Interesting facts about food and nutrition

Bioflavonoids

Kinds of teas

What to do to prevent vitamin losses in food

Burning calories during different activities

Proper weight to height

Body Mass Index (BMI)

Stages of weight losing

Fruit and vegetable frozen food

Aspartame

Food allergies

Egg shells

Bioflavonoids

  Bioflavonoids are characteristic for plants phenol compounds, mostly yellow and colorless dyes of plants, soluble in water "companions" of vitamin C. About 5000 different bioflavonoids have been described. The six major subclasses of bioflavonoids include the flavones, flavonols, flavanones, flavanols, anthocyanidins and isoflavones. Bioflavonoids are helpful at vitamin C absorption and at protection of this vitamin against oxidation. Bioflavonoids generally increase condition of capillary vessels, seal and strengthen walls of blood vessels and their permeability, prevent bleeding, enhance blood flow in coronary vessels and decrease blood pressure, loosen smooth muscles of blood vessels, and gall ducts, are helpful at arteriosclerosis treatment, counteract allergy, mycosis, cancers and ulcers. The most well-known bioflavonoids are: rutin, hesperedin, quercetin and catechin.
  Rutin has an inhibiting effect on cancer cell metabolism and protects against cardiovascular disease. This bioflavonoid is useful for people who bruise easily or with slow healing wounds because of its strengthening effect on capillary walls. Rutin can help reduce tumors in colon cancer and has a preventative effect in diabetes. This bioflavonoid inhibits the formation of cataracts and can treat and prevent the symptoms of asthma and allergies. Rutin is occurring in citrus fruit, buckwheat, apple peel. 
  Hesperedin inhibits the release of histamine thus reducing allergic reactions and the symptoms of asthma, helps to control cholesterol in the blood, and has antioxidant, anti - carcinogenic and anti - inflammatory properties. Hesperedin is occurring in peel of citrus fruit.
  Quercetin has an antihistamine effect and can treat and prevent symptoms of asthma and allergies, prevents blood from thickening and forming clots, helps to reduce inflammation, boosts the immune system, and speeds up the production of enzymes that cleanse the body of carcinogens. High intake of this bioflavonoid is associated with lower risk of heart disease and stroke. Quercetin is thought to be more effective for regulating blood cholesterol than vitamin E. Quercetin we can found in onion husk, green tea, red wine, black grapes, Saint-John's-wort.
  Catechin is a powerful anti-oxidant that helps prevent free radical oxidative damage to cells. It also helps in the treatment and prevention of alcohol and chemical-induced liver disease or damage. Catechin is also valuable for its ability to neutralize intestinal toxins and assist in the stabilization of cell membranes. Catechin is occuring in teas (particularly green and white), grapes, berries, apples.
  They are also known as so-called vitamin P (the P standing for capillary permeability factor). Furthermore bioflavonoids occur in: grapefruits, apricots, cherries, grapes, papayas, broccoli, tomatoes, chamomile, liquorice, ginkgo, rue, black current, wild rose hips, oranges, elder, hawthorn. There is no RDA standards for bioflavonoids (vitamin P), perhaps because they naturally occur with vitamin C, but 500 mg per day is indicated for supplementation. Bioflavonoids are generally safe. Excesses will be stored to a limited extent in the body, though most of the excess will be eliminated in the urine and sweat. No consistent toxicity has been linked to the bioflavonoids. However, extremely high doses may cause diarrhea, pregnant women are advised not to take megadoses of bioflavonoids.

Kinds of teas

  The homeland of tea is China, where it has been grown for over five thousand years. Next Japanese, Koreans and people from South-east Asia began growing it. Just a thousand years ago Arabic merchants were successful at taking away dried tea leaves to Middle East. Tea reached Europe in the middle of the 16th century thanks Venetians, who were keeping lively contacts with Arabs and Turks. But until 1610 its deliveries were occasional, and dried pressed leaves were treated as an expensive medicine. Only regular deliveries from Japan by Dutchmen gave the beginning of career of this stimulant in Europe, one can divided teas into five kinds: white, green , yellow, red and black.

White tea
  It is mostly produced in China. It is made only of leaf buds. Leaf drooping is headed the action of steam. It is aimed to gradual loss of natural moisture from the leaves. There is no fermentation at all. Leaves after passing through the stage of drying have silver shade, delicate hair are visible. These are highly valued "gourmet stuff" on tea market. Infusion of white tea has light straw color and characterizes itself with delicate taste of fine aroma. It contains most theine what makes it have remarkably refreshing and stimulating properties.



Green tea
  It is produced in China and Japan. This tea is labeled as not-fermented because it does not go through oxidation process, its leaves keep green color. Collected leaves - after water vaporizing are rolled and dried at high temperature. Green tea contains theine, ethereal essences, amino acids, vitamins: C, K and B group, and also mineral ingredients. It has stimulating action, adjusts blood pressure, and furthermore it is said to possess bactericidal action, and because of this it has very good influence for digestive system and even anticancer features. It exhibits much bigger influence for human's organism than black tea. It works against calculi in liver, kidneys and bladder, lowers blood pressure, brings down bad cholesterol level. It has redemptional impact on urinary system preventing many dysfunctions. It results from its bactericidal properties. It also eases troubles connected with rheumatism in significant way and protects organism against its occurrence. Green tea has also action defending against arteriosclerosis.




Yellow tea
  It is produced in China and Taiwan. To its composition belong young leaves of tea shrub with not-bloomed buds. Technological process of leaf processing places yellow tea between green and half-fermented red ones, because of 13% of leaf oxidation process. Very delicate amber infusion distinguishes itself with the flavor harmony. Huge precision assisting leaf collection is tied with adequately high quality of yellow tea. It rarely occurs on European markets.



Red tea
  To this kind belong half-fermented teas. They come from China and Taiwan. Processing commences with the stage of leaf drooping. After loss of moisture leas are placed in rush baskets and from time to time shaken. It is to lead to rub edges of leaf plates. In consequence it simplifies proceeding of fermentation. Chemical compounds contained in leaf enter reaction with oxygen. After several hours this process is stopped by leaf drying. Special attention among red teas is paid to very slowly fermented Chinese Pu-Erh, which decreases level of cholesterol in blood, supports liver running, purifies organism and effectively fights overweight. In that way tea reaches unrepeatable health properties. The longer tea ages the stronger these properties are. It is combined with formation of special compounds - flavonoids. Red tea should not, as well as green one, be served with sugar which neutralizes the majority of its features.


Black tea
  Black teas are treated long process of production, which includes stages of leaf drooping, rolling, fermentation and drying. It causes that black tea has stimulating properties. About flavor qualities of these teas decide such factors as: country of origin, plantation, crop period or rate of leaf rolling. The best-species tea shrubs grow in high-mountain plantations in India (Darjeeling, Assam). It is associated with climatic conditions which are optimum there. To valued black teas we can class Chinese teas of exceptionally rich taste and interesting aroma. To exceptional teas Kenya Marinyn is classed - this representative of African plantations is famous of its delicate citrus aroma. For gourmets of strong essence infusions worth recommending are teas from Sri Lanka.

What to do to prevent vitamin losses in food

To prevent losses of natural vitamins in food try to:

• cook vegetables and fruit on steam best,

• if you cook vegetables in water do it in little amount of it, which can be used for sauces or soups,

• prepare meals as late as possible before serving them,

• definitely choose frozen food when having frozen and canned food to choose,

• cook frozen food without defrosting,

• prepare salads from freshly cut vegetables, otherwise they lose vitamins B and C,

• use vessels made of stainless steel; cooking in copper pots make meals poorer in vitamin C, E and folic acid,

• always buy fresh products, especially vegetables and fruit - only such quantity which can be used within several days,

• store pod vegetables, pasta, rice, flour in dark containers because sun rays destroy contained in them vitamin B₂,

• too long vegetable washing rinse out vitamins B and C, it is best to wash them using a brush in running water,

• do not expose milk and dairy products to sun ray action because they lose vitamins A, D, B₂,

• keep food requiring cooling in a fridge (at constant temperature up to 4°C) to prevent its going bad. In case of frozen food it is best to keep it at temperature under -18°C. canned and dried food should be stored in a cool and dry place.

Burning calories during different activities

  Presented below table shows approximate organism energetic expenses during different activities executing, expressed in kcal/h, which may vary from the real ones depending on metabolism of particular people.

Proper weight to height

  Conversion of weight and height units.

 The table gives proper weight for people at the age of about 30, dressed and wearing shoes. For older or younger people approximate correction should be implemented.

Proper weight in [kg] for women and men

Proper weight in [kg] for children

Body Mass Index (BMI)

  The amount of adipose tissue excess can be defined thanks Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI well shows the ratio between body mass and height.

BMI	=	Weight in [kg]
		Height in [m2]

How to determine your BMI in pounds [lb] and inches [in]? 

BMI	=	(Weight in [lb] ÷ 2,2)
		(Height in [in]÷ 39,37)2

People with BMI above 25 have overweight, while people with BMI from and up 30 are classified as the obese. Americans presume more rigorous evaluation and define obesity at BMI above 27,3 for women and above 27,8 for men. The last definition gains more and more ground.
   As it has been proved on the base of many researches BMI well correlates with adipose tissue mass and allows estimation of mortality and diseases hazard.

BMI interpretation:

   Increased value of BMI is associated with the increase of incidence on different diseases.

Stages of weight losing

  Often after several days of slimming we are delighted with its effects, not being conscious that we get rid of water instead of fat. Fat burning we can consider only after 11 days of a diet. And so the schedule of burning looks:

Stage 1: During first 3 days of a diet we lose 70% of water, 5% of proteins and 25% of fat.

Stage 2: Until the 13th day of the diet we lose 19% of water, 12% of proteins and 69% of fat.

Stage 3: Between the 21st and the 24th day of the diet we lose 15% of proteins and 85% of fat.

Stage 4: From the 24th day of the diet we lose 25% of proteins and 75% of fat.

To weight losing one needs determination and consistency.

Fruit and vegetable frozen food

  Season for frozen food lasts first of all in winter and early spring. Vegetables and fruit from previous year have already small value and there are no new ones; many additions to food are missing. It is worth to eat frozen food through the whole year because it is healthy and more and more variable.
  Freezing is the best form of food storage because frozen food loses several times less vitamins A, C and B group than during keeping fruit and vegetables when another storing method has been chosen. For example vitamin C losses during freezing and keeping at low temperature do not exceed 20%, and in traditional storing, for instance in a cellar, almost whole vitamin C and from 5 to 30% of vitamin A vanishes. For comparison compotes and jams are poorer in 35% of that vitamin, dried vegetables in about 50% and syrups till 75%. Additionally frozen products keep aroma and taste. Very remarkable advantage of frozen food is lack of preservatives of any kind. Sugaring, salting, marinating also cures food but it causes higher losses and taste change by implementing preservatives. Freezing is the only method of food preservation which does not cause loss of tasting and nutrient merits of products.
  Freezing is a complex process, which is headed several stages. Firstly vegetables and fruit are carefully collected in respect of high quality. Thanks this to production only the best fruit and vegetables are qualified. Next they are washed, cut and blanched (it is a process proceeding freezing which is based on short-lasting - several minutes - vegetables warming at the temperature of 85-100°C). blanching halts tissue enzymes action guarding against color and taste merits changes of frozen vegetables. Moreover microorganisms are annihilated. Blanching treatment is used to leaf vegetables, green pea, carrot, bean, asparagus, corn, cauliflower and broccoli. Furthermore this process causes that meals we cook need less time to be prepared after defrosting. At the end vegetables are very quickly frozen. It happens in special freezing tunnel in a stream of very cold air. Thanks the fact vegetables are frozen in that way the do not stick one another and keep their natural appearance and first of all their nutrient features.   For keeping nutrient values also right storage of frozen food and their preparing to consumption is important. It is best to cook fruit or vegetables at once after removing them from a freezer or defrost them directly before consumption and never in warm water. If food is not heat-treated it is better to defrost it in a fridge than at room temperature. It is very important that after defrosting - even partial - not to freeze it again. It may cause increment of dangerous for health bacteria. On each package of a frozen product such caution should be placed as well as many different pieces of information e.g. how long a dish can be stored depending on a temperature in a freezer.

Aspartame

   Aspartame, main ingredient of commonly applied sweeteners, is one of the most dangerous chemical compounds added to nourishment. Aspartame was discovered by accident in 1965 during research into medicine for ulcers. Firstly, from 1981 it was being added to dried food because it sweetened but it was "dietetic" contrary to ordinary sugars and it was of course cheaper, it could be manufactured at factories in any quantity. Then, from 1983 carbonated drinks were being sugared with aspartame - though on December 5th, 1974, after protests of scientists and doctors, American Food and Drug Agency overrode its permission (issued several months earlier) for use of that substance. Then again it was approved to use, when producers presented research results proving aspartame being totally safe.
  Aspartame consists of three compounds: aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. The most harmful is the last one because it decomposes to formic acid and formaldehyde - highly toxic neurotoxin. We often hear that people, who have drunk methanol, lose sight and even die. Maximal safe dose for us is 7,8 mg/daily, and a liter of drink sweetened with aspartame contains about 5 ml of methanol. Moreover, organism better absorbs free methanol, and this is created when consumed product (e.g. jelly sugared with aspartame) is warmed to temperature higher than 30°C. Excess of aspartic acid leads to death of some neurons in brain because it causes inflow of calcium to cells. Thanks this a plenty of free radicals, which kill these cells, are formed. This substance must not be taken by pregnant women, the older and children and chronically ill - for anything, especially for diabetes because it accelerates growth of illness connected with diabetes e.g. cataract. Similar poisonous properties has sodium glutamate (it is almost in all seasonings or soups in paper bags). Next aspartame ingredient - phenylalanine is an amino acid which also occurs in our brain. But in larger amounts it is exceptionally harmful - or even lethal - for suffering from phenylketonuria. In the rest of people (especially when they eat much sweeteners) it causes decrease of serotonin amount in brain what leads to e.g. depression.
  Sources of aspartame in food are: multivitamins, sugarless chewing gum, instant cocoa, medicines, drinks, sweeteners, drinks with tea, glazes, yogurts, jellies, fruit and milk drinks, dietetic drinks, instant coffee and tea, purgatives, frozen desserts, coffee drinks, mint drinks, breath refresheners.

Food allergies

   Nose catarrh, diarrhea, vomiting, larynx swell, asthmatic symptoms, dermal changes in form of eczema or urticaria may be allergic reactions. The problem of food allergy concerns more and more people, children as well as adults. Also the variety of substances, which are called allergens (antigens), causing different kinds of allergy widens. Human's organism treats them as foreign bodies and defends itself against them by producing antibodies recognized as allergic reactions. Allergic reactions to food are varied and depend not only on the sort of allergen but also on the organism reaction to particular allergen.
  The most frequent allergen is protein of: cow milk, hen egg, fish, meat, soybean and proteins of some vegetables and fruit (mainly bean, green pea, tomato, citrus fruit and banana).

• allergy to cow milk protein concerns mostly children and gets visible when mother's milk is replaced or even only filled with artificial mixtures. Main symptoms of that kind of allergy in babies are pouring off, vomiting, ventral colic, diarrhea, dermal changes (mainly on cheeks, so called lacquered blushes). More rarely the snuffles, cold and changes in bronchi occur,

• very similar symptoms occur in children, fed with mixtures based on soybean, who got the allergy to soybean protein. In adults the allergy to soybean protein, which is contained in such soybean products as sauces, flour, milk, cutlets and soups, first of all causes indigestion and headaches,

• the allergy to hen egg protein occurs after consumption of cakes, pasta, mayonnaise. Egg can also be included in composition of chocolate. The allergy to this kind of protein is a serious problem in babies and small children, and first of all it reveals itself with dermal changes. In the older the reactions of oversensitivity soften or totally concede. Allergic reaction may even occur in extraordinarily allergic people even after eating only yolk,

• some fish species may be the reason of allergy occurrence after consumption of fish meat, allergen reaching respiratory ducts (reaction to smell), or even after touching a plate with fish. Specially herring, mackerel, salmon, haddock (especially smoked) cause allergy. Their consumption may induce migraine, nausea, perturbation of intestine peristalsis, dermal changes, oral cavity and face swell. People allergic to fish may also have allergy to molluscs (oysters, mussels), crustacea (prawns, lobsters, crabs, crawfish) and also meat (if to feed one added fish flour) or meat products to which fish semi-finished products were added up,

• to allergic nourishment belong nuts: peanuts, walnuts, cashew and arachide oil,

• cheese demonstrates allergic action. It may induce migraine directly after its consumption. The reason of this is amine arising from tyrosine amino acid called tyramine, which causes changes in blood vessels of brain leading to occurrence of migraine fit. Most of this compound is contained in cheese with blue "veins" e.g. Roquefort, gorgonzola and cheddar, gruyere and parmesan,

• sulfates added to fruit, juices, wine, beer, vegetables, dishes from shellfish may lead to vomiting, bronchi spastic cramp or even symptoms of shock,

• popular flavor strengthener - monosodium glutamate - commonly existing in seasoning mixes, instant soups and Chinese cuisine, may be the cause of headaches, suffocation fits, face redness,

• also dye of tartrazine, which is used in drinks, ready-to-eat food and medicines (may cause bronchi cramp) and preservatives being derivatives of benzoic acid added to ready-to-eat products (they result in chronic urticaria).

Egg shells

   They are one of the best sources of calcium, which is absorbed by organism in approximately 90%. Apart from calcium in a shell all essential for organism microelements: zinc, iron, fluorine, sulphur, silicon, molybdenum - totally over 25 of them are contained. Scientists from Germany and Hungary, who had been researching for 15 years the influence of egg shell for human's organism spotted that in children and adults giving them egg shell resulted positively at brittleness of nails, hair, gum bleeding, constipation, hay fever, asthma. It turned out that egg shell not only strengthens osseous tissue but also removes from organism radioactive elements. Egg shell brings superb effects at treatment and prevention against osteoporosis. The method of egg shell use is simple, one does not have to pay any costs. Immense shells in boiling water for 5 minutes. Remain them until they are dry and grind them in a coffee grinder. Use from 0,5 to 1 g a day. They can be eaten by adding to groats and cottage cheese.