AC2.2

• Reducing inflammation helps to protect against heart disease and prevents arterial walls from being blocked.
• Antioxidants protect cells from free radicals, or substances that destroy or damage cell membranes, and increasing carotenoids via your diet can increase the amount of antioxidants and protective cells in your body is significant when battling cancer and may be able to prevent cancer growth.
• A vegan diet requires consuming a variety of low-biological-value proteins in combination to provide all the essential amino acids needed.
• Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium.
• Vitamin K helps to collect calcium from the blood to be used in the bones.
• Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron.
• Vitamin C and vitamin E are antioxidants that help the body fight free radicals and infection.
• Sodium and Potassium are electrolytes which help maintain body fluid balance and also help transmit nerve and muscle signals.
• Vitamin B12 and B9 (folate) work together to support cell division and replication.
• Nutrients are natural chemical substances in foods that are essential for body growth, function and health.
• Over nutrition can lead to malnutrition, obesity and related conditions, diabetes type 2, heart disease, certain cancers, underweight, tired, weak, low stamina, failure to thrive/develop.
• Nutrient density is the measure of how much nutrition is in a food, calculated by dividing the total amount of nutrients by the weight of the food.
• Nutritional values are figures taken as averages from a large number of samples tested in a laboratory, and individual measurements can vary based on factors such as freshness of the sample, variety of the plant or animal, how the item was grown or reared, and the way the item was preserved, processed or cooked.
• Nutritional labelling is a legal requirement for producers to inform consumers about the types and amounts of different nutrients in foods, and this information must be presented clearly so the majority of consumers can read it.
• Traffic light labelling is a method of nutritional labelling where red means high, amber means medium, and green means low.
• Biological Value: How much of a nutrient in a food is used by the body after the nutrient has been digested and absorbed from the small intestine.
• Biological Value is most commonly used to describe how the nutrient protein is used.
• Protein is broken down into amino acids.
• Excess amino acids not used are not stored by the body as they contain nitrogen which is toxic to the body.
• The nitrogen in excess amino acids is converted into ammonia in the liver, then into urea which is excreted through the kidneys as urine.
• The biological value of protein is calculated by subtracting the nitrogen removed from the food eaten from the protein consumed, and expressing the result as a percentage.
• Glycaemic Index: A system for rating foods according to how rapidly and by how much they raise the blood glucose level of a person.
• Foods with a high GI score contain rapidly digested carbohydrate, which produces a large rapid rise and fall in the level of blood glucose.
• Foods with a low GI score contain slowly digested carbohydrate, which produces a gradual, relatively low rise in the level of blood glucose.
• The GI index runs from 0–100 and usually uses glucose, which has a GI of 100, as the reference.
• Low GI foods are foods with a GI less than 55.
• Intermediate GI foods are foods with a GI between 55 and 70.
• High GI foods are foods with a GI greater than 70.
• Complementary interaction of nutrients: Ways in which nutrients and other natural substances in food all work together in very complex chemical reactions to maintain the body and health.
• These can also be negative interactions! Too much fibre can affect how much calcium and iron are absorbed by the body.
• Complementary interaction of proteins: LBV proteins do not contain all the essential amino acids we need.
• Cholesterol absorption is blocked, and blood cholesterol levels are reduced as a result of consuming stanols and sterols.
• When eaten, phytochemicals may affect a person in the same way as oestrogen produced by the body.
• Polyphenols are found in soya beans and soya products, soya sauce, flax seeds and whole grain.
• Sulfur is necessary for the synthesis of the essential amino acids cysteine and methionine.
• Sulphides have a role in treating osteoarthritis or joint inflammation.
• Sulphides can inhibit colon cancer growth.
• Macronutrients are needed in large amounts by the body.