3. Fats that we eat enter the digestive system and meet with an enzyme called
lipase. Lipase breaks the fat into its parts: glycerol and fatty acids. These
components are then reassembled into triglycerides for transport in the
bloodstream.
4. VITAMINS
Vitamins are smallish molecules (Vitamin B12 is the largest, with a molecular weight of
1,355). The human body needs 13 different vitamins :
5. VITAMIN A (FAT SOLUBLE, RETINOL) COMES
FROM BETA – CAROTENE IN PLANTS
6. VITAMIN B (WATER SOLUBLE, SEVERAL
SPECIFIC VITAMINS IN THE COMPLEX)
18. The lack of a vitamin causes severe problems. The diseases associated with the lack of
different vitamins are: night blindness, xerophthalmia (the lack of vitamin A); beriberi (the lack
of vitamin B1); problems with lips, tongue, skin (the lack of vitamin B2); pellagra (the lack of
vitamin B3); perni-cious anemia (the lack of vitamin B12); scurvy (the lack of vitamin C);
rickets (the lack of vitamin D); malabsorption of fats and anemia (the lack of vitamin E); poor
blood clotting and internal bleeding (the lack of vitamin K).
19. MINERALS
Common minerals our bodies need: calcium (used by teeth, bones), chlorine, chromium,
copper, fluoride (streng-thens teeth), iodine (combines with tryosine to create the hormone
thyroxine), iron (transports oxygen in red blood cells), magnesium, manganese, molybdenum,
phosphorus, potassium (important ion in nerve cells), selenium, sodium, zinc.
20. WATER
As mentioned above, our body is about 70-percent water. A person at rest loses about 40
ounces of water per day.
21. FIBERS
Fiber is the broad name given to the things we eat that our bodies cannot digest. The three
fibers we eat on a regular basis are: cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectin.
24. PECTIN
Pectin is found most often in fruits, and is soluble in water but non-digestible. Pectin is
normally called “water-soluble fiber” and forms a gel.
