The Science in Cream Puffs

That of which you digest, essentially becomes a part of you.

      
 Hmm, Cream Puffs! These deliciously baked goods filled with heaven are loved by many cultures and people around the world. Generally, they're made with nothing but crust from a dough mixture and usually filled with a sort of cream/custard. However, their simplicity might be their ill gotten disguise. Do you know the nutrition facts behind these bundles of joy?

Above is a nutritional label of the average, individual cream puff, weighing 130 g.

The Nutrients

Lipids:

Fat:

Made up of a glycerol and fatty acids (picture: triglyceride)

Saturated fatty acid: full of H, no double bonds, straight, solid at room temp.

Unsaturated fatty acid: not full of H, double bonds, not straight, liquid at room temp.

Importance:

Vitamins A, D, E, and K can only be digested, absorbed, and transported in conjunction with fats.

Fats help maintain healthy skin and hair as well as body temperature.

Fats also serve as energy stores for the body. (9 calories / g)

Fat also serves as a useful buffer towards a host of diseases when an offending substance reaches unsafe levels, it will be stored in fat tissues to later be excreted from the body.

Some fatty acids are essential nutrients, unable to be produced in the body. (need to be consumed in small amounts)

Fat stores large amounts of energy (in a small space)

Structure vs function:

Lots of covalent bond = energy

C-H bonds are non-polar and therefore not attracted to water (so u don’t get dissolved when showering)

Cholesterol:

Consist of 4 carbon ring (picture: cholesterol basic structure)

Importance:

Cholesterol makes the cells in our body waterproof.

Cholesterol is important in the development of memory.

Cholesterol is necessary for the uptake of hormones in the brain.

Cholesterol is the main organic molecule in the brain, making up half the dry weight of the brain.

Cholesterol is precursor molecule for the synthesis of vitamin D and the steroid hormones.

Structure vs function:

It is non-polar, therefore not attracted to water (so cells don't get dissolved in water).

Carbohydrates:

Fibre:

Made up of cellulose (beta glucose monomers in slightly different linkages than starch) (picture: barley beta glucan)

Importance:

Fibre makes cell wall.

Fibre holds on to water.

Fibre makes your feces wet and slippery. (easy passing)

Fibre has 0 calories good for diet.

Structure vs function:

It never branches, so it is perfect to make cell war.

It is made up of cellulose, cannot be digested because of the beta linkage between glucose molecules. Therefore, it can rub against the intestinal wall stimulating the secretion of mucus

Sugar:

Made up of C, H, and O (picture: glucose)

Monosaccharide: (CH2O)

Disaccharide: 2 monosaccharide joined by dehydration reaction.

Polysaccharide: polymers consisting of many monosaccharides.

Importance:

Fuel and carbon source (energy source)

Structure vs function:

Each carbon has a hydroxyl group (-OH) attached except one (make sugar polar) so that it will dissolve in water, thus releases energy as it breaks down.

Starch:

Made up of many glucoses (picture: amylose)

A kind of polusaccharide (macromolecules)

Importance:

Storage form of energy for plants

Structure vs function:

Alphaglucose, can be digest

Many sugar molecules bond together

It is polar, so the sugar can be stored without being dissolved in water.

Protein:

Made up of amino acid (picture: protein chain)

Importance:

Enzymes (reaction catalysis)

Muscles (structural proteins)

Antibodies (defense proteins)

Hormones (regulatory proteins)

Protein can be used as emergency fuel.

Structure vs function:

It was made up of essential (can’t be synthesized by an organism on its own) and unessential amino acids. Some ingested amino acids are used for protein biosynthesis, while others are converted to glucose.

Okay, I see all this mumbo jumbo. But you never answered my question!

A Caloric Ratio Pyramid that shows

the distribution of Calories in Cream 

puffs.

So, after all this, whats the verdict on eating cream puffs? Well lets summarize it down. The calories in cream puffs are derived from 36 % Carbs ( only 2% of that is fibre), 54% Fats and finally 10% protein. Considering most people never stop at one cream puff, these are way too high in sugar levels with already 12 grams of sugar per cream puff. More importantly however, is the calorie proportion for fats. out of the 335 calories, 181 are from the saturated and trans fats, which are very unhealthy as they clog arteries that increase the risks of heart attacks and other diseases. At last, even if all these other downfalls had not existed, the bad banjo of cream puffs is the very high cholesterol, with 58% of your daily needs per individual puff! A certain amount of cholestrol is always important, but high levels over time is a huge risk factor for coronary heart disease. In fact, in the United States, its the nations number one killer. All the bad factors aside, an astonishing positive side is that one cream puff provides many needed proteins. The trick to protein quality is dependent on having all the essential amino acids in the proper proportions. If one or more amino acid is not present in sufficient amounts, the protein in your diet is considered incomplete.

Citations

Work Cited

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Antonio Zamora. “Carbohydrates – Chemical Structure.” Scientific Psychic. Scientific Psychic, Web. 1 Oct. 2011.

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