MAK LABS — Std 5 EVS 1 Chapter 19 Constituents of Food

1What’s the solution? The body requires an adequate quantity of proteins.

Proteins are the building blocks of the body. They are needed for growth and for repairing the wear and tear that goes on all the time, and children need them in plenty during their growing years. To get enough of them, the daily diet should include:

Pulses and daalsAll kinds of daals and pulses are rich in proteins and should be eaten every day.

Milk and milk productsMilk, yoghurt, khoya and paneer.

Groundnuts and nutsEasily available and rich in protein.

Eggs, meat and fishFor those who eat them, these are rich sources of protein.

Sprouted pulses are a good way of taking proteins along with vitamins and minerals.

2Use your brain power! Why are children told to drink milk every day?

Milk gives more than one food constituent at a time. It contains proteins, which are needed for growth and repair, the sugar that gives energy, some fats, and the mineral calcium, which makes the bones strong. It also gives some vitamins.

Children are growing, so they need all of these in plenty. That is why they are told to drink milk every day.

3Give two sources of each of the following food constituents.

Food constituent	Two sources
(a) Minerals	Green leafy vegetables and sprouted pulses
(b) Proteins	Daals and pulses, and milk and milk products
(c) Starch	Potato and rice (also jowar, bajra, wheat, sago and sweet potato)

4Fill in the blanks.

(a) Vitamins in our food give us the ability to resist diseases.

(b) Calcium makes our bones strong.

(c) Foodstuffs that taste sweet contain various kinds of sugars.

(d) A diet that provides all the constituents of food in the right proportions is called a balanced diet.

5Answer the following questions.

(a) Of what use are the sugars that we get from the digestion of starch?

When starchy food is digested, sugars are formed. These sugars burn slowly in the body and release energy. In other words, they act as the fuel of our body. This energy is used for every kind of work we do, and it also keeps the body suitably warm.

(b) Name the sources of fibre in our diet.

Fruits and vegetables, especially their skins, whole grains and the bran of cereals, and pulses are all sources of fibre. Fibre is also called roughage.

(c) What are carbohydrates?

Starch, sugars and fibre are together called carbohydrates. Their most important use is to provide the body with energy.

Starch — in potato, sago, sweet potato and cereals such as jowar, bajra, wheat and rice

Sugars — in sugarcane, jaggery, ripe fruits, honey and milk

Fibre — in the skins of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and pulses

(d) What is meant by malnutrition?

If a person’s diet lacks some food constituents over a long period of time, that person does not get proper nourishment. This condition is called malnutrition. It has serious consequences: growth is stunted, the person feels constantly tired and cannot cope with studies, games or other tasks, and a shortage of particular vitamins or minerals causes specific disorders.

6Match the following.

Column A	Column B
(1) Fats	(b) Oil
(2) Proteins	(d) Pulses
(3) Vitamins	(c) Bran of cereals
(4) Minerals	(e) Iron
(5) Starchy foods	(a) Jowar

Note: iron is itself a mineral, and jowar is a cereal full of starch, so those two pairs are the easiest to match first. The rest then follow.

19. Constituents of Food

Exercises