Jacinto D.

Torres III BSCHEMV 4-A Food Chemistry

PROGRESS CHECK Week 11 to 13

1. The link between a material's equilibrium moisture content and the surrounding relative
humidity is described by sorption isotherms. The majority of materials show sorption
hysteresis, which means that, under the same environmental conditions, desorption results in
higher equilibrium moisture contents than absorption. The moisture sorption isotherm curve
describes the nonlinear relationship between water activity (aW) or ERH and water content in
food. This can be used to forecast the stability of food products over time and under various
storage settings. As aW decreases toward 0 (bound water), a relatively low equilibrium water
content is seen. As aW grows toward 1 (entrapped water), the water content of food increases
and is now referred to as bulk water.

2. In the liver, beta-carotene is transformed into vitamin A, and from one molecule of beta-
carotene, two molecules of vitamin A are produced. Beta-carotene is oxidized in the intestinal
mucosa of the small intestine, where it is converted into retinal by the enzyme beta-carotene
dioxygenase. Retinaldehyde reductase in the intestines reduces the retinal to retinol. As
hydrogen atoms are added, an aldehyde is reduced to create alcohol, retinol, or vitamin A.

3. Maintaining the food's quality and microbiological stability depends on managing the water
activity in the food. Consider in the figure the optimum or maximum necessary water activity
for the product and set a processing standard water activity below that figure to make a
business more cost-effective. But be careful not to go too far or too near, as this could change
the features of their products and lower their quality, taking into account processing and
analytical errors. By doing this, the factory could ensure product quality while using less energy
and money.

4. Hydrogen bonds occur in inorganic molecules, such as water, and organic molecules, such as
DNA and proteins. Hydrogen bonding in water contributes to its unique properties, including
its high boiling point (100 °C) and surface tension. In biology, intramolecular hydrogen bonding
is partly responsible for the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures of proteins and
nucleic acids. The hydrogen bonds help the proteins and nucleic acids form and maintain
specific shapes.

5. Arrangement in the sweet site of the two isomers syn (tasteless) and anti (very sweet) of the
oxime of anisaldehyde. The nitrogen atom and the hydroxyl group are hydrogen bonded to
(+) and (-) in a manner analogous to the oxygens and NH groups of saccharin, respectively.

Saccharin Anti-anisaldehyde oxime

The analogous structures both bind to the sweet taste receptors of the tongue as compared
to the syn isomer.