Basics of Food Science - BHM Archives

Jul 18

Healthy Eating Habits for Adults

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Healthy eating and healthful way of life are important to how we look, feel and how much we enjoy life. The right lifestyle decisions with good food and good regular exercise can help us make the most of what life has to offer. Making smart food choices early in life and through adulthood can also help reduce risk of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, certain cancers and osteoporosis. Following are the healthy eating habits for adults.
1. Enjoy wide variety of food: This concept it is the most consistent health message in dietary recommendations around the world. We need more than 40 different nutrients for good health and no single food can supply them all. That is why consumption of a wide variety of foods (including fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, fats and oil) is necessary for good health and any food can be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet. Some studies have linked dietary variety with longevity. In any event, choosing a variety of foods adds to the enjoyment of meals and snacks. Read more

Jun 25

Why minerals are so important?

Mineral is naturally occurring chemical compound which is not produced by life process. Food contains varying amount of minerals. The mineral may be present as organic or inorganic salt or may be present with the combination with organic materials such as phospho-protein, hemoglobin, vitamin B2, chlorophyll etc. Minerals like calcium and phosphorous are required in large amount in our diet as they constitute major part of bone. Other minerals like zinc, Cobalt, copper, iodine etc. are required in very small amount ranging from few mg to microgram. However, these minerals should not be neglected in our diet as even they are required in very small amount, their inadequate intake leads to several deficiency diseases. Read more

Jun 23

Water Balance and its Importance for Good Health

Water and its importance to health:

Water is the most abundant compound present in most food. Cellular material, whether plant or animal contains a significant amount of water. Green leafy vegetables contains ≥ 90% water. Water content in relation to food material is normally termed as “moisture content”. Meat, Milk and cereals contains 50 -60%, 87- 88% and 11-13% moisture respectively.

Jun 15

Protein Quality, Sources and Dificiency

Protein quality: It is the digestibility and quantity of essential amino acids for providing the protein in correct ratio for human consumption. There are various methods that rank quality of different types of protein. Some of the popular methods are Protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) and Digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS). Read more

Jun 14

Protein and Amino-Acids

Protein are complex nitrogenous organic compounds which are essential for physical and mental growth and development of body. They are defined as long chain polymer of α – amino acids bounded by peptide linkage. Therefore, protein are polypeptides of high molecular weight ranging from 5000 to many millions.

Jun 13

Food Contamination and Food Poisoning

Food contamination: According to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) research, Food contamination is generally defined as foods that are spoiled or tainted because they either contain microorganisms, such as bacteria or parasites, or toxic substances that make them unfit for consumption. A food contaminant can be biological, chemical or physical in nature, with the former being more common. These contaminants have several routes throughout the supply chain (farm to fork) to enter and make a food product unfit for consumption.

How to protect food from contamination? Read more

Jun 11

Food Hygiene and Food Spoilage

More than cleanliness, food hygiene is

Protecting food from risk of contamination including harmful bacteria, poison and other foreign bodies.
Prevent proliferation of microorganism present in food, which would otherwise cause food spoilage or related illness.
Destruction of pathogenic microorganism.
Discarding unfit or contaminated food