Food and Nutrient
Food and Immune System: Nutrients
Nutrients directly related to the immune system
Vitamin C increases the production of interferon (a substance that prevents cell to a wide range of viruses cause infection), so that immunity can be enhanced. In addition, this vitamin is needed to form collagen, an essential component of cell membranes, so that vitamin C helps maintain the natural barriers against infection.
Food Sources: Guava, kiwi, mango, pineapple, persimmon, citrus, melon, strawberries, berries, peppers, tomatoes, vegetables of the cabbage family, fruits and vegetables in general.
Vitamin E studies have shown to increase the immune response (administered 200 mg/day of vitamin A to people who did not follow a healthy diet and low defenses, and significantly improved immune response).
Food sources: wheat germ oil, soybean oil, wheat germ and whole grains (bread, rice and wholemeal pasta, etc.) Olive oil (mainly extra virgin cold-pressed) green leafy vegetables and nuts. Read the rest of this entry »
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Food and Immune System
Prolonged stress, poor diet, sudden changes in temperature or insufficient rest cause our body will suffer and go down our defenses.
There are signs, as pupae in the lips, tiredness more than usual, slow to heal wounds, muscle pain without exercise or fragile hair, which reveal that our body’s defenses are low. While ideally avoid, as far as possible, habits and situations that weaken our bodies, proper nutrition can also help to overcome hard times, it reinforces the immune system, which protects us from bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.
A balanced diet strengthens the immune system
Apparently energy intake has an evident influence on immune activity, both excess and defect calories. Excessive energy intake can affect the immune system’s ability to fight infections, so that obesity is linked to an increased incidence of infectious diseases. In addition, obese people are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, which in turn are linked to alterations in immune function. But the undernourished have an increased risk of infections, like those who are slimming diets of less than 1,200 calories a day or other the greatest number of calories but unbalanced, because these diets can decrease immune function. Read the rest of this entry »
Food Assimilation: Disorders of Digestion and Absorption
How are disorders of digestion and absorption?
Correction of the cause:
These disorders are treated by attempting to correct the cause that produces them. If the alteration is a pancreatic enzyme deficiency, they can be given in capsule form to try to replace the function of the pancreas. Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten from the intestine determines an alteration of intestinal cells. Gluten is found in several cereals (wheat, oats, barley, rye) and food containing them, which would be removed from the diet. Etc. Read the rest of this entry »
Food Assimilation: Malabsorption and Merabolic Disorders
What diseases appear when they get upset?
Given the complexity of all these functions the amount of alterations that can occur is wide.
Basically separate digestive disorders (maldigestion) and absorption, which alterations are included within the general term of malabsorption syndrome, and consider separately the alterations of metabolism.
Clearly, if there is malabsorption metabolic alterations occur, but there may be no impairment of metabolic absorption (once absorbed nutrients are reprocessed, degraded, stored, and so on. And these levels may be many metabolic disorders). Read the rest of this entry »
Food Assimilation: Absorption and Metabolism
How is absorption?
Absorption takes place through the cells in the gastrointestinal tract, mainly in the small intestine. These cells have many folds so that the surface absorption is maximized. The total intake capacity of the small intestine is enormous: up to several kg of carbohydrates, 500 – 1000 gr. fat, and 20 or more liters of water a day. The large intestine primarily absorbs water and minerals. Once absorbed nutrients enter the blood, where they are distributed to different organs.
The whole digestive process is regulated by the nervous system and for different specific hormones. The mental state affects the digestive process through the nervous system. Read the rest of this entry »
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Food Assimilation
Human beings need materials that build or repair their own body energy to do work and regulators that control this process.
Nutrition includes a set of processes by which our body features, processes and uses nutrients in food to stay alive and perform all its functions.
One can say that our body lives of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and other essential elements (vitamins and minerals). However, none of them can be absorbed as such, so no nutritive value until they are digested.
Digestion converts carbohydrates, fats and proteins into compounds that can absorb glucose, fatty acids and amino acids, respectively. Read the rest of this entry »
Controversies in The Use of Transgenic Food
Controversies in the use of these foods
The fierce opposition from environmental organizations has made the European Union has granted in recent years, no clearance to market genetically modified organisms. Referring to point out that the main health risks are less responsive to antibiotics if they eat foods with modified genes resistant to these drugs and the proliferation of allergies, in addition to potential cancer risks.
Proponents argue that these foods are safe, that scientific studies have proven to be safe enough for health, although the controls are based primarily on the non-toxicity and digestibility of these foods and the environment, and that the opposition environmental alarmism is simply irrational and atavistic fear of progress. One expert has even stated that “the safety criteria required of transgenic plants would be impossible to meet many other commonly consumed food products and so present in our social life such as alcohol, snuff, the plane or car. ” None of the traditional food has passed tests as rigorous as those which have been applied to GM foods. Read the rest of this entry »
Transgenic Food: Risks to The Environment
What are the main issues of concern to human health?
- The possibility of allergic reactions: No allergic effects have been found in relation to GM foods currently on the market after extensive controls.
- Gene transfer: gene transfer of these genetically modified foods to human cells or bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract would cause concern if the transferred genetic material adversely affect human health. Although the probability of transfer is low, it has emphasized the use of technology that does not require antibiotic resistance genes that could be the most problematic.
- Crossing external species. Receive this name the movement of genes from GM plants to crops or wild plants, as well as the mix of crops from conventional seeds with those obtained using genetically modified plants. Read the rest of this entry »
What are Genetically Modified Foods?
Few issues related to the use of gene technology have organized such a stir as Genetically Modified foods (GM foods). Environmental organizations have launched various campaigns warning of the risks that entails distribution of such foods on the health of people and the environment, even without providing conclusive evidence.
What are GM foods?
Genetically engineered foods are those that come from plants genetically modified by techniques in which man alters the genetic material of organisms (DNA) in an artificial way, or does not occur normally in nature.
This technology has different names, such as biotechnology, genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, or simply genetic engineering, and basically involves the transfer of certain selected genes from one organism to another organism or even other unrelated species. Read the rest of this entry »
Protective effect of caffeine for the memory in women
Drink at least three cups of coffee per day, or six cups of tea, would have beneficial effects on memory and cognitive abilities of women aged 65 and over by a French research published in the journal Neurology.
Woman drink Coffee
The study by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in collaboration with the University of Lisbon, reviewed
for four years the effects of caffeine on cognitive function (mental abilities) in a group of 4197 women and 2820 men aged 65 and older.
Taking into account several factors that may affect cognitive performance (age, education, cardiovascular disease, depression, etc..) Analysis shows that women who drank at least three cups of coffee a day have a lower probability of 33% decline verbal memory and 18% of the visual and spatial memory compared with women not drinking one cup per day or less.
The benefits of caffeine on memory increase with age. “Our results show that more women are moving away from menopause, the greater the benefit of caffeine is important,” said Karen Ritchie, head of the study.
It remains to understand why caffeine protects only women: “It is possible that men and women metabolize caffeine differently or even that there is a hormonal interaction,” suggests the researcher.
Research on mice has suggested that caffeine blocked the accumulation of proteins that leads to mental decline.