Questions tagged [nutrition]

The study of the appropriate provisions required to sustain life in an organism or the provisions themselves.

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Can humans survive without consuming life? [closed]

Some people say that it's awful that humans eat animals. They feel that it's barbaric, because you're killing life and then on top of that, you're eating it, and that you should eat vegetation ...
oshirowanen's user avatar
24 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why is it advised that infants are fed mother's milk?

I have heard that mother's milk is preferred over other baby foods, because it contains immunoglobulins (secretory IgA), and other essential nutrients. But why is mother's milk so special? Any ...
Mehul Sharma's user avatar
23 votes
1 answer
7k views

How can a drink contain 1.8 kcal energy while 0 g fat/carbs/protein?

How is it possible that the Red Bull Zero contains 0 gramms of fat, carbs and protein, but it still has 1.8 kcal of "energy". I always thought that the human body can gain energy only from 3 kinds of ...
Crouching Kitten's user avatar
19 votes
5 answers
9k views

Has there ever been an attempt to create nutritionally tailored food for adult human consumption?

For all domestic animals, and for all animals kept in laboratory, complete and precise composition of perfect food is figured out (cat food, dog food, cattle, rats, laboratory monkeys and apes) -- ...
Andrei's user avatar
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19 votes
1 answer
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Why do humans require vitamin B12 supplementation while herbivores do not?

This question came about from reading the comments of this (very unclear) question, which the author did not properly clarify. Vegans are often recommended to take vitamin B12 supplements, as the ...
March Ho's user avatar
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18 votes
1 answer
31k views

What is the composition of human feces?

Are there any studies or general information on the composition of human feces? I'd specifically like to know the percentage of carbohydrates and amino acids relative to the amount that was ingested ...
Jo Rijo's user avatar
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16 votes
2 answers
26k views

Can humans transdermally absorb minerals from ocean water, and if so how much?

According to several studies quoted here, chemicals can be absorbed by the skin transdermally, at least under certain conditions. When it comes to elements in seawater like sodium, magnesium, ...
user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
332 views

Relationship between our microbiome and personalized nutrition

Recently, it has been asked whether there are 'metabolic types' between humans that can benefit from a sort of personalized nutrition. One answer suggested that one discerning factor could be the ...
Gianpaolo R's user avatar
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15 votes
3 answers
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Spruce growing high up in a maple trunk: Can a partially rotted trunk completely sustain another tree?

I've come across a spruce tree that is growing 15ft up in the crotch of a sugar maple tree: According to Google StreetView, the spruce has been there since before 2007 (over 10 years ago!). I've ...
User1974's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
33k views

How do large herbivores get enough protein?

The food they eat seem extremely low on protein. Do they need less protein per mass unit than carnivores? Most of them grow quite a lot in the first year, is most of that from the mothers milk?
Euphorbium's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
557 views

What are the survival limitations of alcohol?

This question was inspired by watching one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies; particularly where Jack Sparrow allegedly survives on a desert island by finding an unlimited supply of rum. I've ...
WannabeCoder's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
604 views

Do macrophages get nutritional value from the pathogens that they eat?

X-posted on reddit AskScience here. I know that macrophages engulf foreign bodies and transport them to various waste excretion pathways (sorry if the terminology is wrong), and if the foreign bodies ...
sigil's user avatar
  • 201
10 votes
1 answer
223 views

How does a garlic clove thrive inside a closed refrigerator?

A garlic clove has been growing very well inside a closed refrigerator. It has developed beautiful green stalks, which I think are the equivalent of leafs. Since they are green, I assume they ...
End Anti-Semitic Hate's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
5k views

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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9 votes
1 answer
4k views

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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9 votes
1 answer
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Is palmitic acid really that dangerous?

According to Wikipedia, "Palmitic acid is the most common saturated fatty acid found in animals, plants and microorganisms. It is also the first fatty acid produced during fatty acid synthesis and is ...
ManRow's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
715 views

Possible to Gain More Weight than the Food You Eat

I was wondering if it's possible to gain more weight than the mass of the food you eat. At a first look, this is impossible because of the principle of mass conservation, but are there other things to ...
Paul Manta's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
299 views

Do blood glucose "spikes" contribute to insulin resistance, or is prolonged elevation required?

There's increasing public discussion about the health risks of chronic insulin resistance* (IR). In many cases there's a focus on high glycemic index foods that "spike" your blood sugar, which implies ...
octern's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
14k views

What is the distinction between the terms detrivores, decomposers, saprotrophs and saprozoic organisms?

All of them feed on dead and decaying matter (detritus). Detrivores and decomposers are distinct, as it says on Wikipedia, in the fact detrivores consume macroscopic clumps of detritus while ...
Charles's user avatar
  • 759
8 votes
2 answers
628 views

How was the guided daily amount (GDA) calculated?

We are constantly shown nutritional information on food packaging stating this food contains "x" amount of your guided daily amount. A linked to the values is here. How were these values calculated? ...
harpalss's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
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How long do fishes survive in a milk environment?

Suppose you placed a fish, a goldfish for example, into milk instead of water. How long could you expect the fish to survive? Would it die due to lack of oxygen? Is there any other factor that could ...
curious_about_fish's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
634 views

Tap vs. mineral water for drinking

I was told a human should drink a small glass (0,3 liter) of mineral water per day to get the minerals. What is the rationale behind this? What is the difference between tap water and mineral water in ...
Kozuch's user avatar
  • 231
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is cyanocobalamin toxic?

I see that cyanocobalamin is not naturally occurring, and is synthesized in vivo to methylcobalamin. As part of the synthetic pathway, cyanide is broken off. All opinions I can find are that this isn'...
user4779's user avatar
  • 351
7 votes
2 answers
539 views

Is there a biological reason for spreading food intake into breakfast-lunch-dinner?

I keep hearing over an over how humans can satisfy their entire daily caloric need in one sitting at a fast food restaurant. At the same time I'm looking at the kitchen plates, cups, etc, and they ...
Alex Stone's user avatar
  • 6,515
7 votes
3 answers
244 views

Is there evidence to suggest that nutrients in vitamin capsules are not as readily absorbed as the same nutrients in whole foods?

I recently fell ill with a cold, and began to take a vitamin C capsule each day to help my immune system. When I noticed no change in my condition, I began to incorporate an abundance of citrus into ...
Andrew's user avatar
  • 235
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Do plants have preference for the form of nitrogen as nutrient?

In the nitrogen cycle (ecology), it is usually described that plants can use nitrogen in the form of ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-). Do plants prefer one form of nitrogen over the other?
quibble's user avatar
  • 662
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Can carnivores survive on a (processed) vegetarian diet? Why or why not?

There are many differences in for example the digestive system between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. It seems that in certain kinds of species adaptability with respect to diet is possible. ...
St.Clair Bij's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

How does a glucose molecule enter the cell from blood vessel?

The transporters in the plasma membrane of the cells promote the entry of glucose molecules from the extracellular matrix to the cytosol of the cell. Could someone explain how does the nutrient ...
Natasha's user avatar
  • 183
7 votes
1 answer
4k views

Powdered meal replacement vs regular meal

Can a person live with this alternative nutrition? Of course, assuming that eating pleasure is assumed the same. The nutrients that contain are far better than average meal a person eats the majority ...
biotech's user avatar
  • 971
6 votes
5 answers
2k views

Why do the humans become sleepy after meals?

I don't know about all the mankind, but I know enough people, who becomes sleepy after their meals. Also, I'm not sure, what kind of food do they consume, but I personally get sleepy almost from any ...
abyss.7's user avatar
  • 211
6 votes
1 answer
13k views

What does the term 'bioavailability' mean?

From what I've read, Bioavailability is the degree to which food nutrients are available for absorption and utilization in the body. How would you explain this with an example?
cpx's user avatar
  • 503
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

How is a substance classified as a vitamin?

From wikipedia A vitamin is an organic compound and an essential nutrient that an organism requires in limited amounts. There are many essential nutrients to an organism. Glucose for example. ...
jong-hyeon-yeo's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
178 views

laboratory mice, nutrition, and humans

It seems that many nutrition experiments [directed at human diet] are carried on laboratory mice. Is there any justification that nutrition that is good or bad for laboratory mice will also be same ...
Andrei's user avatar
  • 1,013
6 votes
1 answer
146 views

Do cochineals ("scale bugs") form aluminium complexes themselves? Where do they get such large quantities so quickly and how do they handle it safely?

Wikipedia's Carmine begins: Carmine (/ˈkɑːrmən, ˈkɑːrmaɪn/) – also called cochineal (for the insect from which it is extracted), cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake – is a pigment of a ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 5,418
6 votes
1 answer
186 views

Why are plants unable to take up Phosphorus directly in their organic form like Phytic Acid?

I am researching acquisition strategies of phosphorus by decidious trees. I am reading a lot that plants take up nutrients as their inorganic form. In the case of P according to literature this is ...
Florian's user avatar
  • 61
6 votes
2 answers
251 views

Do omnivore mammals vary food preferences based on dietary needs?

I'm wandering if mammals that can eat many different kinds of food (omnivores) vary their preference for food not only based on the availability, but also based on dietary needs? I'm looking at this ...
Alex Stone's user avatar
  • 6,515
6 votes
1 answer
82 views

Vitamin and mineral contents of common fruits

I'm looking for nutritional data, mostly vitamin and mineral contents of common fruits, such as apples, bananas, oranges, kiwis etc. Are there scientific (published and peer-reviewed) sources that ...
Stockfisch's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
258 views

functional hypocholesterolemia due to very high HDL or low LDL?

Nutritional and medical recommendations about cholesterol seem to focus exclusively on hypercholesterolemia, and as such, they provide only a maximum desirable level for LDL and a minimum for HDL. I'...
octern's user avatar
  • 670
5 votes
2 answers
441 views

What vitamins exist for other animals but not humans?

As you probably know, humans are among the minority of animals that require Vitamin C and don't produce it ourselves. For whatever reason (multiple theories exist), we lost the ability. Meanwhile, the ...
TheEnvironmentalist's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

What are 'acid stable' amino acids?

I tend to see terms amino acid, acid stable amino acid, and free amino acids used often in ...
ppen's user avatar
  • 53
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

Nutrient limitation in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems

In terms of primary production, it is often described in textbooks that nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient in terrestrial ecosystems, while phosphorus is the most limiting nutrient in freshwater ...
quibble's user avatar
  • 662
5 votes
5 answers
4k views

Why can't you just take a vitamin? Why you need a healthy diet on top of that?

From what I understand, your body needs certain amounts of vitamins and minerals to maintain health. Why can't we just take enough pills to obtain these vitamins and minerals?
user6035's user avatar
  • 275
5 votes
1 answer
744 views

Mites on ginger root

I was just looking at some mouldy ginger found in the fridge under the microscope and was horrified/delighted to find (what looked to be) mites growing in it. I have searched the web and can only find ...
user5516's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
740 views

What are minerals (other than zinc) that the human body cannot store

It is known that zinc is an essential mineral that the body cannot store. What are other minerals, especially metals, that the body cannot store? (other than water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin B ...
yoyostein's user avatar
  • 191
5 votes
1 answer
108 views

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
5 votes
1 answer
22k views

Which are mobile and immobile elements in plants?

I am confused with this element or nutrient classification in the plants, since some authors set elements like $\ce{S}$ and $\ce{Ni}$ as mobile and other as immobile elements (Citation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). ...
Darwin PC's user avatar
  • 370
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Fats as energy source

As we know that the preferred source of energy for our body (source) are carbohydrates but heart muscle is an exception and need some explanation for this exception, that why the preferred source of ...
katherinebridges's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
3k views

How do roots obtain nutrition?

I have a city garden (see picture below) and yesterday I was nurturing it and I pulled up a small plant. I saw its root system and laid it in the sun to dry a bit and then scraped of the rest of the ...
user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the cause of a protuberant belly in kwashiorkor?

Kwashiorkor is a PEM (Protein–energy malnutrition) usually characterised by a pot belly. Why is there a pot belly in the case of a malnutrition? I have found contradictory reasons. This paper says ...
Bipasha's user avatar
  • 954
4 votes
2 answers
406 views

Why are dietary recommendations for methionine consumption combined with cysteine?

I want to understand the amino acids missing in certain vegetables. I looked up the US recommendations for amino acids (source: wikipedia). I don’t understand why they pair Methionine + Cysteine: 25 ...
Stan Shunpike's user avatar

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