Questions tagged [food]

Any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the organism.

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What do bloodsucking animals actually feed on?

A number of animals, including mosquitos, leeches, ticks and so on, feed on blood. And yet, at least in mammals, most stored nutrients can be found in body fat as fat, muscles and liver as glycogen ...
TheEnvironmentalist's user avatar
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1 answer
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Can we digest food as well as herbivores [duplicate]

I heard some guy say that we can't digest plant food as well as herbivores. Which seems weird to me seeing as how humans can survive without any nutrient deficiencies besides b12 on only plants but we ...
Charles Barley's user avatar
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Is there such substances that body can only send to storage (as fat)?

I watched video with statement that there are such part of substance in potato chips which body can't use ("empty calories"), that they surely will be stored as fat. It was here on 12:23: https://...
R S's user avatar
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Does food really give our bodies the energies that we have determined by burning them in the lab?

You are likely to have come across numbers like sugars 17kJ/g (4kcal/g) as the energy supposedly available to our bodies after eating. Yet these values have been determined using very artificial means,...
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7 votes
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Is bad tasting food more likely to cause harm?

Taste is often referred to as subjective. For example certain foods taste bad to me, such as oranges, grapefruit, grapes, raisins, and sweet potatoes. However the wiki article on taste explains that ...
Santropedro's user avatar
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What are the obstacles to "refitting" the human body's metabolism?

As a layman, I understand the problem of rising obesity like this: In the old times, humans could never get enough food, thus they would eat whatever they could get. This "program" is encoded in our ...
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Is there an ecological scenario where terrestrial insect larvae can show food choices?

I have been going through literature on insect food choices. I plan to study the effect of prior experience on food choices in both adults and larvae of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. ...
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Variation of nutrients in food

Recently when buying food, mainly vegetables, I started looking at the nutritional values. Now for some reason the Dutch broccoli has way less protein (~2g/100g) than the German one (~8g/100g). ...
PvdL's user avatar
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Besides fruits and milk, what other things in nature are "intended" to be eaten? [closed]

Besides fruits and milk, what other examples are there in nature where it is beneficial for a species to have some part of its biomass eaten by others so that it evolved to produce nutritious parts to ...
Anixx's user avatar
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Do organic veggies contain more pesticides than regular food?

Since organic farms can only use "natural" organic approved pesticides rather than frequently more effective "synthetic" pesticides in use by other farms, does it mean that, on average per kg of ...
Sergei's user avatar
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Rust on kettle dangerous to consume?

I recently traveled to Japan, where I picked up a cast-iron kettle known as a tetsubin. When I opened it up, I found that the inside was heavily rusted. Rust is a result of various combinations of $\...
Niels Kornerup's user avatar
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Why bananas accumulate a radioactive isotope of potassium (K40)?

A quick google search reveals many pages that intend to calm consumers down and assure them that quantities of radioactive potassium in bananas (K40 isotope) is not sufficient to be concerned about, e....
Sergei's user avatar
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What type of Gorgonzola cheese fungus/bacteria is this?

I have purchased a gorgonzola cheese and it came with some orange/yellow fungus/bacteria in the cheese's surface. Anyone know what kind of fungus/bacteria it is, and if it's safe to eat?
Tiago Stapenhorst's user avatar
5 votes
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How does the human stomach handle a mix of digested and undigested food?

As I understand it, the stomach digests the bolus into chyme and then passes the latter on to the small intestine. This process takes between 40 minutes and a few hours. However, what happens when ...
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Why do blue jays eat my cat food?

We buy some run of the mill big-box store cat food. Over the last several weeks, I've observed a blue jay landing on the cat food dish, taking a piece or two, and flying off with it. I assumed it was ...
Wayne Werner's user avatar
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Living on pure glycogen?

I was recently fascinated when I learned about polysaccharides (I am a biology newbie) and was wondering about some of their properties. After doing some googling I was unable to find any information ...
DivideByZero's user avatar
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How do organoarsenics improve digestion efficiency in poultry?

It struck me as very surprising that these organoarsenic compound with structure looking not very compatible with living system is widely used as food additive to increase weight gain and improve food ...
wuschi's user avatar
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What is this white stuff inside apples?

I live at Vancouver, BC, Canada and I often find this kind of white stuff inside the apples I buy I used to live in Europe (Switzerland) and never saw that before. It very much look like a fungus. Is ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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What makes something food?

From my (limited) understanding, animals get energy from food by breaking chemical bonds between molecules. There's a lot of water here [citation needed], so it seems like natural selection would ...
Eli Rose's user avatar
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Would it be possible to eat things from another planet [closed]

Although at first glance my question is perhaps better suited for a space exploration or sci-fi forum I looked and felt this forum was more appropriate. What makes plants and animals edible and ...
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1 answer
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In flowering plants food is transported in which form? [closed]

In flowering plants food is transported in which form? I searched on google and found that it is sucrose. Why not glucose/fructose/starch?
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15 votes
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Why do Hot/Cold drinks taste sweeter once returning to room temperature?

Now, I know this is a very bizarre question, and I tried to find a correct exchange for this, but it might relate to biology/science as it being our taste buds and everything. I am so sorry if there ...
sparcut's user avatar
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How does consumption of vinegar affect food chemistry?

For example: does consumption of vinegar somehow change digestion of flour (bread, cakes, pasta, puffs) ? May be there are some benefits to eat flour meal with vinegar ?
R S's user avatar
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Which species of Agave are known to have inedible flowers?

It is well documented that many species of Agave have edible flowers, however I keep coming across statements to the effect that "most species" of Agave have edible flowers. This implies that it is ...
botanica's user avatar
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To what extent does the cooking time impact the nutritional content when boiling potatoes?

I wonder to what extent the cooking time impacts the nutritional content when boiling unpeeled potatoes with unsalted water. http://www.livestrong.com/article/340060-does-boiling-potatoes-reduce-...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
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Why is it common to grow microalgae in bottles or canisters?

I came across many people growing Chlorella or Spirulina types of microalgae, inside bottles or canisters and that that they also bubbled CO2 into these containers artificially. This question is ...
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5 votes
1 answer
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Enzymes and Digestion

If biological enzymes (protease,amylase,lipase etc.) just speed up the reaction (in the digestion process), then what actually digests the food?? (I'm a secondary student)
Abdelrahman Ragab's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
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Do animals have different taste preferences within the same species?

Humans (especially children...) seem to dislike certain foods or drinks, that other humans seem to like. Common examples are coffee, french cheeses, olives, milk, fish and cabbage. Are there examples ...
RHA's user avatar
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Anatomical differences between herbivores and omnivores [closed]

What are differences of herbivores vs omnivores? I do not mean dietary differences (obviously), but physical ones. E.g., afaik herbivores have a much longer digestive tract than carnivores; then ...
foaly's user avatar
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Can an emulsion enter a cell?

I've been tempted on cooking.stackexchange to answer a question, and I did, out of my mind. (In retrospect, I shouldn't have done so, based on my lack of citable resources.) I've heard that a water ...
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3 answers
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Are chilies technically peppers?

Nando's chain of restaurants (UK) refers to chili peppers as just "chilies". My friend and I had a discussion with regard to whether chilies can be called "peppers" or if they do not belong to the ...
Badalyan's user avatar
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Are human beings evolved to eat meat? [duplicate]

I know humans can cook and prepare almost anything, but are humans specifically adapted to eat meat? One of my doubts humans are not particularly well adapted to eat meat because they lack canine ...
munish's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
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Why do carnivores evolve?

If humans can live without consuming other animals, then why do we do it? From a biological point of view, why do we eat meat? I would also extend the question to other animals because many animals ...
Ana S. H.'s user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Does food continue to stay sequential once it is inside my body?

I may be very off on many scientific details here, but I'm always all ears. As far as I understand, any food that is eaten goes to the stomach, gets broken down even further into smaller food ...
andeart's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
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Why doesn't pure fat taste better than pure sugar? [closed]

I mean looking from evolutionary perspective sugar tastes sweet and individuals that had this perception ate more sugar and survived and those that didn't perceive sugar as sweet didn't eat it and ...
Matas Vaitkevicius's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
456 views

Why do children prefer sweeter foods?

As we get older, we tend to lose our sweet tooth and become more tolerant to bitter foods, like vegetables. However, I never understood how this works. Why is it that children prefer sweeter foods, ...
Sir Cumference's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
6k views

How much do crocodiles eat?

How much do crocodiles eat? The closest I found to an answer was on German wikipedia, where it says that adult nile crocodiles eat "only about 50 full meals a year." While interesting, without knowing ...
mart's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
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Do any animals prepare food?

I was just wondering if any animals (are smart enough to) enhance the flavor of their food by, for example, mixing ingredients or seasoning or letting it cure in some ways. In the first episode of ...
amphibient's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
4k views

Where does fungus store excess food?

Can anyone pin point, as to where and how, the excess food is stored in fungus (mushroom to be specific). Like plants store as starch granules, so where does mushroom store?
Varsha's user avatar
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9 votes
3 answers
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Where can you find the quantities of each amino acid of a particular protein or food?

Taking a potato as an example. If I wanted to know how much µg or % of each of it's amino acids there are in 1 gram of pure potato protein, where can I find this information? Is there a freely ...
Happy's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Why does our mouth "water"?

Whenever we see something delicious, rapid salivation starts in our mouth. Also, it doesn't happen for all other food, which we eat regularly. So, Is there any particular use of "rapid salivation"? ...
Snazzy Sanoj's user avatar
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1 answer
51 views

What could make a person get ill from not eating often enough? [closed]

Say a person needs to eat every 3 hours, or s\he gets physically ill with fatigue and cold sweating, and this is the case every day. What could cause this?
Berit Larsen's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
6k views

Why do specifically bananas go brown quicker in the fridge?

Perhaps the title should be: Why don't all fruits containing phenol residues go brown quickly when left in the fridge? Bananas go brown over time because of the oxidation of phenol residues. ...
James's user avatar
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Examining milk for presence of harmful bacteria

I am not experienced in diagnostic bacteriology and am interested in understanding more about it in the context of analyzing food purity. For example, imagine I have a supply of raw milk which might ...
Imprisoned Rhesus's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
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Needle-like crystals observed in wild-grape wine under microscope. Potentially harmful?

I recently crushed and strained about thirty pounds of wild grapes to ferment into wine. About a month in, I did a visual inspection of the wine under microscope to try and identify some yeast and ...
Franklin P Combs's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
368 views

Why don't bacteria eat food leftovers?

I have thrown a dirty spoon after eating some pasta into one of my desk drawers (doesn't do me much honor). It stayed there for around a year. My house is warm and I think there is enough humidity for ...
Matas Vaitkevicius's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

What happens to the food you accidentally aspire?

I'm well aware of the health effects of aspirating solid food and liquids, but I'm interested in the reaction of the body on the biological level to the strange body on our lungs. After I almost ...
Freedo's user avatar
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10 votes
4 answers
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Does a microwave oven disinfect food?

Imagine I am preparing food -- just about to put it into a microwave oven -- and some of it falls on the floor. Assuming it got some bacteria or other organisms (viruses?) on it, will the microwave ...
noncom's user avatar
  • 546
7 votes
1 answer
200 views

Does the human body metabolize what it smells, even in trace amounts?

I conjectured to a friend that some small amount of anything we smell is likely metabolized by the body. He disagreed. My thinking is that, if you are smelling something, some portion of molecules are ...
Becca's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
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Do mantises stalk cicadas?

The Chinese Idiom The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind (螳螂捕蝉,黄雀在后), which the story behind the idiom comes from Shuo Yuan(说苑), refers to those who are attracted by immediate ...
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