Microscopically small organisms, consisting of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other single cell organisms, live in and on our bodies. Some are found on the skin, in the mouth, the nose, the urogenital system, but the vast majority are found in the gastrointestinal tract (known as the gut), particularly in the
Advances in technology may someday into the future determine your daily nutritional needs with a simple test at home, where for example a pinprick of blood could indicate nutritional deficiencies. An app on your cellphone would then, for instance, tell you to cut down on the red meat to twice
The way the human body functions can be compared to a large chemical factory, where many individual biochemical processes are interlinked to function as a complete organism. These amazing biochemical processes are designed to create life, to grow, to heal, to repair, and is some cases, to create something new
Increasing global consciousness about the dangers of too much sugar in the diet has resulted in manufacturers of processed foods trying to hide the sugar content. A myriad of names that could hardly be associated with sugar, or are innocent sounding, are used on the label. But sugar by any
Many of us have either experienced or know of someone who has experienced the notoriously painful strike in the bunion joint of the big toe by gout, usually at night. Gout results from excess uric acid, which forms sharp, needle-like mineral crystals in the joints, causing inflammation and pain. Gout
People 70 years of age and older is the segment of the population that has the highest risk for developing cancer. While there is no wonder cure for cancer, the findings of a recent study bring hope for this age group. By taking two specific supplements, along with an exercise
Invisible to the eye, sugar is a disaccharide consisting of two molecules in equal amounts, namely glucose, and fructose. They get separated early in the digestive process and both get absorbed into the bloodstream but are processed quite differently. While glucose is the currency of energy in the body, fructose
Watching a white minibus taxi on its way to Zimbabwe over a long weekend suddenly created the image that an overloaded taxi is not a patch on what gets loaded into our bloodstreams! The bloodstream starts with plasma loaded with red and white blood cells as well as platelets made
Too much sugar in the diet has been referred to as “white death” and on closer inspection it boils down to the two ingredients in sugar. A single molecule of sugar consists of equal amounts of glucose and fructose, which gets separated early during the digestive process in the small
The smell of freshly baked bread lingering in the kitchen adds to the delight from the first bite. The delight does not only come from our tastebuds, but mainly from a pleasure and reward function in the brain, which helps us to feel happy and even euphoric at times when
