What on Earth is an Enzyme?Written by Dianne Ronnow
Enzymes are workers in our body that make everything function, by enabling chemical reactions. All living cells contain enzymes. They are hard to visualize, since they are not something tangible, but they are essential to our bodies and our lives depend on them.There are many kinds of enzymes, and they do everything from helping us breath to helping begin life at conception. Eighty percent of our DNA code relates to enzymes. But kind of enzymes discussed here relate to our digestion and food we eat. In process of digestion, digestive enzymes in our bodies break down food into tiny microscopic parts that body can use for fuel, growth and repair. One food may take hundreds of different types of enzymes for body to digest. Food is naturally filled with enzymes, called ?food enzymes?, that help us to digest that food. The problem is that when we cook or process it, we kill those enzymes. Temperatures over 118 degrees will destroy enzymes. A good example of this is pineapple, which has some very powerful digestive enzymes in it. These enzymes work so well that when added to gelatin (like Jell-O), enzymes won't allow gelatin to thicken. So they only kind of pineapple you can add to gelatin is canned pineapple, which has been cooked and processed so that all enzymes have been destroyed. It is now safe to add to gelatin, but not as good for your body.
| | Oh, no! I Have Backne! The continuing mystery behind back acne.Written by Charlene J. Nuble
“Backne” is street slang for back acne. And while contraction’s definite origin is unknown, it can be said that it comes from fact that nearly everyone in world has, at one point in his or her life, experienced having back acne. Indeed, back acne is universal enough to merit its own term.Back acne knows no specific target. It afflicts people from ages ten to forty; sometimes even years after that. A lot of theories have been introduced as to why back acne happens. Sadly, however, none have been proven to be direct cause of back acne. But, before we get into that, let’s see first what constitutes back acne. Back acne happens when so-called sebaceous glands (or glands that create oily substance) produce an excess of oil. Commonly, males suffer from back acne, particularly during puberty, where shooting androgen levels interfere with sebaceous glands and cause them to overproduce, clogging skin pores. Such clogging attracts bacteria; hence, back acne is born. And, mind you, back acne does not only appear on a person’s back; it can also surface on buttocks. Some believe that back acne is aggravated by wearing tight clothes and constant heat exposure, which disallows skin to breathe. However, since we are fully clothed most of time and it is inevitable that we sit, it is impossible for us to prevent back acne consciously. Therefore, it would be better if we just focus on ways to control them.
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