Class 6 Science Chapter 1 Important Questions

Each dish is usually made up of one or more ingredients, which we get from plants or animals. These ingredients contain some components that are needed by our body. These components are called nutrients. The major nutrients in our food are named carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.

Take a small quantity of a food item or a raw ingredient. Put 2-3 drops of dilute iodine solution on it. Observe, there is a change in the colour of the food item. It turns as a blue-black colour. A blue-black colour indicates that it contains starch.

Take a small quantity of a food item. Wrap it in a piece of paper and crush it. Take care that the paper does not tear. An oily patch on paper shows that the food item contains fat.
The food items may sometimes contain a little water. Therefore, after you have rubbed an item on paper, let the paper dry for a while. If there were any water that may have come from food, it would dry up after some time. If no oily patch shows up after this, the food item does not contain any fat.

Carbohydrates mainly provide energy to our body. Fats also give us energy. In fact, fats give much more energy as compared to the same amount of carbohydrates. Foods containing fats and carbohydrates are also called ‘energy giving foods’.
Rice, potato, sweet potato, sugarcane, papaya etc. are the sources of carbohydrate.
Ghee, butter, milk, oil (any), egg, fish, meat etc. are the sources of fats.

Proteins are needed for the growth and repair of our body. Foods containing proteins are often called Body Building Foods. Soybeans, dal, peas, milk, paneer, fish, eggs, meat, etc., are the sources of protein.

Dietary fibres are also known as roughage. Roughage does not provide any nutrient to our body, but is an essential component of our food and adds to its bulk. This helps our body get rid of undigested food.
Roughage is mainly provided by plant products in our foods. Whole grains and pulses, potatoes, fresh fruits and vegetables are main sources of roughage.

Take a tomato or a fruit like lemon. Cut it into small pieces. Carefully observe whenever vegetables and fruits are being cut, peeled, grated or mashed. Some water comes out from them. We see that many food materials themselves contain water. To some extent, our body needs are met by this water. Apart from this, we also add water while cooking many food items.

Yes, because water helps our body to absorb nutrients from food. It also helps in throwing out some wastes from body as urine and sweat. Normally, we get most of the water that our body needs from the liquids we drink — such as water, milk and tea. In addition, we add water to most cooked foods.

Yes, of course. He should take pulses, groundnut, soybean, sprouted seeds (moong and Bengal gram), fermented foods (South Indian foods such as idlis), a combination of flours (missi roti, thepla made from cereals and pulses), banana, spinach, sattu, jaggery, available vegetables and other such foods provide many nutrients. Therefore, one can eat a balanced diet without expensive food materials.

If the vegetables and fruits are washed after cutting or peeling them, it may result in the loss of some vitamins. The skins of many vegetables and fruits contain vitamins and minerals. Similarly, repeated washing of rice and pulses may remove some vitamins and minerals present in them.
We all know that cooking improves the taste of food and makes it easier to digest. At the same time, cooking also results in the loss of certain nutrients. Many useful proteins and considerable amounts of minerals are lost if excess water is used during cooking and is then thrown away.

Vitamin C gets easily destroyed by heat during cooking.

If someone takes fat enriched food regularly as — milk, ghee, butter, fried food, samosa and poori, malai, rabdi and peda. It can be very harmful for him. To eat too much of fat rich foods and he may be suffering from a condition called obesity.

Deficiency of one or more nutrients can cause diseases or disorders in our body. Diseases that occur due to lack of nutrients over a long period are called deficiency diseases.

If the diet is deficient in both carbohydrates and proteins for a long period of time, the growth may stop completely. Such a person becomes very lean and thin and so weak that he/she may not even be able to move. Deficiency of carbohydrates cause lack of energy and stamina. Deficiency of proteins cause kwashiorkor whereas combined deficiency of proteins and carbohydrates causes marasmus.

He is suffering from “Beriberi” disease as the facing problem of weak muscles and very little energy to work. In the other hand, he is also suffering from “Scurvy” disease as bleeding gums. His wound takes longer time to heal.

If a person does not get adequate food for a long time. As a result, he becomes weak the body does not get adequate nutrition it is said to be suffering from malnutrition. Malnutrition have stunted growth, swelling of face, discolouration of hair, skin diseases and diarrhoea and other problems can be seen. The mid-day-meal scheme has been launched by the government of India. Under this scheme, school going children are provided free nutritious food in their schools. It has to main motives – to promote education in rural India, especially among poor children and to prevent malnutrition in children.

Tasty food is not always nutritious and nutritious food may not always be tasty to eat. This is true as the junk and processed food is tasty and is made to be addictive, but is unhealthy. Certain examples in favour of the above statement are:
i)Potato chips are tasty to eat but not nutritious as they contain huge amount of fats.
ii) Green leafy vegetables either boiled or steamed are very nutritious but not good in taste.
iii) Certain fast foods like pizza, burger, etc., are very good in test but are not nutritious as they contain huge amount of fat.

Water does not provide nutrients, yet it is an important component of food due to following reasons:
i)It helps to our body in absorbing nutrients from food.
ii)It helps in transporting digestive food substances to different body cells.
iii)It helps to control and regulate the body temperature.
iv)It helps to prevent our body from dehydration.
v)It helps in removal of waste products from the body.

We should eat iron rich food such as apple, tomatoes, bananas, red meat, beans, dark green leafy vegetables (such as spinach), red meat, etc. to cure an anaemia disease.

Minerals and vitamins are needed in very small quantities by our body as compared to other components, yet, they are an important part of a balance diet, because if our body does not get sufficient amount of certain mineral or vitamin for a prolonged duration of time, then we might suffer from certain diseases called deficiency diseases. Such as:
i)Vitamins help in protecting our body against diseases. These are necessary for good eyesight (Vitamin-A), growth (Vitamin-B1), keeping teeth gums and healthy joints (Vitamin-C) and normal growth of bones and teeth (Vitamin-D).
ii)Minerals are needed in our body for building bones and teeth (calcium and phosphorus), formation of blood (iron), coagulation of blood and functioning of muscles (calcium) and functioning of thyroid gland (iron). Thus, assist in proper functioning normal growth and good health.