Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism

Description

Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism is the study of nutrients and their metabolic functions. This degree program also prepares the students for graduate studies in nutrition or metabolic research or for further training for careers in medicine, dentistry, and other allied health professions. Nutrition science investigates the metabolic and physiological responses of the body to diet. With advances in the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics, the study of nutrition is increasingly concerned with metabolism and metabolic pathways: the sequences of biochemical steps through which substances in living things change from one form to another. The human body consists of elements and compounds ingested, digested, absorbed, and circulated through the bloodstream to feed the cells of the body. Except in the unborn fetus, which receive processed nutrients from the mother, the digestive system is the first system involved in breaking down food prior to further digestion. Digestive juices, excreted into the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, break chemical bonds in ingested molecules, and modulate their conformations and energy states. Though some molecules are absorbed into the bloodstream unchanged, digestive processes release them from the matrix of foods. Unabsorbed matter, along with some waste products of metabolism, is eliminated from the body in the feces. Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in living organisms to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. This book has over all covered a new ideal in this subject so it is useful for students.