Blood test can detect laughing gas and help the police fight whippit abuse
Forensic blood analysis can reveal whether drivers are high on laughing gas. Researchers hope the method can help the police.
Apr 23, 2024
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Forensic blood analysis can reveal whether drivers are high on laughing gas. Researchers hope the method can help the police.
Apr 23, 2024
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Consuming sugar-sweetened drinks in the first few years of childhood can be linked to poor diet patterns that increase the risk of obesity in later life, according to a new study by the School of Psychology at Swansea University.
Apr 12, 2024
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Previous studies have questioned whether gut microbe imbalances and vitamin D deficiency may be linked to schizophrenia.
Apr 10, 2024
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A new comprehensive review, authored by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Committee of Scientific Advisors Fracture Working Group on behalf of the IOF and the International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and ...
Apr 8, 2024
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Americans seem to have quite a positive view of dietary supplements. According to a 2023 survey, 74% of U.S. adults take vitamins, prebiotics and the like.
Apr 8, 2024
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The health risks associated with the consumption of tobacco and cannabis products are well-established by now. Much less understood are the risks associated with vaping, particularly flavored products popular with young adults.
Apr 4, 2024
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An increased serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) is independently associated with a lower risk for bowel resection with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a study published online March 25 in the International ...
Apr 4, 2024
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Vitamin supplements are a big business, with Americans spending roughly $45 billion out of more than $177 billion worldwide on pills, gummies and powders meant to boost health.
Mar 30, 2024
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We've identified Easter with eggs for a very long time, according to historians.
Mar 27, 2024
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While many of us enjoy chocolate throughout the year, Easter is of course synonymous with its consumption in a range of forms; be it dark, milk, white, egg or bunny-shaped.
Mar 27, 2024
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A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. A compound is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on the circumstances and the particular organism. For example, ascorbic acid functions as vitamin C for some animals but not others, and vitamins D and K are required in the human diet only in certain circumstances. The term vitamin does not include other essential nutrients such as dietary minerals, essential fatty acids, or essential amino acids, nor does it encompass the large number of other nutrients that promote health but are otherwise required less often.
Vitamins are classified by their biological and chemical activity, not their structure. Thus, each "vitamin" may refer to several vitamer compounds that all show the biological activity associated with a particular vitamin. Such a set of chemicals are grouped under an alphabetized vitamin "generic descriptor" title, such as "vitamin A," which includes the compounds retinal, retinol, and many carotenoids. Vitamers are often inter-converted in the body.
Vitamins have diverse biochemical functions, including function as hormones (e.g. vitamin D), antioxidants (e.g. vitamin E), and mediators of cell signaling and regulators of cell and tissue growth and differentiation (e.g. vitamin A). The largest number of vitamins (e.g. B complex vitamins) function as precursors for enzyme cofactor bio-molecules (coenzymes), that help act as catalysts and substrates in metabolism. When acting as part of a catalyst, vitamins are bound to enzymes and are called prosthetic groups. For example, biotin is part of enzymes involved in making fatty acids. Vitamins also act as coenzymes to carry chemical groups between enzymes. For example, folic acid carries various forms of carbon group – methyl, formyl and methylene - in the cell. Although these roles in assisting enzyme reactions are vitamins' best-known function, the other vitamin functions are equally important.
Until the 1900s, vitamins were obtained solely through food intake, and changes in diet (which, for example, could occur during a particular growing season) can alter the types and amounts of vitamins ingested. Vitamins have been produced as commodity chemicals and made widely available as inexpensive pills for several decades, allowing supplementation of the dietary intake.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA