Re: arthritis... bummer!

In message <25ies3lc13rkjc15e3vdql9rs70uijaj88@xxxxxxx>
Judith <no.spam.for.goofif.please@xxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:37:22 +0000, Bill Grey
<wdg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Did you find a vegetarian glucosamine? I couldn't.

A Doctor friend of mine suggested that Glucose-amine sulphate is
something the body produces naturally so why the vegetarian question?

Most glucosamine capsules contain a product made from shellfish (if I
understand correctly).

Also, if my limited understanding of biology is correct, the human
body produces everything it needs - but some people take supplements
for specific needs.

Wrong. There are some essential nutrients that all humans cannot
biosynthesise and thus must be present in the diet. An example of these
are the vitamins. What is a required vitamin for one species may not be
required by another because they may have the biosynthetic pathways
needed to make them. Thus if you eat a balanced diet with lots of
different species in it (which could be just vegetarian i.e. fruit and
plant species) you should be able to absorb the nutrients you need
without having to use supplements. Supplements are essentially an excuse
for not varying your diet enough, or for bad food preparation and
storage.

There are some individuals who have a specific genetic or acquired
deficiency and then in such cases they may need additional factors in
the diet that most others are capable of synthesising from more basic
nutrients.

That deals with essential nutrients. But what a lot of people fail to
consider is that as well as synthesising, or acquiring what is needed,
the body also has to dispose of the excess that isn't required. So it is
also possible to overload the body with too much of what is thought of
as a good thing. Some vitamins are good for you in small doses and can
become very toxic to the body in larger doses. So taking "supplements"
in doses that the body doesn't require can lead to health problems in
its own right. Again there are acquired or inherited deficiencies that
some individuals have which means that they are more susceptible to
being overloaded with too much of a particular nutrient. A common
example of this is lactose intolerance. All baby mammals have the
capacity to digest milk in large quantities, that's part of being a
mammal. However in most mammals they lose the ability to digest milk
once they are weaned and then if you give them too much milk they can't
handle it properly. Some populations of humans (but not all) have
adapted to consuming dairy products into adult life, and this adaption
requires us to keep making enzymes as adults that are more
characteristic of young babies. In western europe we consume a lot of
milk, butter and cheese, but that isn't true of many asian or african
populations. The percentage of individuals who are lactose intolerant as
an adult varies with their ethnic origin but also varies with age such
that the older you are the more likely you are to become intolerant.


Mike
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
<\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
"> || _`\<,_ |__\ \> | reader in immunology, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"
.

Loading