Most of you know I am working towards getting my RD. But one thing I don’t mention all the time is that I’m not in the program yet! Right now, I am taking prerequisite science courses that I need before beginning the program. My undergraduate and graduate degrees were not based in the hard sciences, so in many ways, I feel like I am starting from scratch…. a little frustrating after 7 years of higer education! But I digress…
One of the other things that can be frustrating at this point in my education is that I am taking courses that don’t focus on nutrition and food science directly. However, as I take these classes, I realize more and more why they are required. Our bodies are made up of amazing chemical reactions and biological processes and the foods we eat all play a part in the equation.
Although there isn’t a whole lot of of food talk in the courses I am taking, every once in a while something comes up that reminds me why I am taking these courses. I thought I would add a new page to my blog, “Lessons I’ve Learned” with little tidbits that come up in my classes. As I start taking courses that are specifically in the field of nutrition there will be more fun things to share, but just this week I came across something in my reading that simply amazed me! For those who work in the field of science or nutrition, this may not be news to you, but I found this piece of information really cool!
The chapter I’m reading in chemistry is on atomic bonding and determining the shapes of molecules. To illustrate the importance of a molecule’s shape, the book (Principles of Chemistry: A Molecular Approach, by: Nivaldo Tro) looks at how we process tastes, specifically sweetness in sugar.
image from: www.look-good-feel-great-secrets.com/sugar.html
A sugar molecule has a specific shape. A taste cell on our tongue has sugar receptor protein that is also a specific shape called T1r3. When a sugar molecule is present, the sugar and the T1r3 receptor protein fit together like puzzle pieces or like a lock and key. When this happens, a series of events leads to a nerve signal being sent to the brain that registers sweetness.
Pretty cool, huh? Well, there’s more….
image from: pubs.acs.org/cen/business/85/8528bus3.html
Artificial sweeteners work because they have the same shape as a sugar molecule. These sweeteners fit into the “lock” resulting in the same sweetness signal to be sent to the brain. However, artificial sweeteners, like saccharin and aspartame fit even more perfectly into the receptor protein “lock.” Because they bond so strongly to the receptor protein, they taste even sweeter than sucrose! This is why it takes less of an artificial sweetener to achieve the level of sweetness we get from sugar!
Isn’t that amazing! I must have been a fun child to have around…I always like to know why things work the way they do. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy science.
Dave is at a business dinner tonight, so Jack, Rudy, and I are on our own. One of us had this beauty for dinner!
This is a repeat salad. I call it a super salad because the hard-boiled egg and salmon give it a nice protein punch!
I’m getting towards the end of Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol, so that is where I’ll be spending my night!
I love salads with protien! Good stuff.
Interesting info on sweeteners! Your salad looks great!!
Shannon, this was such a fun and educational post. When I was in your shoes, I felt the same way about classes like chemistry (and statistics). But I will tell you, now that I am an RD, and practicing in real life, it all does make sense, and I do use the knowledge (in very subtle ways).
This was a fantastic post, and I really never knew this information about the taste buds and sugar! Seriously, great information, I’m marking this down for future reference.
That is SO interesting!! My husband and I were just talking about that the other day, too! He said, “You know, it’s interesting that Splenda tastes sweeter than regular sugar. I wonder why that is?” Now I can tell him! Thanks so much for sharing.
That’s very interesting about the sugars..
I can’t believe you are not actually in the program yet. Our program accepted you and then you took those courses as part of the degree plan. I do know some schools don’t let you declare a major yet, but that is weird that these are all prereqs to the program, not part of. Maybe that is why it is hard to see how it fits sometimes. Our hard sciences were part of the curriculum and were taken early on (fresh-soph) while mixed with entry level nutrition. Junior year still had some sciences and by senior year it was all nutrition. I did it backwards first so I guess my path was different. I was halfway done my bio degree at another school when I went into nutrition, so my science classes transferred in, but because I kept the bio major I was still taking science through senior year, then invested 1 more year to finish the nutriton degree. Stick with it and I am glad you are seeing the nutrition link from time to time. I teach nutrition courses and without the chemistry I feel like I have extra explaining to do to my students. Or sometimes they don’t get the anatomy and it makes even intro nutrition tough.
This is why “Lessons to Learn” is the prefect name for your blog.
I really liked learning about sugar! I’m a big geek about stuff like that too. So interesting!
What a great lesson! Love the idea for your new tab!
That salad looks incredible. I love hard boiled egg whites – so simple and delicious.
My mom read the new Dan Brown book and said it was amazing – let me know what you think!
lovely salad!
I just found your blog and am really enjoying it! just wanted to say hi
I love sugar. I want to bond with it forever
That is really interesting! I am terrible at science, I like it but I could never do well in it. I love sweetness
I love the scientific facts! I’m all about learning nerdy info, keep it coming!!
Is the salmon packed/canned? I’ve never tried it that way, it always scared me. Does it taste the same?
Okay- you are reminding me how much I have forgotten since school!
Have a great weekend!
I am so excited you are going to share your lessons learned with us!
I was just reading about artificial sweetners… they kind of scare me because they are not natural!