Acesulfame-K (acesulfame potassium; Sunett)

This non-caloric, ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER tastes approximately 200 times sweeter than table sugar (SUCROSE) and lacks the bitter aftertaste of SACCHARIN. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization endorsed acesulfame-K as a satisfactory artificial sweetener in 1983. Acesulfame-K was approved in 1988 by the U.S. FDA as a sugar substitute to be used in packets or as tablets and now is approved for use in chewing gum and in powdered drink mixes. Unlike ASPARTAME, acesulfame-K can be used in cooking because it does not break down at oven temperatures. Blending Sunett with other low-calorie sweeteners creates a beverage with a more sugarlike taste than one sweetened with any single low-calorie sweetener.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has raised questions about Sunett’s safety, saying a few tests on rats indicated a possibility of cancer, although this was not proof that the sweetener could cause cancer. The Calorie Control Council counters that the safety of acesulfame potassium has been confirmed by more than 90 studies, and it is endorsed by a committee of the World Health Organization. Theoretically, it would not be expected to be absorbed by the body. Nonetheless, some studies suggest that large doses raise blood CHOLESTEROL levels in diabetic laboratory animals and increase the number of lung and mammary tumors in other animals.

Acerola (acerola cherry, acerola berry) Acerola

fruit is a product from the Caribbean and is one of the richest natural source of VITAMIN C. Acerola juice contains nearly 40 times more vitamin C than orange juice. Acerola extract is sometimes added to natural vitamin C supplements. Because of its very limited availability, the amount added to supplements is usually very small; an acerola-enriched vitamin C preparation may contain as little as a tablespoon of acerola extract per barrel of vitamin C powder.

What is Food absorption?

Generally, the passage of liquids into solid materials and of gases into liquids and solids. In terms of nutrition, absorption refers to the passage of substances into body fluids and tissues.
Digestion is only the first step in the assimilation of nutrients. This chemical breakdown of food particles releases AMINO ACIDS, GLUCOSE, FATTY ACIDS, VITAMINS, and MINERALS, which must then be absorbed by the intestine in order to be used by the body. Nutrients enter cells lining the intestine (the intestinal mucosa) and then are drawn into underlying cells, where they may enter either the lymph or bloodstream for distribution to tissues throughout the body. Tissues absorb nutrients from blood via capillaries, the smallest blood vessels. Gases, too, are absorbed. Blood becomes oxygenated in the lungs by absorbing oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide that was absorbed from tissues.
Absorption requires a disproportionately large surface area to meet the body’s needs. Consider the total area of the small intestine, which is a highly specialized absorptive organ. Though this tube is only about 20 feet long, it has a highly convoluted surface. Furthermore, the cells lining the surface, VILLI, are covered with microscopic, hairlike projections (MICROVILLI) that dramatically increase the absorptive area to a quarter the size of a football field. The microvilli move constantly, to trap nutrients and partially digested food, which is further digested. The upper regions of the small intestine, the lower DUODENUM, and upper ILEUM, are most active in absorbing nutrients. Other regions of the gastrointestinal tract carry out limited absorption:
The stomach absorbs some ALCOHOL, glucose, ions, and water, and the colon absorbs primarily water and minerals.

Maintaining the Right Amount of Water in Your Body

As much as three-quarters of the water in your body is in intracellular fluid, the liquid inside body cells. The rest is in extracellular fluid, which is all the other body liquids, such as

• Interstitial fluid (the fluid between cells)
• Blood plasma (the clear liquid in blood)
• Lymph (a clear, slightly yellow fluid collected from body tissues that flows through your lymph nodes and eventually into your blood vessels)
• Bodily secretions such as sweat, seminal fluid, and vaginal fluids
• Urine A healthy body has just the right amount of fluid inside and outside each cell, a situation medical folk call fluid balance. Maintaining your fluid balance is essential to life. If too little water is inside a cell, it shrivels and dies. If there’s too much water, the cell bursts.

Investigating the Many Ways Your Body Uses Water

Water is a solvent. It dissolves other substances and carries nutrients and
other material (such as blood cells) around the body, making it possible for
every organ to do its job. You need water to

• Digest food, dissolving nutrients so that they can pass through the intestinal cell walls into your bloodstream, and move food along throughyour intestinal tract
• Carry waste products out of your body
• Provide a medium in which biochemical reactions such as metabolism (digesting food, producing energy, and building tissue) occur
  
• Send electrical messages between cells so that your muscles can move, your eyes can see, your brain can think, and so on
  
• Regulate body temperature — cooling your body with moisture (perspiration) that evaporates on your skin
• Lubricate your moving parts

Phytochemicals Future

Yes, I know that misspelling forecasting as “phorecasting” and future as “phuture” is gross. Yes, I know I already named this chapter “Phabulous Phytochemicals” and that should have been enough, but I just couldn’t resist the tempting play on words.
Please don’t let my lack of semantic restraint turn you away from the fact that phytochemical research is serious stuff that eventually should enable people to identify biochemical reactions that trigger — or prevent — specific medical conditions.
While you’re waiting for final analyses, the best nutrition advice is to dig into those veggies, fruits, and grains — and turn to Chapter 13 to find out why you need to wash them down with plenty of cold, clear water.

Dietary fiber in foods

Dietary fiber is a special bonus found only in plant foods. You can’t get it from meat or fish or poultry or eggs or dairy foods. Soluble dietary fiber, such as the pectins in apples and the gums in beans, mops up cholesterol and lowers your risk of heart disease. Insoluble dietary fiber, such as the cellulose in fruit skins, bulks up stool and prevents constipation, moving food more quickly through your gut so there’s less time for food to create substances thought to trigger the growth of cancerous cells.