Food and Hormonal Health: The Power of Nutritional Choices

Food plays a vital role in regulating the body's hormones and brain chemicals. Once digested into glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids, nutrients travel through the bloodstream to nourish all parts of the body.

Food supports essential bodily functions, enabling us to:

• Stay alive, active, and productive

• Grow by building new cells and tissues

• Maintain health and recover from illness

• Prevent and combat infections

All body systems depend on the chemical substances generated from food. Each meal triggers hormonal shifts that can last up to six hours, making food a key factor in regulating our internal chemistry.

The core purpose of food is to sustain life and promote health. Derived from plant and animal sources, food is a complex mix of chemical compounds whose composition changes based on growth conditions, processing, storage, and handling.

A balanced diet includes clean water and a mix of safe, wholesome foods: proteins, carbohydrates (starches), healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. Such a diet provides the nutrients necessary for optimal body function while maintaining appropriate calorie intake.

To meet all nutritional needs, a balanced diet should include a wide variety of food items. However, the modern food industry often replaces natural foods with highly processed products that negatively impact the body's biochemistry.

Meats today are often raised with added hormones, antibiotics, and other additives. Crops are commonly treated with pesticides and sometimes sprayed with antibiotics as well.

Access to safe water and clean, nutritious food is essential for all. Making informed food choices is crucial for maintaining a healthy internal balance and overall well-being.
Food and Hormonal Health: The Power of Nutritional Choices

What are the best vitamin D natural sources?

Very few naturally occurring foods are rich in vitamin D. Typically animal foods contain cholecalciferol, while plant foods contain ergocalciferol. Some food items that naturally contain small amounts of vitamin D include oil fish such as salmon, mackerel and blue fish. Cod liver oil is the best source of vitamin D.

Liver meat is another source of abundant vitamin D. For vegetarians or vegans, all edible mushrooms have some content of vitamin D2 and ergosterol, which becomes activated with UVB exposure.

The two basic substances with vitamin D activity D2 and D3, occur only in yeast and fish liver oils. Vitamin D is also presents in small quantities in vegetables, meat and egg yolk.

The main food sources are those to which crystalline vitamin D has been added. Milk, because it is commonly used, has proved to be the most practical carrier. In United States fluid milk is voluntary fortified with 400 IU per quart of vitamin D.

The most efficient source of the vitamin D is not a food at all, but exposure to sunlight, which transforms a related pro-vitamin substance in the skin into a substance which the kidney can change into active vitamin D.

Sunlight provides 90 to 100% of the requirement for most people who are exposed to adequate sunlight. Vitamin D3 is synthesized in human skin from 7-dehydrocholesterol following exposure to ultraviolet B radiation with wavelength 290 to 320 nm. Like other fat soluble vitamins, the sunlight activated pro-vitamin D can be stored away in the liver.
What are the best vitamin D natural sources?

Food, science and health

Food is made of carbohydrates, fats, and/or proteins. Each macronutrients as these calorie providing blocks are called supplies the raw materials that human body uses for energy.

Human bodies will attain and maintain a healthy condition if they received a supply of food that provides adequate amounts of all nutrients and an appropriate amount of energy. Such diet is known as a balanced diet. A healthy diet will be one that does not contain anything harmful. 

Balanced diet is that includes the entire nutrient human body needs in the correct amount, and it is different for every individual.

All living bodies have food systems so all of their parts can be properly nourished. In every healthy body, all the food that’s taken in by the body is distributed so that every cell is fed.

From the knowledge acquired through the development of food science emerged conclusions that resulted in the classifications of foods into nutritional groups, representatives of which are considered to be necessary in all diets to ensure the intake of a recommended minimum of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and so on.

The research shows that the foods people choose to eat or not to eat may increase human life span or the quantity of human lives.The information that people can reduce their chance of developing cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and other disease by maintaining a healthy weight, decreasing the fat and calories in their diets, eating more vitamins and minerals rich foods and vegetables and getting fit is becoming a familiar one.

The rise in the incidence of ‘diseases of affluence’ such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancer in the western world has become a major preoccupation of both medical and nutritional science.
Food, science and health

Food sources of vitamin K

Food sources of vitamin K Vitamin K functions as a coenzyme during the synthesis of the biologically active form of a number of proteins involved in blood coagulation and bone metabolism.

Largest food sources of vitamin K are leafy green vegetables and some oils. Kale, green tea, turnip green, and collard greens are the most abundant food sources.

Kale

Spinach, broccoli, lettuce, and cabbage are also rich sources. Other food sources include egg yolk, cow’s milk and liver as well as soybean oil, olive oil, cotton seed oil and canola oil.

Breads, rice and pastas are poor sources of vitamin K unless formulated with vegetable oils. Addition to fats and oils to mixed dishes is a significant source of vitamin K1.

With the recommended amount for men being 120 mcg per day, many foods have more than that in just one strong. For example, a one cup serving of cooked broccoli has 220 mcg and a one cup cups serving of raw kale has 547 mcg.
Food sources of vitamin K

Functions of lipids and fats

Lipids are a broad group of diverse and naturally occurring, organic compounds. Lipids are studied by nutritionists who investigate how intake of fats in human diet affects the composition of various parts of the body, e.g. heart, the liver and the brain. Lipids play a large role when it comes to energy storage and the structure of cells.

They are divided into four main groups consisting of fats, lipids, hormones and steroids.  The difference between fats and lipids is that fats are a subset of lipids.

In general, fat performs four functions in the body. It provides energy, essential fatty acids, structural components and regulatory functions.

*One of the major roles of fat is to serve as fuel molecules. The immediate sources of energy for the body are the free fatty acids in the circulation liberated from adipose triglycerides by the enzyme lipase.  Triacylglycerol fatty acids provide long-term storage of fuel that can be mobilized during food storage, for growth and during vigorous exercise. They are amore highly concentrated form of metabolic energy than carbohydrates. The main depot is the adipose tissue.

*The body has a remarkable ability to synthesize many compounds and this including excess protein and carbohydrates can be converted to fat.

*Fat in the form of triglycerides, phospholipids, cholesterol and cholesterol esters are important to the structure, composition and permeability of membranes and cell walls. Body fat: can hold organs in place: absorbs shock and: insulates the body against rapid temperature changes or excessive heat loss. Phospholipids are water soluble and may aid in the transport of other fats in and out of cells.

Lipids are present as a bilayer in biological membranes, as a layer on the surface of the skin and in the lung surfactant lipid. Because of their specialized functions, their composition is conservative.

*Regulatory functions. Triglycerides in pure state are relatively tasteless, but they absorb and retain flavors of food.  Fats provide texture that enhances palatability and they delay emptying of the stomach and contribute to feeling of satiety.

Dietary fat serves as a carrier for the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and as an aid to their absorption in the intestine.
Functions of lipids and fats

Color of food and food acceptability

In spite of the numerous ways by which the appearance attributes of food affect consumer acceptance, the majority of research on the role of appearance in food acceptance has focused on the influence of color.

Color is an important property of foods that adds to enjoyment of eating. Of the three sensory properties of foods; food scientists tell that color is more important than flavor and texture in the initial food selection process.

On study showed that when jellies were colored in an atypical manner, the fruit flavors were incorrectly identified.  It appears that color references for foods are the result of experience, culture and conditioning.

In addition, the colors of food contribute significantly to people to enjoy their meals. For this reason it is desirable to maintain as much of the natural color of fresh and processed foods as possible.

The food processer makes every effort to retain good color characteristics of his/her food products because he or she understands the importance of this property in promoting his/her sales.

Color variations in foods throughout the seasons and the effect of food processing and storage often require that manufacturers add color to certain foods to meet consumer expectations. The general principles for the application of colors to products are described with the overall aim of matching what the consumer expects from the particular food product.

Account must be taken of the effects of pH and processing, especially browning from the Maillard reaction and loss of initial color.
Color of food and food acceptability

Food sources of zinc

Food sources vary widely in their zinc content.  Significant variations can occur in zinc intakes when foods are selected on the basis of energy needs, e.g. higher energy sources like fats, oils, sugar, and alcohol are rather poor source of zinc.

Approximately 70% of the zinc consumed by most people in the United States is provided by animal products, especially meat.

In animal foods such beef and pork, the fat tissue contains much less than the muscle tissue. Dark red meat generally has higher zinc content than white meat and fish muscle tissue has lower zinc content than meat.

Whole grains, pork, eggs, dairy products, nuts, beans, lentils, chickpeas and peas contain moderate concentrations of zinc.

Egg yolk, not egg white, is particularly rich in zinc whereas milk tends to be middle range as a food source.

One liter of milk, for example, conations only about 2 mg of zinc, which means that a person must consume 5 quartz in order to meet the daily zinc requirement.

Poor sources of zinc include fish, butter and fats. White bread contains little zinc, as milling removes the zinc-rich bran and germ portions of grains. Fruit and vegetables also are considered good sources of zinc because the zinc in plant foods is not as readily available for use by the body.
Food sources of zinc

Carbohydrate definition and food sources

With the energy value of 4 calories, carbohydrates are one of the most basic nutrients in foods. They are indispensible in foods by virtues of their role as sweeteners, thickening, bulking and gelling agents.

Carbohydrates are composed of three elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The word carbohydrate was originally derived from the fact that the greater part of the compound in this class had the empirical formula Cn(H2O)n. The values of n range from three to many thousands. The number and arrangement of these elements in the carbohydrate molecule differentiate one carbohydrate from another.

This formula now considered too restrictive and a more useful definition might be ‘polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones and their derivatives’. This later definitions encompass deoxy sugars, sugar alcohols, sugar acids, amino sugars.

Plants are the primary sources of carbohydrates in the human diet. Carbohydrates occur in fruits and vegetables as storage reserves in seeds, roots, and tubers; in the sap; and as constituents of the structural tissues, they are also found in the milk, blood, and tissues of animals.

Carbohydrate should make up about 5/7 of the solid part of the diet and ideally no more than 2/7 of the carbohydrates should be refined sugars such as glucose.
Carbohydrate definition and food sources 

Vitamin in general

Vitamin are chemically unrelated organic substances that are grouped together because each is essential in the diet in minute amounts and is required for specific metabolic reactions within the cells.

Traditionally they are classified according to their solubility water and fat solvents and, from a physiological standpoint; this property determines the pattern of transport excretion and storage within the human body.

Several of the vitamins, while conveniently considered as a single substance, actually are a group of structurally related compound that tend to behave alike physiologically.

In general however, physiologically function tends to be limited to one active form to which the related forms are converted.

Whether a substance must be supplied intact to the cell or can be synthesized by the cell depends on the assortment of enzymes peculiar to the cell species.

A substance, therefore, may be a vitamin for one species but not for another. The difference lies whether the substances is required in the diet or whether it can be synthesized by human body.
Vitamin in general

Minerals in Food

Minerals in Food
Minerals are the constituents which remain as ash after the combustion of plant and animals tissues. Minerals are divided into:

• Main elements

• Trace elements

• Ultra trace elements

The main elements (Nam, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, P) are essential for human beings in amounts >50 mg/day. Sulfur also belongs to this group.

Trace elements (Fe, I, F, Zn, Se, Cu, Mn, Cr, Mo, Co, Ni) are essential in concentrations of <50 mg/day; their biochemical actions have been elucidated.

Ultra – trace element (Al, As, Ba, Bi, B, Br, Cd, Cs, Ge, Hg, Li, Pb, Rb, Sb, Si, Sm, Sn, Sr, TI, Ti, W) are elements whose essentially has been tested in animal experiments over several generations and deficiency symptoms have been found these extreme conditions.

For one of these elements, if it is possible to detect a biochemical function in a vital tissue or organ, the element is assigned to the trace elements.

Main and trace elements have very varied functions, e.g., as electrolytes, as enzymes constituents and a building materials, e.g., in bones and teeth.

The importance of minerals as food ingredients depends not only on their nutritional and physiological roles. They contribute to food flavor and activate or inhibit enzymes- catalyzed and other reactions and they affect the texture of food.
Minerals in Food

Healthy Foods

Healthy Foods
If you could eat foods that were tasty, nutritious and helped reduce your risk of disease, what more could you want? The August issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource offers its 10 top picks for healthy foods:

Apples: Apples are a good source of pectin, a fiber that can lower cholesterol and glucose levels. They’re also a good source of vitamin C -- an antioxidant that protects your body’s cells. Vitamin C also keeps your blood vessels healthy and aids in the absorption of iron and folate.
Almonds: These nuts are packed with nutrients -- fiber, riboflavin, magnesium, iron, calcium and vitamin E, a natural antioxidant. They’re also good for your heart. Most of the fat in almonds is monounsaturated fat, which can help lower cholesterol levels when substituted for other fats. Most almonds are considered low sodium, with less than 140 milligrams of sodium an ounce.

Broccoli: Besides providing calcium, potassium, folate and fiber, broccoli contains phytonutrients -- compounds that may help prevent diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Broccoli contains the antioxidant beta-carotene and is also an excellent source of vitamin C. Blueberries: They are a rich, low-calorie source of fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients. Regular intake of blueberries may improve short-term memory and reduce the cellular damage associated with aging.
Red beans: Small red, pinto and dark red kidney varieties -- are an excellent low-fat source of antioxidants, protein, dietary fiber and copper. They’re also a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and thiamin.

Salmon: This fish is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are believed to provide heart benefits. Salmon is also low in saturated fat and cholesterol and is a good source of protein. If possible, choose wild salmon, which is less likely to contain unwanted chemicals such as mercury.
Spinach: It’s high in vitamin A, and also is a good source of calcium, folate, iron, magnesium, riboflavin and vitamins B-6 and C. The plant compounds in spinach may boost your immune system and help prevent certain types of cancer.
Sweet potatoes: The deep orange-yellow color of sweet potatoes tells you that they’re high in beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes are also high in vitamin C and a good source of fiber, vitamin B-6 and potassium. And, they’re fat-free and relatively low in calories.

Vegetable juice: This beverage is an easy way to include vegetables in your diet since it contains most of the same vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Tomato juice, and vegetable juices which include tomatoes, are good sources of lycopene, an antioxidant that may reduce the risk of heart attack and certain types of cancer. Be sure to select the low-sodium varieties.
Wheat germ: The germ at the center of the wheat seed is a concentrated source of nutrients. Two tablespoons provide a good source of thiamin, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. Sprinkle over cereals, yogurt and salads. Or use it in muffins, cookies and pancakes.

Source: Newstarget
Healthy Foods

Red Meat and Breast Cancer

Red Meat and Breast Cancer
Eating red meat may raise a woman’s risk of a common type of breast cancer, and vitamin supplements will do little if anything to protect her heart.

Women who ate more than 1½ servings of red meat per day were almost twice as likely to develop hormone-related breast cancer as those who ate fewer than three portions per week, one study found.

The other — one of the longest and largest tests of whether supplements of various vitamins can prevent heart problems and strokes in high-risk women — found that the popular pills do no good, although there were hints that women with the highest risk might get some benefit from vitamin C.

Antioxidants like vitamins C and E attach to substances that can damage cells. Scientists have been testing them for preventing such diseases as Alzheimer’s and cancer.

More than 8,000 women were randomly assigned to take vitamin C, E or beta carotene alone or in various combinations for nearly a decade. An additional 5,442 women took folic acid and B vitamin supplements for more than seven years.

Overall, there was minimal evidence of any cardiovascular benefit of any of these antioxidants and people should not start or continue taking them for that purpose. Among the 3,000 women in the study who had no prior heart disease but three or more risk factors for it, those who received vitamin C alone or in combination had a 42 percent lower risk of stroke. Smokers taking C also had a 48 percent lower risk.
Red Meat and Breast Cancer