Description of the Experience
Again, it is needed to say what these substances are although we have already met with this term. Those are substances which affect the course of chemical reactions in living organisms and without which those reactions would not occur and the body would collapse.
We divide them into 3 groups: vitamins, hormones and enzymes. Vitamins cannot be produce by an organism and therefore they must be consumed as a part of our diet.
Vitamins – the first one was isolated vitamin B and because part of it was also nitrogen the name vitamin was created from it – vita is life in lat. and amin is chemical compound ,, therefore it is amin necessary for life. Although it is not exact because the composition of vitamins is so varied the name remained.
When in the 15th and 16th century people went to sea, it was the era of so called overseas discoveries, a cruise lasted sometimes unexpectedly very long time and they were not prepared for it. At one boat the strange disease started to occur – bleeding gums, hair and teeth loss, general malaise and finally death. When the most of the crew was dead and there was almost no one who could lead the boat, they landed on the shore and the natives offered them a drink which was made of needles. The disease started to disappear because the drink contained vitamin C which shortage started to display as a disease which is called scurvy. We divide vitamins into two groups: water soluble – B, C and fat soluble – A, D, E, K. Lack of one of the vitamins causes disease which is called vitamin deficiency and has a variety of manifestations according to the vitamin which is missing, from skin diseases, infertility to disorders of nervous system…
Students know about vitamins since pre-school but at this age they devote minimal attention to it. Their source is mainly vegetable and fruit.
Hormones – are produced in an organism by endocrine glands, for example thyroid, pancreas … Pancreas excludes insulin which regulates the level of sugar in blood. If there is not enough of insulin excluded you will get diabetes. Then it is needed to get insulin into organism by injections. It is whole life disease. Students think that if the eat chocolate they will get diabetes. Thyroid gland excretes hormone thyroxin which affects the rate of metabolism in the body. Its insufficiency may cause overweight also at normal diet.
Enzymes – they affect some reactions or break down some compounds and they are named according to their functions. For example enzyme alcoholase breaks down the alcohol.
Scientists claim that in women is that enzyme produced in at a smaller rate than in men, but it is individual, it depends on weight, on food you consume. It is difficult to say how alcoholase reacts in bodies of people who consume alcohol daily or for decades. Probably it is not produced fast enough because at the final stage of alcoholisme just a small amount of alcohol is enough to cause the death.
A debate about alcoholism follows.
I consider this experience to be positive.
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