Saturday, July 25, 2009

Does Vitamin C in orange juice really good for our health?

A glass of orange juice from market contain how much of vitamin C?




What makes Vitamin C?
Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin. It is an organic compound. Also known as Ascorbic acid in scientific term as 3-oxo-L-gulofuranolactone, Anti-scorbutic Acid, Hexuronic Acid, Cevitannic Acid, L-xyloascorbic Acid, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Ascorbyl Nicotinate. It can be prepared by synthesis from glucose, or extracted from plant sources such as rose hips, blackcurrants or citrus fruits. It is easily oxidized in air.

The structure of vitomin C which is an organic compound.
It is an example of carboxylic acid which has
the COOH group as the functional group.



Good sources include peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, kiwi fruit and oranges!!






Oranges are loaded with vitamin C, which means you need it in your diet every day because it can't be stored in the body. Adults need 40 mg a day!! In fact, one orange provides more than a full day's supply of vitamin C! Vitamin C is one of the most powerful antioxidants acting as a scavenger to neutralize harmful elements naturally occurring within the body and helps fight cell and tissue damage that could lead to disease. Vitamin C also helps the body fight infection and may reduce risk of diseases, such as cancer.






In fact, one report shows that people with low vitamin C intake appeared to have approximately twice the cancer risk, compared to people with higher vitamin C intake. On the other hand, Vitamin C also makes a body grow! It helps babies grow and build strong bones and teeth. And, it helps the expecting mom's body absorb iron.





Extra info!! Did you know that?
Man is one of the few mammals who unable
to manufacture Ascorbic Acid in his liver!!!
______________________________________________________________


Well, there are some symptoms of the vitamin C deficiency disease called scurvy which including bleeding gums and skin discoloration due to ruptured blood vessels, however, is not rare, and can be a symptom of vitamin C deficiency. Weak immune function, including susceptibility to colds and other infections, can also be a sign of vitamin C deficiency. Since the lining of our respiratory tract also depend heavily on vitamin C for protection, respiratory infection and other lung-related conditions can also be symptomatic of vitamin C deficiency.
In contrust, what happens if you take too much of vitamin C?
Taking large amounts of vitamin C can cause stomach pain, diarrhoea and flatulence. But these symptoms should disappear once you stop taking the supplements. Hence, take the correct amount of vitamin C in daily life. Don't just take it unstoppable until never end!! It is not good for health if we excess taking all the nuitrients as well.


This is an example of nutrition fact of orange juice pack.
Notice!! Its contain 150% of Vitamin C out of others. It is beneficial for us to take vitamin C through orange juice~❤

A glass of orange juice satisfies more than 50% of daily need of vitamin C. It helps to refresh blood and stimulates body. It helps digestion. It is very effective against flu and other diseases.





So, why not take it everyday ❤?
Have a nice drink per day~


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Are you prefer Butter Or Margarine for your toast??

Wow!!~~ Yummy~~!!!


I believe all of you had ate a toast before. So, what are you usually prefer to put on the top of your toast?? Butter? Fruits Jam? Peanut butter?



well well well~ did you actually know these are all flavourings ? And did u really know how much cholesterol that intake into your body?



If you really do? did you prefer more to butter or margarine for your toast?



The recent past has focused on the potential benefits or adverse effects of butter over different types of margarines, usually focus to their relative content of polyunsaturated, saturated, and trans fatty acids, and the impact of these on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels.




Recently, a new class of margarines and other fat-derived products, eg, salad dressings, mayonnaise, containing plant-derived sterols that are intended for use to lower blood cholesterol levels have been introduced into the food supply. These products are being marketed to low-saturated-fat and low-cholesterol diets to maximize reductions in LDL cholesterol levels by the meant of dietary.




By the way, margarines are obviously better than butter because they are derived by plant instead of animal's fats. This ingrdient that derived from plant is actually called plant-derived sterol. Let me talk more about sterol and it will make you have a clearer picture of this plant-derived sterol.






Sterols represent a group of compounds that are alcoholic derivatives of cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene and are an essential structure of cell membranes in animals and plants. Cholesterol is the sterol of mammalian cells, whereas multiple sterols, or phytosterols, are produced by plants.




Plant derived sterols, although structurally similar to cholesterol, are not synthesized by the human body. They are very poorly absorbed by the human intestine. The specific plant derived sterols that are currently incorporated into foods intended to lower blood cholesterol levels are extracted from soybean oil or pine tree oil.




The plant sterols currently incorporated into foods are esterified to unsaturated fatty acids to increase lipid solubility, thus allowing maximal incorporation into a limited amount of fat. Some plant sterols currently available are saturated, to form the stanol derivatives, sitostanol and campestanol, which after esterification form stanol esters.


The impact of the sterol or stanol ester which containing fats on LDL cholesterol lowering is relatively consistent regardless of whether the background diet is similar to that currently consumed or reduced in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, consistent with current guidelines for hypercholesterolemic individuals, and whether the plant sterol ester–containing fats have been incorporated into regular fat or reduced fat products.







Both unsaturated and saturated forms of plant sterols have been used in the studies. Comparative investigations of the relative efficacy of these 2 preparations in regular-fat margarine have recently been reported. Superimposed on a background diet high in total and saturated fat, 2 to 3 g/d taken in 2 divided doses of both sitostanol ester and sitosterol ester in margarine resulted in 10% to 13% reductions in LDL cholesterol and no significant change in HDL cholesterol levels. An additional study has compared the effect of 2 reduced-fat which is 40% of fat in margarines containing stanol esters, which derived from either tall oil or soybean oil, within the context of diets criteria. The efficacy of both preparations was similar, with a decrease of 9% in LDL cholesterol levels.






Thus, it is better to take margarines rather than butter because it is lower cholesterol levels.
Furthermore, if you need a healthier meal in your day, you should pay more attention on the supplement facts on every food that you eat. This can advise you more by taking healthier food.
Below is the example of supplement facts in a food product.


Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Say "NO" to Alcohol!!!!

Alcohol = Relax?? or Release tension?? or Interest??



It's that a good reason for you to drink?
Just about everyone knows that the legal drinking age in Malaysia is 21. But according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, almost 80% of high school students have tried alcohol. Are you one of this 80% too? Why is this so? Yet, deciding whether to drink is a personal decision that we each eventually have to make. We can't blame anyone else except ourselves.


Consequently, how do u know about alcohol so far? In this post, let us explore more about alcohol and eventually it's side effects after took alcohol.



Firstly, what is alcohol? Alcohol is a depressant. Alcohol is actually created when grains, fruits, or vegetables are fermented. Fermentation is a process that uses yeast or bacteria to change the glucose in the food into alcohol. The process of hydrolysis is needed in the fementation reaction of alcohol.
In chemistry, an alcohol is any organice compound in which a hydroxyl group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. The general formula for a simple alcohol is CnH2n+1OH. In common terms, the word alcohol refers to ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. Alcohols are classified as primary, secondary or tertiary depending on the position of the hydroxyl group in the molecules structure.



  • A primary alcohol is one in which the carbon having

the OH group is bonded to only one other carbon atom.



  • In a secondary alcohol the carbon to which

the hydroxyl group is attached is also bound to two other carbon atoms.



  • In a tertiary alcohol, the carbon which holds

the hydroxyl group is bonded to three other carbon groups.




So as above, if alcohol is a natural product, why do teens need to be concerned about drinking it? When people drink alcohol, it's absorbed into their bloodstream. From there, it affects the central nervous system , even the brain and spinal cord, which controls virtually all body functions. Because experts now know that the human brain is still developing during our teens.


Other effects of moderate alcohol intake include dizziness and talkativeness, the immediate effects of a larger amount of alcohol include slurred speech, disturbed sleep, nausea, and vomiting. Alcohol poisoning is exactly what it sounds like the body has become poisoned by large amounts of alcohol. Violent vomiting is usually the first symptom of alcohol poisoning. Extreme sleepiness, unconsciousness, difficulty breathing, dangerously low blood sugar, seizures, and even DEATH may result!!!!!





  • These are the parts of your body organs which

affected by over intake of alcohol in long term.



However, consuming large quantities of alcohol for long term can lead to addiction, so called alcoholism. Extensive alcohol intake is likely to produce withdrawal symptoms, including severe anxiety, tremors, hallucinations and convulsions. People especially when combined with poor nutrition, can lead to permanent damage to vital organs such as the brain and liver. In addition, mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy may give birth to infants with fetal alcohol syndrome. These infants may suffer from mental retardation and other irreversible physical abnormalities.



Looks attractive to alcoholic?

Think before you take.



In short, think you know the facts about alcohol abuse? If you consume alcoholic beverages, it's important to know whether your drinking patterns are safe, risky or harmful.




Say "NO" to alcohol!!!
Because it's just as a chemical in a conical flask for you to

weaken your ownself brain system and the rest~



Therefore, Take it safe!!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Who responsible to washing out of the dirty clothes?

Clean clothes hanging outside the garden in the morning everyday~
Whose resposible for these actually?



Peaple oftenly called it as luandry detergents, and what is the actual name of it in the sense of chemistry? Dirty cloths, they need soaking in a solution containing alkylbenzene sulfonate, phosphates silicates, perborates, etc...*blablabla...*




Wow~ what a long chain of chemicals name?? These chemicals that have taken the hard work out of washing once a household chore that was tackled everyday.


*taadaa~~~dirty cloths?? FAB helps it~(LOL)



To understand what is needed to achieve effective cleaning, it is helpful to have a basic knowledge of detergent in chemistry.


Synthetic detergents function in the same way as soaps. They have a long non-polar hydrocarbon chain and a polar group at the end. The polar groups of most synthetic detergents are sodium sulfates or sodium sulfonates. They have an advantage over soaps in cleaning process which are active in hard water. Yet, they are not equal of soap in cleaning power and they must be combined with additives.







They have an advantage over soaps in that they are not precipitated by some metal ions which are present in hard water. the negatively changed soap micelles are neutralized by these ions to form a scum. For example of scum are (RCOO-)2Ca2+ and (RCOO-)2Mg2+ . Laundry detergents clean clothes by capturing hydrophobic dirt inside micelles. Dirt is thus solubilised and then removed from the clothes by water.




A picture of micelle form in a dirt cloth.



Laundry detergents is a surfactant which can make up 10-20%. A surfactant is a substance that can greatly reduce the surface tension of water when used in low concentrations. It can be classified by the presence of formally charged groups in its head. A nonionic surfactant has no charge groups in its head. The head of an ionic surfactant carries a net charge. If the charge is negative, the surfactant is more specifically called anionic; if the charge is positive, it is called cationic. Detergents are built around "surface active" reagents or "surfactants" for short.


The steps that grease on the cloth are being removed.



Consequencely, some of them are not biodegradable that largely impact on environment. As reseach shown, The carbon dioxide emission from a liquid laundry detergent used to wash an average load of laundry is about 0.7 kilograms (1.5 pounds). The loss of natural habitat potential from a liquid laundry detergent used to wash an average load of laundry is about 0.5 square metres (5.8 square feet) based on primary production correlations. (According to "Six Products, Six Carbon Footprints". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122304950601802565.html.)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

I am eating ESTER everyday!!!!


When I eat fruit, chew a sweet, drink flavoured milk, or remove my nail polish with remover, some pleasant odours from them will get in my nose. That are all due to a chemical substances called ESTERs.




Are we really eating these so called esters in our stomach?? The answer is definately "Yes".


Those artificial flavourings are all made base on ester, as I learn in high school, esters are actually made from alcohols together with a kind of acid called carboxylic acids through esterification. Esters are taste and bouquet component in sweet and some junk foods.

Its enhanced the taste in foods by adding in to the foods but all are chemicals.


Recently, I used to love chewing gum, when i was in the class, when i was in the cinema, when i was driving, even when i am showering too!!

Gosh, i am definately addicted eating esters into my stomach. Does it make my stomach get poison one day? When I recall back, I was feel like a little bit anxious. This is because all those artificial flavouring "swimming" around in my stomach. Oh Gosh!!! (scream again><)
As i know, those gums are made by menthol which called mint too. Menthol is a white crytalline alcohol with a mint flavour and strong odour. It is extracted from peppermint oil and being synthesised. Its all about chemicals and flavourings and additions. What else then?


Yet, what to do?? I am trying my best to stop chewing gums. Hope i do~

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Swine Influenza = Piggy flu ??


When everybody heard of this name--swine influenza (swine flu), all of us was scared about it.








This is what a virus so-called popular plus famous recently, most of the people who were infected with these type of viruses surely end to death (scary huh??)





This is how the virus's structure look like~

This is given a scientific name as an influenza subtype A H1N1 virus.
It is assigned an H number and an N number based on which forms of these two proteins the strain contains. There are 16 H and 9 N subtypes which can brings by animals but only H1, 2 and 3, and N1, 2 can be basically found in humans.





These type of viruses spreaded around the world from Maxico to several asia country now such as Hong Kong in a very short period. (Quite speedy, right?)






A latest news from the newspaper is one of the hotel in Hong Kong was found a maxican who suspected being positive to these type of viruses, and the whole building of people inside this hotel need to be qaurantined until the viruses are being killed. Such a wicked action they made to the victims.




I am used to be a "pork hunter", but, Since the people who are infected and death because of these viruses are increasing, my family and I were stop eating pork. ( this is because asian poeple are timid, I am admitted XD)






However, I saw a mail from my friend stated that Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. We cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Yet, I am not dare to try it by eating pork from now although they proved it that pork are innocent. XD





There are actually some chemists or scientists are discovering some drugs to cure these viruses. At first, there are some drugs used in UK to prevent the infections with influenza are amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir which are according to the newpaper.






Yet, the most recent viruses are resistant to these kind of drugs. Many chemists and scientist are still exploring the new cures of it.





How do we survive from this world which full of viruses and endanger around?





People are fragile, so we need to be caution in anytime, anywhere whenever doing anything.





Here are some preventions of infections with swine influeza to share in this blog,
  • washing hands frequently no matter outside from home or at home,



  • cover your mouth and nose with mask,




  • not staying too close with others in public,





  • stay away from people who sneezing, caughing and etc from the bacteria.




Wishing everybody live in peace and health~^^