List_of_macronutrients

List of macronutrients

List of macronutrients

Add article description


This list is a categorization of the most common food components based on their macronutrients. Macronutrients can refer to the chemical substances that humans consume in the largest quantities (See Nutrient)

Macronutrients that provide energy

There are three principal classes of macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat.[1] Macronutrients are defined as a class of chemical compounds which humans consume in relatively large quantities compared to vitamins and minerals, and which provide humans with energy. Fat has a food energy content of 38 kilojoules per gram (9 kilocalories per gram) and proteins and carbohydrates 17 kJ/g (4 kcal/g).[2]

Water makes up a large proportion of the total mass ingested as part of a normal diet, but it does not provide any nutritional value. Ethanol provides calories, but there is no requirement for ethanol as an essential nutrient. Even though macros and calories are different concepts, they are dependent on each other. While macros refer to the three types of main nutrients that you need - protein, carbohydrate, and fat, calories, on the other hand refer to the nutritional value of your meal.[3]

Carbohydrates

Protein

Essential and non-essential amino acids

Fats

Saturated (i.e., stable)[4] fatty acids

Monounsaturated (i.e., semi-stable) fatty acids

Polyunsaturated (i.e., unstable) fatty acids

Essential fatty acids

Macronutrients that do not provide energy

Oxygen

Oxygen is essential for life.

Water

Water is also essential for life. It provides the medium in which all metabolic processes proceed. It is necessary for the absorption of macronutrients and micronutrients, but it provides no nutritional energy.

Fiber

Dietary fiber from fruits, vegetables and grain foods. Insoluble dietary fiber is not absorbed in the human digestive tract, but is important in maintaining the bulk of a bowel movement to avoid constipation.[5] Soluble fiber can be metabolized by bacteria residing in the large intestine.[6][7][8] Soluble fiber is marketed as serving a prebiotic function with claims for promoting "healthy" intestinal bacteria.[9] Bacterial metabolism of soluble fiber also produces short-chain fatty acids like butyric acid, which may be absorbed into intestinal cells as a source of food energy.[6][7][8]

See also


References

  1. Prentice, Andrew M (October 2005). "Macronutrients as sources of food energy". Public Health Nutrition. 8 (7a): 932–939. doi:10.1079/PHN2005779. PMID 16277812.
  2. "Chapter 3: Calculation Of The Energy Content Of Foods – Energy Conversion Factors". Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  3. "Macronutrient SpecIfic Diet". Thomas Marston. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  4. "Nutrition in Preventative Medicine". Health Science Center, University of Texas. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  5. "High-Fiber Diet - Colon & Rectal Surgery Associates". www.colonrectal.org. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  6. Cummings JH, Macfarlane GT, Englyst HN (February 2001). "Prebiotic digestion and fermentation". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 73 (2 Suppl): 415S–420S. doi:10.1093/ajcn/73.2.415s. PMID 11157351.
  7. Brownawell AM, Caers W, Gibson GR, Kendall CW, Lewis KD, Ringel Y, Slavin JL (May 2012). "Prebiotics and the health benefits of fiber: current regulatory status, future research, and goals". The Journal of Nutrition. 142 (5): 962–74. doi:10.3945/jn.112.158147. PMID 22457389.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_macronutrients, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.