BIOL 172 Chapter Notes - Chapter 41: Emulsion, Vitamin K, Cardiovascular Disease
Document Summary
An adequate diet must satisfy 3 nutritional needs: chemical energy for cellular processes, organic building blocks for macromolecules, essential nutrients. In addition to providing fuel for atp production, an animal"s diet must supply the raw materials needed for biosynthesis. To build the complex molecules it needs to grow, maintain itself, and reproduce, an animal must obtain 2 types of organic precursors from its food: organic carbon (such as sugar, organic nitrogen (such as protein) Starting with these materials, animals can construct a great variety of organic molecules. Obtained from an animal"s diet, essential nutrients include essential amino acids and fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. Animals require 20 amino acids to make proteins. Most animal species have the enzymes to synthesize about half of these amino acids, as long as their diet includes sulfur and organic nitrogen. The remaining amino acids must be obtained from food in prefabricated form and are therefore called essential amino acids.
