can reduce the risk of cancer of the ……………. 6) A …………… the short thick round part of an underground stem or root of some plants, such as potatoes, which stores food and from which new plants grow. 7) Vegetables are usually cooked to aid ……………. 8) Vitamin D is necessary to aid the …………… of calcium from food. 9) Beans can be rather ……………. 10) …………… may be converted into utilizable sugars in plants or in the human body