Message in a bottle
Alright, I do admit even though I loathe the public health curriculum in general and think that although most of the people in the program have a natural inclination towards altruism; over time and medical education, have developed really huge egos and want to stand on their soapboxes and tell "laymen" what and how to eat, live, and pretty much any other human function available. However, that is not to say that I don't think that much of what I'm learning is indeed valid and of dire concern. I just don't enjoy the manner in which health outcries are managed, and definitely think policy distrubution is not always fair or even ethical. But that's another story entirely.
But let me stand on my own personal soapbox for a moment, if you will, because my intentions are good. Through my own, albeit limited background in biology and biochemistry, I couldn't have avoided the work of Dr. Bruce Ames even if I had made a nice dwelling under a rock for the past six years. His hyperloading of vitamins theory makes complete sense, and will ultimately be his life's work (as he is 80-some years old) besides the Ame's microbial assay where he proved that even through the most unsuitable of living conditions, microbes will acclimate through biochemical adaptation in order to survive. But I digress. Through unhealthy lifestyles in additon to the process of aging, our own bodies rebel against us, releasing free-radicals that cannot be "mopped up" by natural defenses. Therefore, we need a daily intake and supplemental vitamins such as the six types of co-enzyme B and C; but ideally, we should be getting the span of the alphabet. Genetic mutations within the human population (including those which cause cancer) originate from the reduced ability of an enzyme to bind with its coenzyme, and thus the rate of metabolic catalyses are sometimes severely limited. While this is by no means an effective indicator of the true results in humans, prior studies on rats and mammals have shown that anti-oxidative agents have proven to alter dramatically improve the condition of 11 of the 50 mutagenesis reactions. I think that that is something worth looking into. But in the meantime, we should all TAKE OUR VITAMINS. Even if as a precautionary measure, where's the harm in spending a mere twenty seconds opening a bottle and popping a pill? Anyways, as I can feel myself wanting to stray further from my original message, and I honestly didn't want to go into all of that previous science "mumbo-jumbo", that's all for now, and this is me, stepping down from my soapbox. Over and out.
posted by Sheila @ 9/17/2004 01:11:00 PM
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