Nutrition and digestion
The components of food
Name the nutrients in food, sort familiar foods by the nutrient they are rich in, and read the results of the three food tests.
Food does more than fill you up. The parts of food that do the work are called nutrients, and there are five major ones: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Food also brings the body two things that are not nutrients but that it still needs — dietary fibre and water.
What each group is for
Carbohydrates and fats hand the body energy, so they are grouped as energy-giving foods. Proteins go into growth and repair, so they are grouped as body-building foods. Vitamins and minerals guard the body against disease, so they are grouped as the protective nutrients.
Have a play
Each part of this meal is a source the chapter names for one nutrient.
Tap any part of the picture.
Worked example
A slice of potato is tested with diluted iodine and turns blue-black. What has the test shown?
Read what the colour means: a blue-black colour after iodine says starch is present.
The colour is the whole result. Without it the test says nothing either way.
Try it together
Now read a food you have not met yet. It leaves an oily patch on paper, its test tube turns violet, and iodine leaves its colour unchanged.
Take the three results one at a time and say which nutrient each one points to.
1.The oily patch on the paper points to one nutrient. Which?
Have a go
Have a go on your own. Foods carrying a lot of sugar and fat but little protein, vitamin or fibre are given a two-word name in the chapter. What is it?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.