Food Chemistry for Non-Science Majors What chemistryshould we teach people in the arts, humanities, and social sciences? What topics will so excite students that they will ahandon the "I'm-just-taking-it-for-the-requirement" syndrome? What laboratory experiences will be so vivid as to mark their minds indelibly? What will insvire them to work creativelv in a field remote from their noecialtv? Our first hurdle in developing achemistry tours; for non-science majors wai choosing a topic which would show how fundamentals of chemistry can he and are being applied to our world. We concluded that the chemistry of food would satisfy this requirement and would be amenable to laboratory investigation. Foods are chemical systems-complex, but explicable by basic inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. Foods can be analyzed in the lab using a multitude of techniques, from simple visual inspection to sophisticated instrumental methods. Foods are common materials, essential t o life, dear t o growing college students, and a t the heart of controversies discussed in the lay press. Lecture. In the first half of the ten-week quarter,lecture covered basic principles, notation, and vocabulary of inorganic and organic chemistry including atomic structure, periodic table, bonding, structural formulas, organic functional groups, acidity, and stereochemistry. Types of fwd molecules, relationships between structure and function, and human metabolism of fwdstuffs were covered in the second half of the term. Our desire to apply this chemistry and biochemistry led us inexorably to fundamentals of human nutrition. We spent the last few weeks of the course discussing current topics in food and nutrition: need for and safety of f w d additives, fad diets, saccharin and FDA regulation, the new generation of polymeric food additives, sugar in the American diet, responsibility for nutrition education, and others. Local experts, amateur and professional, spoke t o the class an home wine-making (a retired chemist), the pro's of pre-sweetened cereals (representative from a major cereal manufacturer), and the con's of sugar and refined carbohydrate (a local nutritionist). The abundance of speakers on foods surprised us; some sources were university extension service workers, nutritionists in public health services and hospitals, and local food processors. Laboratory. Among the most interesting and challenging aspects of presenting this course was developing straightforward, safe, instructive laboratory experiments. No laboratory manual existed with proper types of experiments a t the appropriate level, so we wrote our own. Experiments included determinations of protein in milk, fat in French fries, BHA in cooking oil, and vitamin C in fruitjuices. The last two laboratories were field trips to a cereal factory and to a winery. Student Projects. The surest way to dampen enthusiasm is toassign projects in which the students have no interest. Accordingly, we gave the students fairly free reign in choosing their topics. We assembled a list of library and laboratory projects and encouraged each student to choose one or to develop his own. Titles included: The School Lunch Program; Moral Issues of World Hunger; Nutrition and the Athlete; Determination of Cholesterol in Meats (lab); Better Red than Dead-Nitrite in Meat (lab); Atomic Absorption Determination of Iron in Breakfast Cereals (lab). (A note of caution about laboratory projeck the students were novices and required almost constant supervision. Also, they lacked skill in interpreting data and needed help to arrive a t proper eonelusions). Conclusions. The transformation was magical. Students began with no college science, trembling a t the prospect of battling through sinister "college chemistry." They left, not as competent scientists, but as well-informed non-scientists. By the final exam, they could chart major metabolic pathways, describe digestive processes, explain the need for a balanced diet on the molecular level, and discuss knowledgeably some current issues in fwd and nutrition. They learned basic laboratory techniques in the process of analyzing the foods they eat. They were excellent lab students-curious, yet careful to follow directions. Both students and instructors finished the course with high praise for the other's performance. We encourage others who face giving a chemistry course for non-science majors to choose a topic in the area of food. The topic is naturally captivating and inspires enthusiasm rather than dread. We will be pleased to furnish a course outline, bihlioara~hv, . . laboratorv manual. and exams uoon reauest.' .4rhnr,u lcdsmrnt \Ye uish 10 thank rhrsr individual-and orsanmrllm-. i ~ j their r nsii.t:,me on the prrp.aratilm and prmentstim of ~ h l roursr: r Sheila Wens; The M~llonk'cmnrlation a d the Fxulty I)rrrhpmtnt Cmnrn~rtre.K~lamaroc, ('ollcge; Dgnapol. Palo Alto. Califurnis; Fergus Clwlrsdnlr, ilnivrrsit) 01 hl:!ssorhusettr: Kir hard Bernhnrd. Ilni\.cr;itv of California, Davis.
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To whom correspondence should be sent. Current address: Department of Chemistry, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Ohispo, California 93407. Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo. Michigan 49007
230 / Journal of ChemicalEducation
J a n William Simekl Beth Ann P r u i t t
