Papaya Enzymes & Pregnancy
Proponents claim that supplemental papaya enzymes offers several health benefits, from aiding in weight loss to reducing symptoms of digestive discomfort and acid reflux.
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Can Red Wine at the Early Stages of Pregnancy Hurt the Baby?
Many women, once they find out they're pregnant, worry about the behaviors in which they engaged during early pregnancy. One of the most common concerns in mothers-to-be is that alcohol consumed before they found out they were pregnant will hurt the baby.
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Sodium Carbonate vs. Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate have similar-sounding names and many chemical similarities, but they're used very differently. Sodium carbonate has household and industrial applications but is used very rarely in food and cooking.
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Differences Between Calcium Phosphate & Calcium Carbonate
Many different calcium supplements are available over-the-counter at health food stores and drug stores. You can use these to ensure that you're getting plenty of calcium, which is an important component of the skeletal system.
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What Roles Do Hydrochloric Acid & Bile Play in Digestion?
Digestion is simultaneously a complicated process and a relatively simple one. Chemically, it's quite simple -- it involves breaking the large nutrient compounds in your food down into small nutrient compounds that you can absorb. Logistically, however, this is quite complex.
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What Are the Functions of Lactose?
Lactose is milk sugar--it's much less sweet than table sugar, and occurs naturally in milk and other dairy products. While you can certainly burn the chemical components of lactose for energy, it doesn't serve unique cellular functions--you can burn other carbohydrates instead with no ill effect whatsoever.
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Does Freezing Kill Enzymes in Food?
There are many common misconceptions regarding the enzymes in your food -- whether they're useful to you and what affects them. In very simple terms, freezing doesn't kill enzymes in food for two reasons. First, they're not alive, so they can't be killed. Second, freezing doesn't permanently affect enzyme structure.
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Is Microwaved Food Bad for Your Health?
There's a common misconception that microwaved food is bad for you, either because microwaving destroys nutrients or because the microwaves themselves somehow render the food unhealthy.
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Will Prenatal Vitamins Help Regulate the Period?
There are a number of myths and misconceptions regarding prenatal vitamins and their effects on women who aren't pregnant. For instance, there's no truth to the claim that prenatal vitamins can help regulate your period. Your period depends on hormones released by various body organs, not on vitamins you take.
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Decaf Black Tea & Pregnancy
There are a number of foods and beverages you may be used to drinking that aren't a good idea during pregnancy, because they contain chemicals that can harm your developing fetus. While regular black tea is best avoided, you can safely drink decaffeinated black tea during your pregnancy.
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A Description of Lactose and Lactase Reaction
Lactose is milk sugar; you consume it any time you drink milk or eat dairy products. To absorb its components and use them for energy, you digest it with lactase, an enzyme produced by your digestive tract. Lactase reacts with lactose, splitting it into two smaller sugar molecules that you can absorb.
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Infant Dosage for Poly-Vi-Sol Vitamins
Poly-Vi-Sol is a vitamin and mineral supplement in drop form made by Enfamil, a company that also makes formula for infants.
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How Does Sodium Bicarbonate Affect Blood pH Levels?
Sodium bicarbonate is the chemical name for baking soda, a common household salt that is also an important part of your blood chemistry, because it occurs naturally in the blood. In general, sodium bicarbonate has the effect of acting as a buffer, meaning it helps to stabilize the blood pH.
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The Difference Between a Hydrocarbon & a Carbohydrate
“Hydrocarbon” and “carbohydrate” sound similar but are two very different types of compounds. Hydrocarbons consist of purely carbon and hydrogen, while carbohydrates also contain oxygen. Living organisms metabolize carbohydrates for energy, whereas hydrocarbons are used as fuels and in industrial applications.
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The Cancer Risk of Microwave Popcorn
You might have heard recently that microwave popcorn isn't safe because it contains chemicals that can increase your risk of cancer. The most common rumor is that it is associated with lung cancer, but in reality, there's no direct link.
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Food Absorption & Fat Emulsification in the Digestive System
To benefit from the nutrient molecules in food, you must absorb them into your body where they can nourish your cells. Several different mechanisms for facilitate the absorption of nutrient molecules. To absorb fat, it must first be digested, which is dependent upon a process called emulsification.
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Natural Source of Calcium Carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a common, naturally occurring calcium salt that is often used as a source of calcium in supplements. Its abundance in nature makes calcium carbonate the least expensive supplemental calcium salt. It is also a major component of some types of stone that are used in architecture and sculpture.
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Sodium Chloride and Digestion
You may know that sodium is a mineral you need to maintain cellular health and well being – in fact, so is chloride. Table salt, or sodium chloride, is a source of both these essential minerals. You use sodium and chloride in the process of digesting other compounds, as well as elsewhere in the body.
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Are Protein Bars Safe to Eat During Pregnancy?
If you're pregnant and looking for a good snack or meal replacement, you might be wondering whether protein bars are safe for you to eat.
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The Substitution of Valine for Glutamic Acid
Valine and glutamic acid are amino acids with very different structures and properties. They are both building blocks of protein, and sometimes mutations in your DNA can cause substitution of one for the other. This can potentially lead to serious disorders, the most well-known of which is called sickle cell anemia.
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