Every moment we are under attack by various disease-causing agents that could make us sick. Hence to stay alive and to thrive, the body is equipped with an immune system. The immune system consists of many parts including white blood cells (leucocytes), antibodies, bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen, thymus and the tonsil. Here is a […]
One of the ways that we normally judge how healthy we are, is by looking at our body weight. A strong muscular figure for men, and the curvy model-like figure for women are the looks to die for these days. But are we pushing ourselves to unrealistic expectations? What really is a healthy weight? This […]
Iron Most (two-thirds) of the iron that we have in our body is bound up in heme i.e. hemoglobin or myoglobin. Remember that hemoglobin carries oxygen in the blood and myoglobin takes oxygen from the red blood cells and carries it to tissues that need it. Therefore, iron is very important as an oxygen carrier when in the heme form. […]
Calcium You have probably been told to drink your milk because it will build your bones. The main nutrient in milk and dairy products that is responsible for bone building is calcium. Most of the calcium (99%) in our body can be found in our bone. The other 1% is in our blood. Calcium levels […]
Electrolytes like sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) play a key role in the transfer of nerve impulses. Nerve impulses are created by stimuli in the environment such as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. If the stimulus is strong enough, reaching a threshold of -55 mV, an action potential is triggered. In other words, the […]
In the last lesson I talked about the importance of maintaining body fluids, and briefly discussed the role of solutes (including electrolytes) in maintaining fluid balance. So what are electrolytes and why do we call them electrolytes anyway? Electrolytes are simply ions in solution. As you might remember, ions are charged and are therefore able […]
