Chapter 8: Glossary

The majority of terms relating to food chemistry are explained throughout the text of this book, but the following general definitions may be of use.

Diet: a description of the overall make-up of the food that a person consumes over a period of time.
Functional food: a food that beneficially affects one or more target functions in the body, beyond adequate nutrition, in a way that improves health or well-being or reduces the risk of disease.
Health: the state of well-being or otherwise of an individual. Only people have health; individual foods cannot be termed healthy, although the terms healthy and unhealthy can be used to describe an overall diet.
Nutraceutical: a chemical in or added to a food which is not a nutrient, but which has potential beneficial effects.
Nutrient: a term sometimes used to describe essential dietary factors such as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids, but in this book taken to also include sources of energy (fats and carbohydrates) and other components of food such as fibre which potentially have a benefit on health.
Nutrition: the process by which living organisms take in and use food for the maintenance of life, including energy production and growth.
Recommended Daily Allowance: the amount of nutrient (typically a vitamin or mineral) intake that is greater than the requirements of about 97.5% of the population; i.e. greater than the average requirement of the population, allowing for individual variation. Also called Reference Nutrient Intake. In contrast the Estimated Average Requirement is...

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Food Chemical Composition: Dietary Significance in Food Manufacturing