Biochemistry

Diet:

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If there is too much glucose in the blood, the liver links glucose molecules together to make
glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the liver cells. It can be broken down to form glucose again
when the body needs it.

In plants, glucose molecules are linked together in a slightly different way, to make starch.
Starch is stored in plant cells. It can be broken down to form glucose again when the plant
needs it.

Plants also make another carbohydrate, called cellulose. Cellulose molecules are also made of
many glucose molecules linked in a chain, but they form straight lines instead of coiling into
a spiral. Cellulose is used for making plant cell walls.

You can detect the presence of starch using iodine solution. This changes from brown to
blue-black if starch is present

Most sugars can be detected using Benedict’s solution. Benedict’s solution is blue, and it
changes to orange-red when it is heated with reducing sugars such as glucose. The colour
change is gradual, so the blue solution becomes green and yellow before finally turning
orange-red

Fats and oils

Fats and oils are also known as lipids. A fat is a lipid that is solid at room temperature, and an
oil is a lipid that is liquid at room temperature.

Fats and oils contain the three elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. You may remember
that carbohydrates also contain these elements. However, in fats, each molecule contains
much less oxygen than is found in a carbohydrate molecule.

Fat molecules are made of two kinds of smaller molecule – glycerol and fatty acids.

Fats are important for making cell membranes. They are also used as energy stores. Mammals
often have a layer of cells containing fat droplets beneath

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the skin. This fat-containing tissue is both an energy store and a heat insulating layer.

Fats and oils do not dissolve in water. However, they do dissolve in ethanol. We can use this
to detect their presence in food. First, the food is shaken with ethanol, to allow any fats in it
to dissolve in the ethanol. Next, the ethanol is poured into a clean tube containing water. If
there are fats in the ethanol, they form tiny droplets in the water, which give it a milky
appearance

The mixture of tiny droplets in water is called an emulsion, so this test is called the ethanol
emulsion test.

Proteins

Protein molecules contain four elements – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Some
proteins, but not all, also contain a small quantity of the element sulfur.

A protein molecule is made of a long chain of smaller molecules, called amino acids. There
are 20 different kinds of amino acid. Each kind of protein has different amino acids linked
together in a precise order. If even one amino acid is changed or moves into a different place
in the protein molecule, then we get a different protein. So, there is an almost infinite number
of different kinds of protein that can be made.

Proteins have many different functions in organisms. All enzymes are proteins. Antibodies,
which help to protect the body against pathogens, are proteins. So is haemoglobin, the red
pigment that transports oxygen in mammalian blood. Proteins are also important for forming
cell membranes in all organisms. In humans, hair and fingernails are made from a protein
called keratin.

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The structure of DNA

DNA is the material that makes up our genes and chromosomes. The nucleus of every cell in
the body (apart from red blood cells, which do not have a nucleus) contains DNA. We inherit
our DNA from our parents.

DNA is an amazing molecule. It carries a ‘code’, which instructs the cell which amino acids
to link together, in which sequence, to make proteins. The sequence of bases in the DNA
molecule determines the sequence of the amino acids that are used to build a protein.

Because proteins have so many different functions in organisms, DNA determines almost
everything about an organism’s body structure, and how its metabolic reactions take place.

DNA is made of smaller molecules called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a base. There
are four bases, A, C, G and T.

A DNA molecule contains two chains of nucleotides, coiled around one another. This shape
is called a double helix. The two chains or strands are held together by bonds that form
between the bases of opposite strands. A always forms bonds with T, and C with G. This is
called complementary base pairing.

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is when a person’s diet does not provide enough nutrients or the right balance of
nutrients for optimal health.
Causes of malnutrition include:

• unsuitable dietary choices

• having a low income

• difficulty obtaining food

• various physical and mental health conditions

Understanding: Malnutrition may be caused by a deficiency, imbalance, or excess of

nutrients in the diet.

Model sentence: Deficiencies, imbalances, or excesses of one or more nutrients in the diet
can result in malnutrition. Nutrition problems are collectively called malnutrition. There are
three situations in which malnutrition can occur. Here are examples of all three: Deficiency
of one or more essential nutrient(s): it is obvious that as a person grows, their skeleton must
grow as well. Most of the growth occurs at the ends of bones in areas called bone plates.

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When either vitamin D or the mineral calcium is not available, this growth does not occur in a
normal way. Instead the ends of the bones become irregularly shaped and unusually thick. In
children, this is a condition called rickets. The legs of children with rickets grow to become
highly bowed inward or outward. They will never achieve their full potential height. Adults
who do not consume enough vitamin D or calcium develop a condition called osteomalacia.
Their bones become soft, and bowing and fracturing are more likely.

Metabolic Reactions:

Anabolism type of metabolism in which smaller compounds are used to build larger
compounds in organisms synthesis constructing complex molecules from smaller, simpler
ones macromolecules large, complex organic molecules monomer a ‘building block’ unit of a
macromolecule condensation reaction a chemical reaction in which two monomers are
bonded together to form a larger molecule synthesized chemically created catabolism type of
metabolism in which larger compounds are broken down with the release of energy
hydrolysis a chemical reaction in which a larger molecule is split into two smaller molecules.

Uses of some minerals:

Some common minerals and some of their uses within the body:

• calcium – bone growth and repair

• magnesium – activation of many enzyme reactions

• iron – important component of haemoglobin.

Understanding: Starvation can lead to breakdown of body tissue.

Model sentence: Body tissues are digested when a person is starving. Earlier you read about
some health conditions that result when a specific nutrient is out of balance in the diet. But
what happens when almost no nutrients are available? The answer is that the body begins to
make use of its own stored nutrients.

You probably have seen photographs of people who are experiencing starvation conditions.
They often appear as is they have very little to no muscle. This is because they have used
their own skeletal muscle as a source of amino acids to make other proteins. The muscle is
still there but has become so thin that it is hardly noticeable.

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