The Important Roles That The Various Food Elements Represent

The purpose of food is to promote growth, to supply force, furnish bodily function, and provide wastage, events which naturally takes place in the body. Every breath, thought, motion we have, burns some portion of energy.

What these various vital processes does is they remove the worn out particles, keeping the body healthy, while constantly renewing, supplying material efficiently, which is adapted to replenish the worn or impaired tissue. This renovating process in the body occurs on a daily basis.

The better the food, the quicker this is attended. The great diversity of tissues in the body, makes it necessary that the food we eat contains a variety of different elements, this in proper portions, this to become properly nourished and replenished.

The Various Food Elements
The various core elements that’s found in food are: sugar, starch, albumen, fats, mineral substances, and indigestible substances.

The digestible food elements are grouped based on their chemical composition, carbonaceous, nitrogenous, and inorganic. The carbonaceous class includes sugar, starch, and fats. The nitrogenous group includes all albuminous elements, the inorganic elements comprising of mineral elements.

The Elements That Food Contains
Starch is found in certain vegetables, grains, and some fruits. Natural sugar is naturally produced from sugarcane, fruits, and milk sugar. Other forms of natural sugar are extracted from the sap of maple trees and beet root.

Albumen in its purest form is found in egg whites. It also exists when combined with other food elements and other foods, both vegetable and animal. It’s also found abundant in oatmeal, certain grains, and vegetables.

All natural foods contain some elemental forms of albumen. The core is gluten, which is found in rye, wheat, and barley. Casein, which is found in beans, peas, milk, and the fiber of flesh, are all elements of this class.

Fats are found in vegetables and animals. Butter and suet are common animal fats. Forms of vegetable fats are peas, nuts, beans, in various grains, and certain fruits such as olives.

These fats as an element are always found in a state of subdivision, conditions which are best adapted for digestion. Refined fats such as butter or lard, aren’t difficult to digest, but will often interfere with the digestion of the other food elements.

It’s clear that fats shouldn’t be modified from their natural states. The same for the carbonaceous elements starch and sugar, neither of which when used separately, are capable of sustaining life.

Most foods contain a certain percentage of the mineral elements. Milk and grains more in abundance. The cellulose woody tissue of vegetables, the bran of wheat, are examples of indigestible elements.

By themselves, they can’t be converted into blood by the tissue, but they do serve an important purpose by giving bulk to the food consumed.

With the exception of gluten, none of these food elements by themselves are capable of supporting life. A true food substance contains some food elements, the amount varying in different foods.

Uses Of The Food Elements
The carbonaceous elements, which comprises the greater bulk of the food, serves several purposes in the body.

• They furnish material which produces heat
• They become a strong source when taken with other food elements
• They replenish fatty tissue in the body

Of the carbonaceous elements, sugar, starch, and the fats, it’s the fats which produces the greatest amount of heat based on proportion. This based on a pound of fat, to an equal amount of starch or sugar.

This apparent advantage is counterbalanced since fats are more difficult to digest than the other carbonaceous elements, and if relied on solely, would overtax it by producing disease in the digestive organs.

Nature has made better provisions for starch and sugar than for fats in the diet, indicating that they’re intended to be the main source of carbonaceous food. Natural fats taken in proportion, are still necessary and an important food element.

The nitrogenous food elements nourishes the brain, muscles, nerves, and tissues. So much so that a food that’s deficient in these elements is considered a poor food choice.

The inorganic elements, primarily the phosphates, such as in the carbonates of soda, potash, and lime, helps in building stronger bones and nerves.

The Proper Combination Of Food
It’s important the food we eat contains all of the food elements, especially nitrogenous and carbonaceous. There needs to be the proper proportion of these elements, this to constitute the perfect food the body needs. This ratio is six carbonaceous to one of nitrogenous.

There are extensive tests on the exact portions of each of the various food elements, which are required for the daily nourishment of individuals under various conditions.

Most of the foods are, however, deficient in at least one of these food elements, and as a result needs to be supplemented by other foods which contains the deficiency.

If one of the dietary nutritive elements are lacking or not in ratio, although in bulk, or is all that the digestive organs can manage, is just starving the body, which can result in serious health issues.

It’s apparent that more attention should be placed in one’s selection and combination of the various food elements that’s consumed in the daily diet. Education and knowledge becomes important.

This applies to how meals are prepared in the home, this since most will fail to select certain food elements to furnish the daily requirements. They should not only know which foods are best suited to supply these elemental needs, but also how to combine them in accordance with the body’s physiological needs.