Food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. Different species of animals have different feeding behaviours that satisfy the needs of their metabolisms and have evolved to fill a specific ecological niche within specific geographical contexts.
The food system has significant impacts on a wide range of other social and political issues, including
Definition and classification
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support and energy to an organism.[2][3] It can be raw, processed, or formulated and is consumed orally by animals for growth, health, or pleasure. Food is mainly composed of water, lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates. Minerals (e.g., salts) and organic substances (e.g., vitamins) can also be found in food.[4] Plants, algae, and some microorganisms use photosynthesis to make some of their own nutrients.[5] Water is found in many foods and has been defined as a food by itself.[6] Water and fiber have low energy densities, or calories, while fat is the most energy-dense component.[3] Some inorganic (non-food) elements are also essential for plant and animal functioning.[7]
Human food can be classified in various ways, either by related content or by how it is processed.[8] The number and composition of food groups can vary. Most systems include four basic groups that describe their origin and relative nutritional function: Vegetables and Fruit, Cereals and Bread, Dairy, and Meat.[9] Studies that look into diet quality group food into whole grains/cereals, refined grains/cereals, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, eggs, dairy products, fish, red meat, processed meat, and sugar-sweetened beverages.[10][11][12] The Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization use a system with nineteen food classifications: cereals, roots, pulses and nuts, milk, eggs, fish and shellfish, meat, insects, vegetables, fruits, fats and oils, sweets and sugars, spices and condiments, beverages, foods for nutritional uses, food additives, composite dishes and savoury snacks.[13]
Food sources
In a given ecosystem, food forms a
Humans are omnivores, finding sustenance in vegetables, fruits, cooked meat, milk, eggs, mushrooms and seaweed.
Bacteria
Without bacteria, life would scarcely exist because bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into nutritious
Plants
Photosynthesis is the source of most energy and food for nearly all life on earth.[26] Photosynthesis is one main source of biomass, the food for plants, algae and certain bacteria and, indirectly, organisms higher in the food chain.[27][28] Energy from the sun is absorbed and used to transform water and carbon dioxide in the air or soil into oxygen and glucose. The oxygen is then released, and the glucose stored as an energy reserve.[29]
Plants also absorb important nutrients and minerals from the air, natural waters, and soil.[30] Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen are absorbed from the air or water and are the basic nutrients needed for plant survival.[31] The three main nutrients absorbed from the soil for plant growth are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, with other important nutrients including calcium, sulfur, magnesium, iron boron, chlorine, manganese, zinc, copper molybdenum and nickel.[31]
Plants as a food source are divided into seeds, fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and nuts.[32] Where plants fall within these categories can vary, with botanically described fruits such as the tomato, squash, pepper and eggplant or seeds like peas commonly considered vegetables.[33] Food is a fruit if the part eaten is derived from the reproductive tissue, so seeds, nuts and grains are technically fruit.[34][35] From a culinary perspective, fruits are generally considered the remains of botanically described fruits after grains, nuts, seeds and fruits used as vegetables are removed.[36] Grains can be defined as seeds that humans eat or harvest, with cereal grains (oats, wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, sorghum and millet) belonging to the Poaceae (grass) family[37] and pulses coming from the Fabaceae (legume) family.[38] Whole grains are foods that contain all the elements of the original seed (bran, germ, and endosperm).[39] Nuts are dry fruits, distinguishable by their woody shell.[36]
Fleshy fruits (distinguishable from dry fruits like grain, seeds and nuts) can be further classified as
The carbohydrate, protein and lipid content of plants is highly variable. Carbohydrates are mainly in the form of starch, fructose, glucose and other sugars.
Animals that only eat plants are called herbivores, with those that mostly just eat fruits known as frugivores,[46] leaves, while shoot eaters are folivores (pandas) and wood eaters termed xylophages (termites).[47] Frugivores include a diverse range of species from annelids to elephants, chimpanzees and many birds.[48][49][50] About 182 fish consume seeds or fruit.[51] Animals (domesticated and wild) use as many types of grasses that have adapted to different locations as their main source of nutrients.[52]
Humans eat thousands of plant species; there may be as many as 75,000 edible species of
Many plants and animals have coevolved in such a way that the fruit is a good source of nutrition to the animal who then excretes the seeds some distance away, allowing greater dispersal.[55] Even seed predation can be mutually beneficial, as some seeds can survive the digestion process.[56][57] Insects are major eaters of seeds,[44] with ants being the only real seed dispersers.[58] Birds, although being major dispersers,[59] only rarely eat seeds as a source of food and can be identified by their thick beak that is used to crack open the seed coat.[60] Mammals eat a more diverse range of seeds, as they are able to crush harder and larger seeds with their teeth.[61]
Animals
Animals are used as food either directly or indirectly. This includes meat, eggs, shellfish and dairy products like milk and cheese.[62] They are an important source of protein and are considered complete proteins for human consumption as they contain all the essential amino acids that the human body needs.[63] One 4-ounce (110 g) steak, chicken breast or pork chop contains about 30 grams of protein. One large egg has 7 grams of protein. A 4-ounce (110 g) serving of cheese has about 15 grams of protein. And 1 cup of milk has about 8 grams of protein.[63] Other nutrients found in animal products include calories, fat, essential vitamins (including B12) and minerals (including zinc, iron, calcium, magnesium).[63]
Food products produced by animals include milk produced by
Taste
Animals, specifically humans, typically have five different types of tastes:
Sweetness is almost always caused by a type of simple sugar such as
While most animals taste buds are located in their mouth, some insects taste receptors are located on their legs and some fish have taste buds along their entire body.
Digestion
Food is broken into nutrient components through digestive process.[77] Proper digestion consists of mechanical processes (chewing, peristalsis) and chemical processes (digestive enzymes and microorganisms).[78][79] The digestive systems of herbivores and carnivores are very different as plant matter is harder to digest. Carnivores mouths are designed for tearing and biting compared to the grinding action found in herbivores.[80] Herbivores however have comparatively longer digestive tracts and larger stomachs to aid in digesting the cellulose in plants.[81][82]
Food safety
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 600 million people worldwide get sick and 420,000 die each year from eating contaminated food.[83][84] Diarrhea is the most common illness caused by consuming contaminated food, with about 550 million cases and 230,000 deaths from diarrhea each year. Children under five years of age account for 40% of the burden of foodborne illness, with 125,000 deaths each year.[84][85]
A 2003
From 2011 to 2016, on average, there were 668,673 cases of foodborne illness and 21 deaths each year.[88][89][90][91] In addition, during this period, 1,007 food poisoning outbreaks with 30,395 cases of food poisoning were reported.[84]
See also
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Further reading
- Collingham, E.M. (2011). The Taste of War: World War Two and the Battle for Food
- Katz, Solomon (2003). The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Scribner
- Mobbs, Michael (2012). Sustainable Food Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, ISBN 978-1-920705-54-1
- Nestle, Marion (2007). Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, University Presses of California, revised and expanded edition, ISBN 0-520-25403-1
- The Future of Food (2015). A panel discussion at the 2015 urban farming, ecosystems, technology, food supply chains and their broad environmental and humanitarian implications, and how these changes in food production may change what people may find delicious ... and the other way around." Posted on the official YouTube Channel of DLD
External links
- Media related to food at Wikimedia Commons
- Food travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Works related to Food at Wikisource
- The dictionary definition of food at Wiktionary
- Official website of Food Timeline
- Food, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Rebecca Spang, Ivan Day and Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (In Our Time, 27 December 2001)