Question

Describe the properties of water that are important in foods, indicating how the concepts of water content and water activity of foods are relevant.

Describe how solubility and viscosity of polysaccharides are important in foods, indicating the factors that influence these properties.

Describe the chemical properties of lipids that contribute functionality and are important in shelf life and storage of foods.

Foods derived from whole grains or leafy vegetables often contain natural compounds that have nutritional significance other than contributing dietary energy and nutrients. Discuss this statement giving illustrative examples of potentially beneficial or harmful secondary constituents.

Answer 1

A number of functional properties of water are important in food processing such as the ability to dissolve and disperse other food components, the ability to be bound by other food components, the ability to transfer heat, the ability to sublimate, and its ability to transport materials.

The solubility of polysaccharides is extremely important for their food applications as most functions of polysaccharides including stability, emulsifying property, drug delivery, membrane-forming properties, etc., are all achieved in aqueous solution.

Lipids contribute to many desirable qualities to foods, including attributes of texture, structure, mouthfeel, flavour, and colour. Generally, the quality of food is closely related to the quality of their lipids. Very often, the degradability and alteration of lipids are the main causes of the loss of quality of food.

Whole grains and leafy vegetables along with the nutrients like vitamins and minerals contain lot of fibres that help in the easy digestion of food and thus are important for the functioning of the digestive system