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Concept
Map 1
Concept
Map 2
Ahead to Olestra 3a. Protein Basics
Ahead to Olestra 4. Carbohydrates
Ahead to Olestra 5. Lipids
Back to Olestra 1. Introduction
Chemical
Concepts
Our
emphasis will be on three concepts of chemistry in this
Olestra unit.
| 1. Energy available |
can
be determined from |
The type and amount of food we eat |
| 2. Enzymes |
enable
our bodies |
to metabolize foods |
| 3. Inter- molecular forces |
explain |
the fate of fats, fat substitutes
and vitamins in our bodies |
We will see
how researchers used these simple chemical concepts to
invent and develop olestra and we will use these
principles ourselves to evaluate and decide on
nutritional issues
Micro/Macro
and Symbolic
Representation
| Remember that
chemistry uses macroscopic, large scale
observation to help describe and understand
matter at the unseeable, molecular level. |
 |
We show a molecular
formula, a structural formula and a ball and stick
representation of
a saturated fat. In the ball and stick model, C is
gray, H is white, O is red. Cylinders represent
single and double bonds.
|
|
Olestra 2. Food and
Biomolecules
 |
Our story of food and its legion
of different molecules is also largely the story
of many of the biomolecules that all living
things, and we, are made from. The hair we care
so much about is made of protein molecules. The
different DNA, which leads to all of the variety
of life, is made from a sugar or carbohydrate, a
base, and a phosphate group. |
| The molecules that, along with
proteins, make up the membranes of all our cells,
and the extra pounds that we might want to shed,
are fats or lipids. Additionally, there are
many vitamins and nutrients that do not fall in
these three categories but often are often
precursors or vital components. The iron
that is at the core of our oxygen carrying
hemoglobin proteins, the essential amino acids
that our bodies don’t produce that make up
the multitude of proteins in our bodies, and the
many vitamins that we require, all are present in
our food.
Literally,
we are what we eat. So let’s go back to the Olestra
Concept Map and take a closer look
at the three main food groups: proteins,
carbohydrates, and fats.
|
Three Representations of
a
Fat, Glyceryl Tristearate
Molecular
Formula
C57H110O6
Structural
representation shows features by grouping
segments of the molecular structure
(C17H35CO2)CH2
|
(C17H35CO2)CH
|
(C17H35CO2)CH2
|
This is a ball and stick
representation of a saturated fat.
In this model, C is gray,
H is white, O is red. Cylinders represent
single and double bonds.
| Consider:
Compare these three
representations. What
similarities/differences do you find
among them? |
|
|
