Food & Nutrition: Culinary Techniques, Diets & Metabolic Health

Nutritional health is achieved through the therapeutic use of whole foods, safe culinary preparation, and understanding the metabolic impacts of specific dietary frameworks and ingredients.

Senior man sitting on armchair drinking glass of water

Drinking Water PH Levels

The pH of water is a measure of its acidity, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains strict standards for appropriate pH levels in drinking water.

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papaya isolated

Papaya Enzymes & Pregnancy

Proponents claim that supplemental papaya enzymes offers several health benefits, from aiding in weight loss to reducing symptoms of digestive discomfort and acid reflux.

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Wine Bottle, Wine, Bottle

Can Red Wine at the Early Stages of Pregnancy Hurt the Baby?

Many women, once they find out they're pregnant, worry about the behaviors in which they engaged during early pregnancy. One of the most common concerns in mothers-to-be is that alcohol consumed before they found out they were pregnant will hurt the baby.

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Family baking in kitchen

Sodium Carbonate vs. Sodium Bicarbonate

Sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate have similar-sounding names and many chemical similarities, but they're used very differently. Sodium carbonate has household and industrial applications but is used very rarely in food and cooking.

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Baking soda, Sodium bicarbonate with copy space for text

Differences Between Calcium Phosphate & Calcium Carbonate

Many different calcium supplements are available over-the-counter at health food stores and drug stores. You can use these to ensure that you're getting plenty of calcium, which is an important component of the skeletal system.

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Unhappy woman having stomach aches

What Roles Do Hydrochloric Acid & Bile Play in Digestion?

Digestion is simultaneously a complicated process and a relatively simple one. Chemically, it's quite simple -- it involves breaking the large nutrient compounds in your food down into small nutrient compounds that you can absorb. Logistically, however, this is quite complex.

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Milk pouring into a bowl

What Are the Functions of Lactose?

Lactose is milk sugar--it's much less sweet than table sugar, and occurs naturally in milk and other dairy products. While you can certainly burn the chemical components of lactose for energy, it doesn't serve unique cellular functions--you can burn other carbohydrates instead with no ill effect whatsoever.

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Fruit salad

Does Freezing Kill Enzymes in Food?

There are many common misconceptions regarding the enzymes in your food -- whether they're useful to you and what affects them. In very simple terms, freezing doesn't kill enzymes in food for two reasons. First, they're not alive, so they can't be killed. Second, freezing doesn't permanently affect enzyme structure.

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Is Microwaved Food Bad for Your Health?

There's a common misconception that microwaved food is bad for you, either because microwaving destroys nutrients or because the microwaves themselves somehow render the food unhealthy.

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protection

Will Prenatal Vitamins Help Regulate the Period?

There are a number of myths and misconceptions regarding prenatal vitamins and their effects on women who aren't pregnant. For instance, there's no truth to the claim that prenatal vitamins can help regulate your period. Your period depends on hormones released by various body organs, not on vitamins you take.

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Cup of tea with teapot

Decaf Black Tea & Pregnancy

There are a number of foods and beverages you may be used to drinking that aren't a good idea during pregnancy, because they contain chemicals that can harm your developing fetus. While regular black tea is best avoided, you can safely drink decaffeinated black tea during your pregnancy.

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Milk

A Description of Lactose and Lactase Reaction

Lactose is milk sugar; you consume it any time you drink milk or eat dairy products. To absorb its components and use them for energy, you digest it with lactase, an enzyme produced by your digestive tract. Lactase reacts with lactose, splitting it into two smaller sugar molecules that you can absorb.

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