Understanding Food

General Health, Diet, and Nutrition
Calculators - Nutritional information on your particular diet
Public Education
Carbohydrates (sugars, cellulose, and starch)
Fats
Proteins and their building blocks, the amino acids.
Vitamins and Minerals
Food Additives
Chemical Techniques
Careers

General Health, Diet, and Nutrition

Articles of General Interest
- Eat Right, Live Longer (4/25/00)
  A nationwide study has given the first solid evidence that eating a prudent diet -- low in fat, high in fiber, rich in fruits and vegetables -- is associated with a reduced risk of death from the major killers -- cancer, heart disease, stroke and the like.
- It's Natural, but is it Safe? (3/17/00)
  Article about the effects of "natural" drugs. As you might expect, a drug is a drug regardless of its origin (e.g. isolated from a plant or synthesized in a factory). Several popular over-the-counter natural supplements are discussed.
- Can you Fight Cancer with Food? (3/3/00)
  Effects of diet on cancer recovery.
- [article] Natural Substances in Orange, Tangerine Inhibit Cancer (3/30/00)
  Naturally occurring substances in citrus juices, called flavonoids, show promise against prostate cancer, lung cancer and melanoma in laboratory studies, according to a joint Canadian-United States study.
- Early Results From New Clinical Studies Begin To Confirm Atkins' Low-Carb Nutritional Theories (2/16/00) - Effect On Serum Lipids May Represent Breakthrough Research, Pointing To New Horizons In Cholesterol Control
  Preliminary results from two scientific studies (one from Duke University) lend substantial support to the Atkins Diet as an effective, safe and healthful approach to weight loss.
- Press Releases from the American Dietetic Association (ADA)
  A source of timely news, information and research on food and nutrition, public policy issues and special ADA campaigns.
General nutritional information sites
- Ask Jeeves about Health
- Nutrition Tools from HealthCentral.com (includes some self-quizzes)
- HeartInfo Nutrition Guide
  The guide is supposed to promote dietary and lifestyle changes that will improve heart health.
- Drugs and Doping in Sports Medicine
  A series of links about common athletic performance-enhancing drugs ranging from steroids to creatine.
Food Pyramids and Dietary Information
- USDA's official Food Pyramid Database
- USDA's searchable database of nutritional information
  You enter a reasonable name for the food item and it spits out the nutritional data.
- American Heart Association Dietary Recommendations
- Nutrition Quiz or Build Your Own Food Pyramid
  Assess how your own diet fits into the USDA food pyramid.
- Food Pyramids
  In addition to the USDA, the Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust have designed other food pyramids (guidelines on what kinds of food to choose and how many servings to eat) to help plan a healthy daily diet.
- Fast Food data.
  Includes nutritional data from some major chains. For other outlets not listed, try typing the company's name followed by .com.
Vegetarian v. Meat-eater

Why I stopped being a vegetarian (essay)
It's anti-social, not necessarily healthful -- and besides, meat tastes good!
Health and the Vegan Diet
A decidely anti-meat view.
Really, I don't hug trees (essay)
Being a vegan doesn't make you a nut. But it does improve the world, a few animals at a time.

Regional Deficiencies.
This website addresses the problem of the regional deficiencies of nutrients in our food supply. Unfortunately, you may need to fiddle abit to get your computer to accept the file format (it really is a HTML document)

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Calculators

A series of interactive calculators (really menu-driven tables) for nutritional and health information. Includes body mass index, body fat index, ideal weight, and general nutrition needs (fat, protein, caloric).

General Calculators
- OnHealth.com Calculators
  Primarily for assessing the state of your health rather than the quality of your diet.
- Phys.com Calculators.
  This calculator also assesses the state of your health, but also includes diet analysis.
Energy In
- Nutritional Analysis Tool 2.0 (UIUC)
  Analyze foods that you eat for nutritional content.
- Diet Analysis Web Page
Energy Out
- UIUC Energy Calculator
  Applet that calculates the amount of energy you expend in a day.
- Caloric Expenditures or just how many calories are your burning?
- Phys.com Calculators.
  Quickly find the amount of energy needed for different activities.

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Public Education (Food Labels)

IFIC Foundation.
The International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation is designed to enhance consumer's abilities to make informed food choices and food safety.
Labeling Education Information Center.
The FDA/USDA Food Labeling Education Information Center encourages the exchange of information about the public education campaign for the new food label
Food Label Enlightenment
AHA site to promote its Food Certification Program to help fight heart disease and stroke.

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Carbohydrates

Sugars and Carbohydrates.
General chemical information.
[article] A Honey of an Energy Lift: Runners may get more out of natural sugar. (5/2/00)
A new study indicated that if you eat honey less than an hour before you exercise, you may not wind up as exhausted as you would be if you took other simple sugars or supplements.

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Fats

Lipids and Fats
General chemical information.
Essential Fatty Acids.
This Web Site to a lesser degree includes the importance of all 50 essential elements required for good health, and to a greater degree emphasizes the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs).
The Fatty Acid-Protein Connection.
Information about the roles of essential amino acids and essential fatty acids is provided on this page

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Proteins

Amino acids and Proteins
General chemical information.
The Fatty Acid-Protein Connection.
Information about the roles of essential amino acids and essential fatty acids is provided on this page
Primer on Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins
Probably more suitable for the college student, but plenty of understandable material in here.

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Vitamins and Minerals

Importance Of Minerals & Trace In Human Nutrition
Megadoses of Vitamins
Vitamins May Be Too Much of a Good Thing: Beware of the harmful effects of excess doses
Linus Pauling Institute
Organization interested in determining the function and role of micronutrients, phytochemicals and microconstituents of food in maintaining human health and preventing and treating disease. Pauling was a great proponent of so-called megadoses of vitamins.
[article] Vitamin Use Still Steady (5/6/00)
National survey shows 40 percent of Amerians take one a month.
Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Beta-Carotene, and other Carotenoids
Online book.
Vitamin C
- Vitamin C Labels Inaccurate (5/23/00)
  Tests by an independent lab in New York indicate that vitamin C products carrying United States Pharmacopeia (USP) labels average less vitamin C than listed on the containers, while those without the USP label are apt to contain more than advertised.
- Oh, Say, Can You C Your High Blood Pressure Drop
  Vitamin lowers pressure 9% in small study
- C-ing Healthy Hearts
  Ascorbic acid keeps blood vessels flexible
- C no Evil
  The sunshine vitamin may be hard on the arteries.
Magnesium Deficiency.
This site provides information about the effects of magnesium-deficiency. Of particular interest is this quote: "According to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1977) there have been more than 50 studies, in nine countries, that have indicated an inverse relationship between water hardness and mortality from cardiovascular disease. That is, people who drink water that is deficient in magnesium and calcium generally appear more susceptible to this disease. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has estimated that a nation-wide initiative to add calcium and magnesium to soft water might reduce the annual cardiovascular death rate by 150,000 in the United States."
Nutritional Supplments
It isn't cynical to note that the source (or at least sponsor) of this site sells nutritional supplement, so you need to critically evaluate some of this information.
Chromium picolinate
- Chromium picolinate
  Despite the fact that relatively little is known about our need for chromium, it is touted as a supplement for a wide variety of uses. This earned it the "Worst Claim" award from the National Council on Health Fraud in 1995.
- Chromium Picolinate
  Although the editors show newer research (1998) supporting the use of dietary chromium, they also lead with a new (1999) cancer warning!
herb, Home Remedy, and Vitamin Questions from the NPR radio show and syndicated newspaper column People's Pharmacy.

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Food Additives

[article] Pepsi: Not the Real Thing (5/3/00)
PepsiCo shareholders reject a bid to ban genetically altered corn from the sweeteners used by the beverage and snack food giant to make Pepsi Cola, Mountain Dew, and other sodas.
[article]New Rules Proposed for Genetically Doctored Foods (5/3/00)
FDA wants mandatory review before foods reach consumers.

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Chemistry Techniques

Calorimetry
Additional information on how calorimetry is used to analyze materials, particularly in polymer chemistry or biotechnology and "thermal hazard safety". Gets technical and the backgrounds are rather harsh on the eyes, but you should be able to handle it.
Chromatography
General description of chromatographic separations. The first graphic is a particularly good analogy of the separation mechanics.
Colorimetric and Spectrophotometric Techniques
- Brief overview
- Detailed description

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