Biography
Biography: Yuanlong Pan
Abstract
Food and nutrition have profound impact on health, risk of chronic diseases and longevity in people and pets. Food quality can be defined as the degree of excellence of several food properties including taste, appearance, nutritional quality, bacteriological or keeping quality. The presentation focuses on the nutritional quality of food, which is the key component of food quality, impacting health and longevity in people and pets. Diets with foods with high nutritional quality, such as Mediterranean and Okinawan diets, promote health and longevity and reduce risk of chronic diseases. Generally speaking, foods with high nutritional qaulity should contain optimal levels of essential nutrients including essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, fibers and bioactives which are critical for maintaining health, reducing risk of chronic diseases and promoting longevity in people and pets. On the other hand, foods with low nutritional quality, such as fast foods, some ready-to-eat foods and processed foods are high in caloric contents, but low or deficient in essential nutrients. Foods with low nutritional quality may contibute to the increased risk of obesity and many other chronic diseases when consumed on regular basis and in excessive amount. Therefore, more efforts should be made to develop processed foods and ready-to-eat foods and meals with high nutritonal quality, especially in fast food category for people.