We need
to eat a wide variety of foods to provide the body with all
the substances that are needed. This is called a balanced diet.
A balanced diet should contain all of the seven food groups
shown in the table below. Eating too much of any of the food
groups can cause problems. For example, eating too many fatty
foods can lead to weight gain and heart disease. Active people
need more energy and should eat foods which are rich in carbohydrates.
The British
Nutrition Foundation website provides a good overview of
healthy eating.
The
nutrition information labels on foods tell us what the food
contains and how much energy (in kilojoules) is stored in the
food. A typical food label is shown below.
Food
Tests
It is
possible to test different foods to see which food types they
contain. Some simple tests which we carry out in the laboratory
are summarized in the table below.
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