Category: N

NLEA, the basis of current US food labelling.  

The addition of nutrients to foods at such a level as to make a major contribution to the diet.  

Term for compounds in foods that are not nutrients but have (potential) beneficial effects. Coined in 1989 by Stephen DeFelice, this term is used to refer to either a food or portion of food (e.g., a vitamin, essential amino acid, etc.) that possesses medical or health benefits (to the organism that consumes that nutraceutical). For…

Compounds of purine or pyrimidine base with a sugar phosphate. A molecule consisting of one molecule of phosphoric acid, one molecule of sugar and one molecule of a base. Compound containing a base (a purine or pyrimidine), a sugar, and a phosphate group. Nucleic acids [e.g., deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA)] are composed…

Compounds of purine or pyrimidine bases with a sugar, most commonly ribose. For example, adenine plus ribose forms adenosine. With the addition of phosphate a nucleotide is formed. A hybrid molecule consisting of a purine (adenine, guanine) or pyrimidine (thymine, uracil, or cytosine) base covalently linked to a five-membered sugar ring (ribose in the case…

The complex of proteins and nucleic acids found in the cell nucleus. A combination of proteins and nucleic acids. Complexes made up of nucleic acid and protein. These two substances are apparently not linked by strong chemical bonds, but are held together by salt linkages and other weak bonds. Most viruses consist entirely of nucleoproteins,…

Viral infection similar to that first reported in Norwalk, USA which causes intestinal illness that occurs in outbreaks.  

Widely used technique for detecting mRNAs by hybridisation with specific probes following transfer of RNA onto a solid support, such as a nylon membrane; see mRNA, RNA, hybridisation. A research test/methodology used to transfer RNA fragments from an agarose gel (e.g., following gel electrophoresis) to a filter paper without changing the relative positions of the…

Chemical prefix to the name of a compound, indicating: (1) one methyl (CH3) group has been replaced by hydrogen (e.g. noradrenaline can be considered to be a demethylated derivative of adrenaline); (2) an analogue of a compound containing one fewer methylene (CH2) groups than the parent compound; (3) an isomer with an unbranched side-chain (e.g.…

Those polysaccharides other than starches, found in foods. They are the major part of dietary fibre and can be measured more precisely than total dietary fibre; include cellulose, pectins, glucans, gums, mucilages, inulin, and chitin (and exclude lignin).