Protein And Lipids In Various Food example essay topic

Testing for Nutrients in Food Problem / Question: To test for the presence of sugar, starch, protein, and lipids in various food. Hypothesis: Our hypotheses are shown in the prediction section of the chart in which we recorded data. We based our hypotheses on previous knowledge of nutrition content in foods and recent things we learned in class. Theory: A balanced diet is important in everyone's health. It is necessary to eat a variety of foods in order to obtain sufficient quantities of the needed vitamins and minerals, such as sugars, starches, lipids, and proteins. The four food groups help us determine how much of each type of food is necessary in a healthy diet.

Materials: . Test tube rack. Test tubes. Beaker. Hot plate. Bunsen Burner.

Paper towels. Test tube holder. Goggles Procedure: Sugar Test: For the sugar test we added approximately 5 ml of water to a small test tube and then added a small sample of the food to be tested. Then, we added 5 drops of Benedicts reagent and heated this mixture in a beaker on a hot plate or over a Bunsen burner. Yellow or orange was indicative of various levels of sugar content. Starch Test: We took a small sample of the food to be tested and placed 3 drops of iodine on it.

If it turned a purple or black then starch was present. Protein Test: We added approximately 5 ml of water to a small test tube and then added a small sample of the food to be tested. Then, we added 5 drops of Buret. If the mixture turned a purple in color then protein was present.

Lipid: We applied a small sample of each food to be tested to a brown paper bag. We held the bag up to the light and to see if the bag had become somewhat transparent. If it had, then lipids are present. Data: (see attached) Data Analysis: We found that carrots do not have sugar, starch, protein or lipids.

Saltine crackers have minimal sugar have starch but do not have lipids. Boost Nutritional Drink has sugars proteins but lacks starches and lipids. Kudos bars have sugar, proteins and lipids but has no starches. Egg whites have only protein and lipids.

Apples have lipids and proteins only. Peanut butter has sugar, protein, and lipids, but no starch according to our tests. Food Test Sugar Test Starch Test Protein Test Lipid Test Prediction Results Prediction Results Prediction Results Prediction Results Carrot YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO Cracker NO Small YES YES NO NO NO NO Boost YES Simple NO NO YES YES NO NO Kudos YES YES YES NO NO YES YES YES Egg White NO NO NO NO YES YES YES YES Apple YES Lots YES NO NO NO NO YES Peanut Butter YES YES NO NO YES YES YES YES Conclusion: Our hypotheses were correct approximately 75% of the time. This shows that we did have some previous knowledge regarding the nutritional content of the foods we tested. This lab was well written and we were able to carry out the procedures correctly.

We didn't make any blatant mistakes, but we may have read a color wrong or incorrectly determined whether something made the brown bag semi-transparent. This type of information is useful in determining what is best to eat and not eat to This information is also useful in the real world, shopping for food and balancing meals are perfect examples. The information attained in this lab could apply to Richard Simmons in his many programs to aid obese men and women. He could use this information to give statistics in order to make people resist grabbing that candy bar.