Nutrition for Health and Social Care (DISCUSSION) - Assignment Example

One protein is differentiated from another by the sequence of amino acids, and this is responsible for the tertiary structure that defines the function of the protein. The digestion of proteins takes place in the stomach and the small intestines. In the stomach, pepsinogen is secreted from gastric glands and activated by hydrogen ions to pepsin. Pepsin works on long amino acid chains to produce fragments of various sizes referred to as peptides (Protein Digestion & Absorption , 2005). Protein digestion continues in the small intestines where hydrolysis is accomplished by the action of three proteases including procarboxypeptidase, chymotrypsinogen, and trpsinogen (Murray, et al., 2006). Digestion in the small intestines breaks peptides into smaller chains finally resulting into dipeptides and tripeptides (Protein Digestion & Absorption 2005).

Individual amino acids that are yielded at the end of the digestion are absorbed through the cell lining the small intestines into the blood stream. After digestion, proteins are used in the body for various functions. About 20 amino acids are yielded after digestions are used to construct proteins for different functions in the body. Proteins are basically used to produce antibodies, for body tissues (production and repair), production of enzymes and storage of products including amino acids.

Most of the fats consumed in diet are in the form of triglycerides (Murray, Harper, Granner, Mayes, & Rodwell 2006). Triglycerides are identified by the presence of a backbone, to which fatty acids are attached. Triglycerides are determined by the type of fatty acids attached, and this varies to a large extend (Murray, et al., 2006). There are three types of fatty acids that are classified depending on the number of double bonds in the molecule. The three are identified as Saturates, Monounsaturates, and polyunsaturates (Rose 2013).

Polyunsaturates can