Department of Chemistry Conducts a Training Course on Nutrition Chemistry and Toxicology: Beyond the Ingredients Listed on Food Labels

The Department of Chemistry at the College of Education for Pure Sciences, University of Samarra, conducted a training course entitled “Nutrition Chemistry and Toxicology: Beyond the Ingredients Listed on Food Labels.”

The course aimed to clarify the chemical and health-related aspects of food ingredients listed on product labels and to enhance participants’ awareness of how to read and understand these ingredients and their potential effects on human health.

During the course, lecturer Mayami Hussein Ali explained the importance of sugars and carbohydrates and their various names, such as high-fructose corn syrup and maltodextrin, as well as their effects on blood sugar levels. She also reviewed the chemistry of saturated, unsaturated, and trans fats and how their properties change during food processing.

Assistant Lecturer Ahmed Yassin Taha discussed the role of proteins, emulsifiers, and food additives in improving the texture and quality of food products. He also introduced the field of food toxicology and examined preservatives and antioxidants, such as benzoates, nitrites, and sulfites, along with their safe usage limits according to health standards.

In conclusion, Assistant Lecturer Abbas Maan Abbas presented a set of recommendations, highlighting the potential risks associated with the migration of certain chemicals from plastic packaging materials into food, such as Bisphenol A (BPA). He also provided scientific guidelines to help consumers make safer and healthier food choices. In addition, he addressed artificial colors and flavors and the scientific debate surrounding some of them, as well as toxins formed during cooking processes, such as acrylamide in fried foods and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in grilled foods.

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