Fructooligosaccharides, which shall henceforth be referred to as FOS for obvious reasons, are sugars with chemical linkages known as osidic covalent bonds that resist enzymic hydrolysisis, and so are broken down by neither the salivary nor the digestive enzymes. In other words, they are indigestible.

However, before discussing the biochemistry further, let’s have a look at what they can be used for. Your body depends upon certain bacteria for its health. These are essential to help break down and digest certain foods, and also to provide a resistance to disease and infection. FOS is what is known as a prebiotic, which used to feed these friendly bacteria. Just like any other living organism, bacteria require nourishment and while they get plenty of food from our own diet, especially from the fiber content, they find FOS particularly appetizing.

Because fructooligosaccharides cannot be digested, it passes unchanged into the colon, where these bacteria live. As they break down the FOS and live on it, they multiply, and create an environment in your lower intestine that is hostile to many harmful bacteria such as Clostridia and E. coli. However, it is not only these harmful bacteria that cause problems with your digestion since there many other agents that can interfere with the smooth functioning of your gastrointestinal tract.

People all over the world are continually suffering from both minor and very serious digestive problems, ranging from heartburn and upset stomachs to severe diarrhea, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome and even bowel cancers. There is a multitude of reasons for that such as the effects of aging, poor diet and bacteria from contaminated food. Organic foodstuffs do not last long in many warm countries, and while spices can be used to hide the taste, they are not always successful in killing off the bacteria.

Your health depends on a healthy digestive system, and when that is wrong then you will feel ill. If your digestive system is running below par, then you will not feel good, and could suffer from a wide range of symptoms, including tiredness, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, fevers and depression. The health of your intestinal tract in particular is often neglected, and most people need to do something to give it a boost and improve its, and their, overall health.

That is what FOS can do. And it can do more than just feed friendly bacteria: it can help you maintain regular bowel movements, maintain healthy blood sugar levels, maintain a healthy immune system, break down hormones and rebuild them again (it is useful for the relief of the symptoms of PMS) and to keep down the cholesterol and fatty acid levels in your blood. It is used to feed beneficial bacteria, not to replace them, and if you are on a probiotic supplement, you can take FOS along with it.

Fructooligosaccharides are also used as artificial sweeteners, and alternative names for them oligofructan and oligofructose. There are two classes of FOS, the first of which is produced commercially by the chemical or enzymic degradation of inulin, a polymer of D-fructose linkages terminated with D-glucose. This is produced commercially predominantly in Belgium and Holland, and it also occurs naturally in chicory and Jerusalem artichoke, and in lesser amounts in bananas, garlic, tomatoes and onions.

The second class of FOS is produced mainly in Japan. This is produced by a process known as the transfructosylation of a B-fructosidase from saccharose or aspergillus niger, a black mould found on onions and grapes. This is basically the same as the first class, although the chemical bonds are in different places.

While they resist breakdown by enzymes, they are fermented in the colon by anaerobic bacteria, bacteria that work in the absence of oxygen. Because they are fairly soluble, they can be added to dairy products such as yoghurt and used to feed the bacteria contained in the yoghurt. In fact many supplements containing acidophilus bacteria are fortified with FOS: you drink the bacteria along with its food.

Although FOS is only now assuming increasingly popularity in the West, it has been used as a dietary supplement in Japan for many years. Some of the specific health benefits that FOS coveys by promoting the health of essential bacteria, are:

Calcium and Magnesium Absorption

There have been several studies that have concluded that FOS and inulin improve the absorption of calcium in the intestine of both animals and humans. The fermentation of the FOS by bacteria reduces the pH of the gut, which increases the solubility of these minerals and hence extracts more of them from food. The increased solubility also helps them to be more easily absorbed through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream. FOS can therefore help to maintain bone density and prevent osteoporosis.

Strengthened Immune System

By taking a supplement of FOS, you can increase the density of friendly bacteria in your gut fivefold in a matter of weeks. This crowds out harmful bacteria, and so the level of toxins in your body is reduced. Your immune system is allowed to work properly to fight of infection and disease without having to work hard on keeping down the harmful bacteria in your gut.

Promotes Regularity

Apart from being a food for bacteria, since it is not digestible FOS is also a soluble fiber that draws water into your colon, and so promotes easy transport of feces by the peristaltic pumping action of the intestinal muscles. It also absorbs excess water in the chyme and feces and so helps to prevent diarrhea. Furthermore, improving the health of the friendly bacteria also improves your digestive health that also promotes regularity.

Increased Energy

The fermentation of FOS by bacteria produces gases and acids. These acids help the body to produce energy, and although not a massive energy boost, when allied to the improved digestion it is significant.

All of these benefits and more suggest that FOS is highly recommended in the event of sporadic and chronic gastrointestinal problems. It is a natural substance that does not have a direct influence on your body’s biochemistry, but promotes the health and reproduction of those bacteria that do have a significant influence on intestinal health. Add that to the added benefits discussed above, and FOS is one of these supplements that could almost be called essential.





By: Darrell Miller

Through online biochemistry degrees, you can learn about the molecular makeup of the living world. The degree helps in studying the effects of chemical and biological reactions on biological systems, practices for obtaining, studying and recovering information, and the role and arrangement of molecules and biological systems.

You can start your program by beginning a survey of subjects like physiology, cell and molecular biology, and microbiology. Later, you can study advanced areas like enzyme actions, gene regulation, metabolism, and cell communication. You can then specialize in one or more of these areas of study. The programs help students to understand the cell as a functioning chemical system. It examines the communication between cells and the internal chemistry of cells.

Biochemistry specialization is into four distinct sections - macromolecular metabolism, nutritional biochemistry, molecular biology, and physical biochemistry. After graduating in these programs, you can look forward to work in the field of healthcare and medicine. You can also pursue graduate degrees or advanced studies in various biochemistry fields. There is also a high demand for jobs in biotechnology firms, scientific publishing, medicine, molecular biochemistry, pharmacology, or veterinary medicine.

Biochemistry degree involves research and study in chemistry, physics, and biology. The curriculum include plant biotechnology, molecular evolution, bioorganic chemistry, the plant genome, signal transduction and biochemical regulation, general biochemistry, genome maintenance and stability, methods in gene regulation, neuroscience, and physical biochemistry.

Ashford University offers General Biology Degrees. Berdan Institute, Illinois Institute of Technology, Keiser University, and Medix offer biochemistry degrees too. Lehigh University offers online degrees like Master of Science in Molecular Biology. You can learn about molecular biology, evolutionary microbial, and animal and plants molecular heredity. The courses also teach you about cells biology, regulating of genes expressions, development of genetics, and virology.

At Saint Joseph, you can get a Masters in Biology. The courses are taught through CD-ROM’s which feature image, video, and audio lecturing material. The University of Maryland offers Master’s in Life Science. University of Nebraska at Kearney offers Master’s in the Science of Biology along with credit time programs.

At University of Maryland University College, you can pursue Bioinformatics, Biotechnology Management, BTPS in Biotechnology, and MS in Biotechnology Studies. The MS in biotechnology studies program gives you a thorough foundation in management and policy issues which are unique to the biotechnology industry. You will have a greater understanding of the technologies in use in the biotechnology industry. Stanford University offers Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics, Certificate in Bioinformatics, and Computational Genomics Certificate Program.





By: Timmyandreuje

When people are attracted to each other, they are often said to “have chemistry.” This term is also used to describe when two people get along really well or are a good match, as in “you two seem to really have good chemistry together.”

So why do we say chemistry? Is it really a chemical bond that binds us? Do we really react to the body chemistry of other people? There are scientists who say that pheromones, certain chemicals that our bodies secrete (as do other animals) that tend to attract other people of the opposite sex, are a key factor in why we are drawn to certain people and not others. In fact, there is evidence in nature that suggests this is true.

But do chemicals alone constitute an attraction? One would beg to differ with that. Our body chemistry alone cannot be the only factor that allows us to “like someone.” While it may play a role, there are many more aspects at play.

For example, the looks of a person play an important role in our first impression of them. And that does not mean only whether we find the other person attractive physically, or whether we think they are handsome or pretty in the face. Their hygiene, hairstyle, choice of clothing, tan (or lack of), whether they look high or under the influence of any drugs or alcohol, the way they walk, talk, their mannerisms… all of these things have a major effect on how we perceive someone at first glance.

It’s interesting how some will use the term “love at first sight” to describe someone that seems to be just their exact type, during that first impression. Perhaps body chemistry is in the mix, there, as well.

A person’s values, interests, and personality will have an impact on whether we like them and/or could see ourselves dating the person. If we are marriage types, we look to see if other people are someone we could settle down with. We also like to judge their appearance on whether they would be good to mate and have children with.

These are all things that could be loosely termed, “having good chemistry.” Isn’t it fascinating how we equate agreement to value? If we agree with something we see in someone, or something they say, or what they wear, and so on, we believe that they are more valuable, and we in fact like them more than we would if we did not have as much in common.

This also explains why so many of us, whether we admit it or not, resist adversity. If we don’t have a lot in common with someone (that can be cultural, grammatical, taste in music/moves, or otherwise), we don’t like them as much. We don’t like what is not like us. Why is that? We don’t want people to be exactly the same as us, but we want them to be similar. Isn’t that strange?

Obviously, there is rationale for why we want to have chemistry, whether in the literal chemical sense, or in the figurative sense. Spending time with someone means deciding what to do together. And that means you have to have some sort of common ground on what you like to do. It’s amazing how many couples don’t have that much in common, yet they get along fine. However, sometimes those relationships “get old.”

One aspect in a person that has universal appeal is when they care about you and love you. Often, love itself transcends other types of superficial chemistry. How much does chemistry and having things in common affect how you treat people and how much does it affect whom you chose to date? Food for thought!





By: Gabriel Adams

been involved for only 1 week



By: wifey8182

Regular physical activity provides enormous health benefits. It helps reduce heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and many other diseases and metabolic conditions. Regular fitness exercise is also highly beneficial for weight reduction and weight maintenance, and may improve brain chemistry to reduce depression. By contrast, health studies that have monitored the wellbeing of large groups of people over many years clearly show that inactivity significantly increases the risk of overweight, obesity and chronic diseases.

New brain cell development, improved cognition and memory. Exercise stimulates the formation of new brain cells. Researchers found that the areas of the brain that are stimulated through exercise are responsible for memory and learning. For instance, older adults who engage in regular physical activity have better performances in tests implying decision-making process, memory and problem solving.

Heart Disease and Stroke. Daily physical activity can help prevent heart disease and stroke by strengthening your heart muscle, lowering your blood pressure, raising your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (good cholesterol) and lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (bad cholesterol), improving blood flow, and increasing your heart’s working capacity. Optimizing each of these factors can provide additional benefits of decreasing the risk for Peripheral Vascular Disease.

Cholesterol lowering effect. Exercise itself does not burn off cholesterol like it does with fat, however, exercise favorably influences blood cholesterol levels by decreasing LDL (bad) cholesterol, triglycerides and total cholesterol and increasing HDL (good) cholesterol.

Physical activity helps to reduce body fat by building or preserving muscle mass and improving the body’s ability to use calories. When physical activity is combined with proper nutrition, it can help control weight and prevent obesity, a major risk factor for many diseases.

Exercise has also been found to increase levels of “brain-derived neurotrophic factor” (BDNF). This substance is thought to improve mood, and it may play a role in the beneficial effects of exercise. BDNF’s primary role seems to be to help brain cells survive longer; so this may also explain some of the beneficial effects of exercise on dementia

Among the symptoms of depression are feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. Physical exercise often leads to a sense of accomplishment that can increase good feelings about yourself when you need it most. Exercise can also help you feel better about your appearance and your self-worth. Meeting small goals is an excellent way to start boosting self-confidence with the feeling of accomplishment you take in completing challenges.

The health benefits of exercise are explicable in terms of favourable physiological, psychological, and biochemical changes and improvements in function. Their scope is greater than has been supposed. Motivating sedentary people to pursue these benefits is not straightforward. They are reluctant to undertake even moderate exercise, and they become immediately aware of their limited tolerance for physical work and the discomfort that it provokes. It takes several weeks of regular exercise to see an improvement in their capacity for effort and for there to be a training effect.

It was found that exercise had the strongest effect on boosting patients’ physical function, such as improving their ability to climb stairs or walk a certain distance. It improved patients’ body composition, increasing the percentage of lean muscle mass to total weight. Exercise reduced some symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting and pain, and modest improvements were seen in fatigue, mood and quality of life. Given the relatively small benefits for exercise identified by their analysis, the researchers suggest combining exercise with other inventions designed to improve cancer patients’ physical and mental health.





By: peterhutch

I am a student of chemistry. Please describe related to physical chemistry.
I am asking what is the lowest possible temperature that can be obtained PRACTICALLY (it is not zero)?



By: ශාකුන්තල | shaakunthala

Hoodia swept the nation by storm when Leslie Stahl and her crew traveled to South Africa to determine whether a little succulent plant could actually suppress appetite for days at a time, with virtually no side effects. Leslie tried it personally. She stated she experienced absolutely no hunger the entire day, nor any thirst. Furthermore, she did not have the jitters the following day, and did not experience any unpleasant side-effects that are so common with today’s diet pills.

Ms. Stahl was following the lead on a story that first reached Europe in 1937, when a Dutch anthropologist observed the San Bushmen eating the leaves of this cactus-like plant before embarking upon a hunting trek. For two days these Bushmen traveled over a hot and pitiless desert, without the aid of food or water. For nearly thirty years, little interest, if any, was shown in the tiny plant. During that era, pharmaceutical companies were busy creating potent drugs in chemical labs, that had very little to do with organic chemistry.

In 1963, scientists began re-examining Hoodia and by 1995 had isolated what they consider the active component, P-57. P-57 is said to be a steroidal glucose that attaches itself to that portion of the brain that controls hunger. The mechanics of how it suppresses appetite are still unknown. I spite of the fact that the pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm, (the original company attempting to develop a Hoodia diet drug), sub-licensed its research and development rights to Pfizer in 1998, no diet drugs were produced. In fact, Pfizer eventually lost interest and reassigned its rights back to Phytopharm, who is now working with Unilever on the project.

It will be interesting to see where all this leads. Hoodia is a protected species in South Africa and, since it takes five years to mature, is not likely to become an agricultural export. However, there are many in the field of herbology who would like to encourage South Africa to do just that. Herbologists think that isolating a single component from a plant and expecting it to proffer sustainable benefits would be like asking a human body to live on water alone. The synergistic properties of Hoodia offer the bushmen freedom from hunger and increased stamina, to ensure a successful hunt.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has created such a high demand for the product that purchasing Hoodia-based products that are genuine is not an easy task. Every single web page offering Hoodia claimed that its product was the genuine article. Logically, a product in such high demand, carries with it the opportunity to provide much-needed income for South Africans. Actually, cultivating a plant with an extended mature date is not unheard of. Aloe Vera requires seven years growth before the juice is suitable as an ingestible juice or a burn aid product. Aloe Vera, by the way, is another plant whose properties have been un-replicable in the laboratory.





By: Jim Mackey

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s The Healthiest Year of Your Life, which can be found at http://thehealthiestyearofyour life.com. In this excerpt, Richard DiCenso shares on the unique Matrix Assessment Profile.

The Healthiest Year of Your Life with Richard DiCenso, a leading authority on whole person therapy and author of Exploring A New Way of Thinking.

Kevin: Well, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got from being a medical doctor to finding this book, Beyond Medicine, that there was more out there than what we think.

Richard: Well, part of my frustration was in my training, because I went from discipline to discipline to discipline over a period of years and it included everything from medicine to chiropractic to forensics to acupuncture to trauma rehabilitation, human biochemistry and nutrition and what I found is that every discipline was that there was a formula to a recipe approach and when I started looking at people with symptoms and looking at the different disciplines I found that each discipline had their own approach to the same symptoms, but none of the disciplines attempted to identify the cause of the symptoms and that’s when I stepped back from all the disciplines and started to look at what is it that all of these symptoms have in common and in the final analysis in its simplest form, I found that all symptoms are simply symptoms, that they are just the net result of an imbalance, or deficiency that’s progress over a period of time to exhibit itself as symptoms and in a worst-case scenario, a diagnosable the thieves.

Kevin: So for instance, fibromyalgia is a symptom of –

Richard: Some imbalance or deficiency. It can be a different one for each person. That’s interesting part of it, because if there were a simple cause-and-effect, we’d have it already and there would be a cure.

Kevin: Okay.

Richard: It is a name for a group of symptoms that a number of people are experiencing. They come in complaining of the same thing, so they’ve narrowed it down to being diagnosable. If you have, I think, it’s 18 tender points of different parts of the body then you get the diagnosis fibromyalgia, which means what?

Kevin: I don’t know.

Richard: Right and that’s what I’m saying is that’s how a lot of medicine is conducted, is they’re telling you what they’re telling them, using a different word.

Kevin: Got you.

Richard: So my elbow hurts and so if you’ve got arthritis. You got tendinitis. You’ve got degenerative or rheumatoid arthritis. You have whatever, but basically they’re going to use a word that means what it is that you’re telling them without really describing what’s caused what you’re experiencing and therefore, if you can’t identify a cause, you can’t affect a cure.

Kevin: So it’s kind of like making up words.

Richard: It’s a lot like making up words. It’s very similar to what the pharmaceutical companies do with the ad agencies in New York. One of my clients has a large advertising agency in New York and 20% of his business is from pharmaceutical companies and his job is to come up with a name for a drug that they discovered that relieves certain groups of symptoms and so they sit in a brainstorming session for a few days and they come up with something that is catchy and can have an acronym associated with it that rolls off the tongue that people can remember and basically it’s we’ve got a new pill now and we need a disease to go with it.

Kevin: Wow. So how do you go backwards from a symptom to the actual imbalance?

Richard: That’s a great point and I’m a simple guy in the final analysis. So I had to come up with a simple process that I could understand and communicate so that the people I’m working with could become proactive in the process, instead of just looking to me for the answer and kind of help me find the answer. So the answer to your question in a sentence is always start where you are. So that’s the beauty of the Matrix Assessment Profile, which is a protocol that I’ve developed over a period of years based on research produced by NASA to monitor the health of the Apollo astronauts and the Matrix Assessment Profile means that we’re assessing the matrix. Now, I don’t want to do the same things with the words here that these doctors are doing with these diagnoses. So there’s a method to the madness and there’s a reason behind this name. So an assessment of the matrix means that we’re looking at more than just the symptoms that you’re describing to me. We’re looking at the potential causes for that symptom or group of symptoms within the human matrix, which is composed of structural, biochemical and a cycle of emotional or virtual realm that all interacts 24/7 to produce the experiences we have in life and so the Matrix Assessment Profile is an assessment of all of those realms. What do you do for a living? What kind of stress are you experiencing? What do you eat? What percentage of your diet is raw? How often do you eat out? How much water do you drink? Do you take supplements? How much sleep you get? What kind of spiritual beliefs do you have? These are all things that will contextually interact to produce symptoms as part of the human matrix.

Kevin: So the matrix is all the different things that are around you. Let me ask you this question. Is the matrix outside of you, or inside of you, or is it is a combination of all of that?

Richard: It’s very similar to the concept of zero point energy. It’s the creative and life-sustaining force that contributes to the expression of everything in existence and maintains everything in existence. So the answer is that it’s both inside and out.

Kevin: Okay. That’s pretty cool. Now, you’ve seen over your time different elements that contribute to physical symptoms.

Richard: Yes.

Kevin: What are some of those? I know some of them are listed in your book. Can we just run over one or two or three of them? Richard: Obviously, if you are in an automobile accident and you experience physical pain, then the cause-and-effect is relatively straightforward, although the reason for the accident may not be as easy to understand, but we won’t go there yet. That’s part of another realm, but then you experience physical symptoms and particularly if you don’t know why you’re experiencing them then, that’s where we start with the analysis, is where you’re experiencing the symptoms. So I’m experiencing physical pain. We look at the physical structure. It can be associated with repetitive movements, prolonged positional stress. It can be associated with a nutritional deficiency, or it could be associated with some kind of cycle or emotional imbalance or inconsistency that expresses itself as a physical symptom. For instance, a child that doesn’t want to go to school, because he’s being bullied gets this horrendous stomach ache and they take him to the doctor and they can’t find anything, but they put him on bed rest and it becomes a recurrent experience, a physical experience and then over time it is identified and dealt with, it will lead to other forms of behavior and other physical experiences and things are just going to be unsolvable, because they’re looking in the wrong place for the source of the physical pain or discomfort or symptoms.

Kevin: Wow. That’s an incredible explanation of how it all works. How do you assess that, though, with modern or conventional medicine?

Richard: Well, once again, you always rule out the obvious. So most of the people who come to me have already been through all the conventional analysis and there are two ways to use conventional medicine at this point in trying to determine what’s causing those symptoms. One is to have the test done, because you don’t want to miss anything obvious, like a virus or IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, or celiac spruce. Some of the organic dysfunctions that can produce similar functions, you don’t want to miss those. Once you’ve had the test done and their negative, the next that the process is to look at those tests and see if they come back normal, are there elements within those results that are high normal and low normal, because these are just as powerful to a tool in terms of determining a pattern in the process of developing an imbalance in the process of developing a deficiency in the process of developing by looking at highs and lows in related chemistries and then if that’s there, then we use that as an initial tool to start normalizing biochemistry. If that’s not there, then next step in the process is let me look at the Matrix. Let me look at the relationship between the child and the parents. Let me talk with a child. Let me ask some very explicit questions to the child that seem like I’m having a dialogue, but they’re really designed to elicit responses that would be consistent with an imbalance in the emotional realm, so that I can either implement some treatment myself or recommend a course of treatment with a child psychologist or someone that might be more skilled in one or more of the areas that I’m not. So my role isn’t necessarily to solve the problem of the symptoms, but to solve the problem, which may involve other people that I need to interface with professionally.

Kevin: Have you found that nutritional deficiencies can cause emotional behavior and emotional reactions?

Richard: About 80% of the emotional symptoms that I see have a nutritional basis.

Kevin: Wow.

Richard: So it’s huge.

Kevin: When the nutritional deficiency is addressed, then that goes away?

Richard: Yes, because again, you’re dealing with a symptom that appears to be emotional and if you treat it with pharmaceuticals, you treat with therapy and it doesn’t get any better and you’re missing the obvious, which is nutritional imbalance or deficiency, then you’ve served no purpose.

Kevin: Wow.

Richard: So think about it this way, Kevin. One of the issues we have in this country is that the soil is depleted of vital nutrients. The last senate document I saw said that there were only three minerals left in the soil in this country and so if the nutrients aren’t in soil, they’re not in the food and if they’re not the food, they’re not in the diet. If they’re not in the diet, they’re not in the body and the body was designed to operate in function on all of these nutrients. So it’s a supply and demand problem. If the demands are that the lungs keep pumping and oxygen is delivered to the cells and the bowels move and the heart pumps blood and all of the other systems work the way they were designed and there are not enough raw materials to go round, the body has to begin to compromise function and prioritize the use of the raw materials that are available, which then sets up a whole chain of events over a period of time based on a law of accumulation, which means it that if something is done repetitively of a period of time, there’s going to be a reaction to that given the fact that there is an insufficient supply to meet the demand for that function.

Kevin: It sounds so logical.

Richard: It is.





By: Kevin Gianni

Physical Chemistry. (of colloidal particles) to flocculate or cause to flocculate by adding an electrolyte to an electrostatic colloid.
Also… Can Coagulation be used to seperate a mixture?



By: LeslieLikesLollipops

I have to do a miniature science project for fall intercession homework, demonstrating a physical change and chemical change. I know what to do for the physical change part of my project, but I’m not so sure about the chemical change. I was thinking about burning a piece of paper, and I can see the evidence of it being a chemical change, but I’m not sure exactly how it is a chemical change. Can someone explain this to me better? Thanks much!



By: Kiefer H