Glossary

Author: Glossary

  • Taste

    Taste

    The tongue can distinguish five separate tastes: sweet, salt, sour (or acid), bitter, and savoury (sometimes called umami, from the Japanese word for a savoury flavour), due to stimulation of the taste buds. The overall taste or flavour of foods is due to these tastes, together with astringency in the mouth, texture, and aroma. To…

  • Taq DNA polymerase

    A thermophilic bacterial enzyme that catalyses the synthesis of double- stranded DNA, utilised in PCR. A 94 kilodalton DNA polymerase, which was originally isolated from the thermophilic bacteria Thermus aquaticus. Commonly utilized to catalyze PGR reactions due to its heat resistance (needed for thermal cycles utilized in the PGR technique).      

  • Tanner standard

    Tables of height and weight for age used as reference values for the assessment of growth and nutritional status in children, based on data collected in England in the 1960s. Now largely replaced by the NCHS (US National Center for Health Statistics) standards.  

  • Tagatose

    Isomer of fructose (D-lyxo-2-hexulose) obtained by hydrolysis of plant gums and used as a bulk sweetener; 14-times as sweet as sucrose. Not metabolised to any significant extent, so does not raise blood sugar and has zero energy yield.  

  • Tachyphagia

    Rapid eating.  

  • T4

    Thyroxine (tetra-iodothyronine), one of the thyroid hormones.  

  • T3

    Tri-iodothyronine, one of the thyroid hormones.  

  • Synbiotics

    Combination nutritional supplements composed of probiotics and prebiotics.  

  • Sweeteners

    Four groups of compounds are used to sweeten foods: (1) the sugars, of which the commonest is sucrose (2) bulk sweeteners, including sugar alcohols (3) synthetic non¬ nutritive sweeteners (intense sweeteners), which are many times sweeter than sucrose (4) various other chemicals such as glycerol and glycine (70% as sweet as sucrose), and certain peptides.…

  • Superoxide dismutases

    Enzymes which remove potentially harmful (pro-oxidant) superoxide from the body; they require zinc and copper, or manganese, for their enzymatic activity, and their assay can, for instance, be used to measure copper status. An enzyme that destroys superoxide. One form of the enzyme contains manganese, and another contains copper and zinc.