Human Nutrition 1 - Lesson 8
ASSIGNMENT – LESSON 8
1. Explain in 2-3 sentences each, the role of water in the body for 5 different physiological processes. • Fluid intake and fluid excretion: There is usually a balance between intake and excretion of water. If the water balance becomes unbalanced, this can greatly affect various bodily functions such as blood pressure, blood sugar levels or brain function. This imbalance will also create a thirst reaction and by the time we perceive this, our body is already mildly dehydrated.
• Water as a means of transport: Most of the water, which a person takes in each day, is required to transport nutrients into the cells. To be able to bind and remove metabolic waste products it is important that the water is not saturated with minerals.
• Water for excretion, cleansing and detoxification: Water ensures that harmful catabolic products are washed from our bodies and detoxification processes can run more smoothly. In the cells it has a purifying action and is responsible for eliminating waste products and other residue.
• Water as solvent: In our bodies water acts as a solvent for our food so that this can be transported and processed. It also serves to dilute a number of harmful substances.
• Thermal regulation – the skin as air conditioning: An additional important role of water is to regulate body temperature. Alongside other regulatory mechanisms, sweating also helps maintain body temperature constant at around 37°C, regardless how cold or warm it is outside the body.
• Regulation of the acid-base balance: Chemical processes are continually taking place in the body. Metabolism, muscular action, nerve transmission processes – these would all be impossible without these chemical processes. Acids and alkaline substances must be balanced. If this is not the case, this leads to an adverse metabolic condition for the body.
2. List 5 factors which affect the body’s requirement for water.
For the body to function, the absolute
1. Explain in 2-3 sentences each, the role of water in the body for 5 different physiological processes. • Fluid intake and fluid excretion: There is usually a balance between intake and excretion of water. If the water balance becomes unbalanced, this can greatly affect various bodily functions such as blood pressure, blood sugar levels or brain function. This imbalance will also create a thirst reaction and by the time we perceive this, our body is already mildly dehydrated.
• Water as a means of transport: Most of the water, which a person takes in each day, is required to transport nutrients into the cells. To be able to bind and remove metabolic waste products it is important that the water is not saturated with minerals.
• Water for excretion, cleansing and detoxification: Water ensures that harmful catabolic products are washed from our bodies and detoxification processes can run more smoothly. In the cells it has a purifying action and is responsible for eliminating waste products and other residue.
• Water as solvent: In our bodies water acts as a solvent for our food so that this can be transported and processed. It also serves to dilute a number of harmful substances.
• Thermal regulation – the skin as air conditioning: An additional important role of water is to regulate body temperature. Alongside other regulatory mechanisms, sweating also helps maintain body temperature constant at around 37°C, regardless how cold or warm it is outside the body.
• Regulation of the acid-base balance: Chemical processes are continually taking place in the body. Metabolism, muscular action, nerve transmission processes – these would all be impossible without these chemical processes. Acids and alkaline substances must be balanced. If this is not the case, this leads to an adverse metabolic condition for the body.
2. List 5 factors which affect the body’s requirement for water.
For the body to function, the absolute