Carrageenan

Carrageenan is a common food additive that is extracted from red seaweed, Chondrus Crispus, which is popularly known as Irish moss. It holds no nutritional value but is still used in many foods as a thickener and emulsifier to improve the texture of ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk, and other processed foods. There have shown to be animal studies that have linked degraded forms of it (the type not used in food) to ulcerations and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Even more recently studies have shown that undegraded carrageenan (the type used in foods) with malignancies and other stomach problems. The difference between degraded and undegraded forms of carrageenan is in their molecular structure and their molecular weight, undegraded having the higher of the two.

                Dr. Tobacman has published 18 peer-reviewed studied that address the biological effects of carrageenan and is positive that it is harmful to human health. She found that when we consume it in processed foods, we ingest enough to cause inflammation in our bodies, because all forms of carrageenan cause inflammation. We know that chronic inflammation is a root cause of many serious diseases such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s diseases, and cancer. In the past carrageenan has been used in studies to cause inflammation in tissues in order to test the anti-inflammatory properties of drugs. When lab mice are exposed to low concentrations of carrageenan for 18 days, they develop profound glucose intolerance and impaired insulin action, which can both lead to diabetes. In 2012 she presented this information to the National Organic Standards Board. Their decision is unknown as to if they listened to Dr. Tobacman’s presentation and took it off the organic foods list or not.

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401181/Is-Carrageenan-Safe.html

                Want to know how to cut carrageenan out of your diet? Scan the label to see if it is listed as an ingredient, if it is not on the list it is not in the food since it must legally appear on food labels. Although organic foods do not allow GMO’s, chemical pesticides, and toxic synthetic additives, the program does allow carrageenan so check organic foods as well as non-organic ones. The U.S Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards Board isn’t set to vote on removing it from organics for three more years. To get carrageenan removed from the foods, sign the Carrageenan Petition to the FDA to let the federal agency know you don’t want this ingredient in the food chain. I myself have signed this petition now that I know what carrageenan is and that it has a negative effect on humans and should not be being consumed by them. The Cornucopia Institute created a Buying Guide to help you shop carrageenan-free products. Vallaeys says the good news is companies like Stonyfield Farm, So Delicious, Eden Foods, and Oregon Ice Cream are voluntarily working to reformulate carrageenan-free products. I also think that eliminating carrageenan from the human diet will help save the coral reefs from less human disturvbance that is being caused by gathering the carrageenan to use in many foods.

http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/carrageenan-natural-ingredient-you-should-ban-your-diet

TMN Cancer Rating System

            Cancer is when cells or a tumor have departed far from what is recognized as normal with respect to structure, growth, and replication. A tumor is a mass of cells whose growth is atypical when compared to normal surrounding tissue structure, tumors may be benign or malignant. A benign tumor is a noncancerous growth that remains confined to the growth site, it may grow in size over time but does not invade into surrounding tissues. A malignant tumor is cancerous that could spread from its primary growth site to potentially distant sites by its ability to metastasize. There are various stages of cancer, these stages describe the extent or severity of a person’s cancer. It is beneficial to know what stage the patient is in to help the doctors select a treatment plan and to assess the patients’ prognosis. There are various staging systems that are used depending on the type of cancer a person has.

“Principles and Practices of Toxicology in Public Health” by Ira S. Richards and Marie Bourgeois. Pg 191

            In this blog I will be discussing the TNM staging system, it is based on the size and/or extent of the primary tumor (T), the amount of spread to nearby lymph nodes (N), and the presence of metastasis (M) or secondary tumors formed by the spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body. A number is added to each letter to indicate the size and/or extent of the primary tumor and the degree of cancer spread. 

            If there is an X placed next to any of the letters it means that the primary tumor/regional lymph nodes/distant metastasis cannot be evaluated. If a 0 id placed next to the T it means that there is no evidence of a primary tumor, if it is placed next to the N there is no lymph node involvement, and if it is placed next to the M there is no distant metastasis. If a 1, 2, 3, or 4 is placed next the the T it represents the size and extent of the primary tumor. If a 1, 2, or 3 is placed next to the N, it represents the degree of regional lymph node involvement. If a 1 is placed next to the M, it means that distant metastasis is present. If  “is” is placed next to T, it means that there is carcinoma in situ, or that abnormal cells are present but have not spread to neighboring tissue and is not labeled as cancer but it could become cancer.

            To determine what stage of cancer you are in there are various types of tests that are used depending on what kind of cancer you have. Physical exams are when the doctor examines the body by looking, feeling, and listening for anything unusual. The results of this exam may show the location and size of tumor(s) and the spread of cancer to the lymph nodes or any other tissues/organs. Imaging studies produce pictures of areas inside the body. Examples of this method are: x-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which show the location of cancer, the size of the tumor, and whether the cancer has spread. Laboratory tests and surgical reports are also used to help determine the stage of cancer.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/staging

Return On Investment

1. What would your future self recommend you do differently? 

I think that my future self would recommend that I start to eat healthier and stop eating so many desserts because diabetes runs on my dads side of the family. My future self would also recommend that I have more fun and take more risks in life.

2. What advice would the person you become, 5-10 years in the future, give you today?

My future self would advise that I go out more and have fun and to not stress about my grades so much. It would also tell myself to go hang out with people more so I have more long lasting relationships in the future. Get to know my teammates more while I’m still in college because college flies by fast.

3. What would present you advise past-you to do?

I would have advised myself to not jump into a relationship so fast and so serious my freshman year. Also, to possibly choose a college that was closer to home, not necessarily in Minnesota but states that are closer to it, since it took a long time for me to stop being homesick my freshman year. I would also advise myself to pick the Environment Health Science major my freshman year since I changed my major four times in college and now I possibly won’t be able to graduate on time.

4. Would it be similar to future you advising today you?

No, my advice to my past self is very different than my advice to my current self because I have changed a lot in my three years at college so the advice is very different. Although there is a common aspect in that I would tell myself in both future and past to have more fun and to not worry about my grades as much.

5. How much have you invested in your future self so far?

I have invested a lot in my future self, by going to college I have opened up numerous amounts of opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. By being a college athlete I have kept my body in good shape which has increased the health of my future self, as well as causing future problems since the toll of volleyball adds up after playing it since 4^th grade. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future I had to get shoulder surgery as well as knee surgery because of volleyball.

6. How much more are you willing to invest?

I am willing to start to decrease the amount of sugar I put in my body to decrease the chances of me getting diabetes in the future. I am willing to invest more time to get the job that I want in my future.

7. Will you be leading a life that is far more fun than it is today?

This question for me is a very difficult one because college is supposed to be one of the more fun times in your life but I believe that I will have more fun in the future than I am having now. Because I will have started my life and have a real career, hopefully, and I am so excited to get married eventually and buy a house and start a family. I know that with each of these things it brings new problems and stresses but I believe that the time that I have invested in each of those things will make the payoff so much better. 

Biotransformations

I had never heard of biotransformations before so I really had to do some research for this blog. From eoearth.org the definition of biotransformation is, the process whereby a substance is changed from one chemical to another (transformed) by a chemical reaction within the body. Biotransformation is vital to survival because it transforms absorbed nutrients (food, oxygen) into substances required for normal body functions.

The biotransformation process is not perfect. When biotransformation results in metabolites of lower toxicity, the process is known as detoxification. In many cases, however, the metabolites are more toxic than the parent substance. This is known as bioactivation. Occasionally, biotransformation can produce an unusually reactive metabolite that may interact with cellular macromolecules (e.g., DNA). This can lead to very serious health effects, for example, cancer or birth defects. An example is the biotransformation of vinyl chloride to vinyl chloride epoxide, which covalently binds to DNA and RNA, a step leading to cancer of the liver.

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150674/

Biotransformation is essential to convert lipophilic chemicals to water-soluble and readily excretable metabolites. Formally, biotransformation reactions are classified into phase I and phase II reactions. Phase I reactions represent the introduction of functional groups, whereas phase II reactions are conjugations of such functional groups with endogenous, polar products. Biotransformation also plays an essential role in the toxicity of many chemicals due to the metabolic formation of toxic metabolites. These may be classified as stable but toxic products, reactive electrophiles, radicals, and reactive oxygen metabolites. The interaction of toxic products formed by biotransformation reactions with cellular macromolecules initiates the sequences resulting in cellular damage, cell death and toxicity.

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-7643-8336-7_3

Biotransformation also serves as an important defense mechanism in that foreign compounds or, toxic xenobiotics, and body wastes are converted into less harmful substances and substances that can be excreted from the body. The liver is the main site of biotransformation. All xenobiotics taken up from the intestine are transported to the liver by a single blood vessel (vena porta). If taken up in small quantities a foreign substance may be completely metabolized in the liver before reaching the general circulation and other organs (first pass effect). Inhaled xenobiotics are distributed via the general circulation to the liver. In that case only a fraction of the dose is metabolized in the liver before reaching other organs. Liver cells contain several enzymes that oxidize xenobiotics. This oxidation generally activates the compound—it becomes more reactive than the parent molecule. In most cases the oxidized metabolite is further metabolized by other enzymes in a second phase. These enzymes conjugate the metabolite with an endogenous substrate, so that the molecule becomes larger and more polar. This facilitates excretion.

Enzymes that metabolize xenobiotics are also present in other organs such as the lungs and kidneys. In these organs they may play specific and qualitatively important roles in the metabolism of certain xenobiotics. Metabolites formed in one organ may be further metabolized in a second organ. Bacteria in the intestine may also participate in biotransformation. Metabolites of xenobiotics can be excreted by the kidneys or via the bile. They can also be exhaled via the lungs, or bound to endogenous molecules in the body.

http://ilocis.org/documents/chpt33e.htm