From time to time you might have taken milk or any product processed from milk and later got stomach discomforts. If you have, you may be lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is a condition that causes some people to develop digestive problems after taking milk or other dairy products. Milk is largely made up of the carbohydrate lactose. Lactose is a disaccharide because it is made up of 2 different sugars namely glucose and galactose. The body cannot absorb lactose for it has no mechanism in place to facilitate this. Therefore, when milk is ingested, the lactose in milk has to be digested (broken down) into these 2 sugars which can be readily absorbed into the body. The digestion of lactose is undertaken by an enzyme called lactase that is produced in the small intestines. The production levels of enzyme lactase have been known to diminish with age. For this reason, intolerance to lactose has been known to become prevalent with increasing age. It is still not clear as to wh...
We have all heard of blood groups A, B, AB and O. A good number of you actually know which group you belong to. What is the reason of this variance? The red blood cells are part of the composition of blood. This tiny cells have three different types of sugars that are the distinguishing feature between blood types. Yes. You had me right. Sugars are the reason for all this fuss. The three culprits go by the names L-fucose, N-acetyl-D-galactosamine and D-galactose. All four blood types (AB, A, B and O) have L-fucose on their surfaces. If no other sugar is attached to the red blood cells except L-fucose then they are identified as type O. Type A red blood cells have both L-fucose and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine while type B red blood cells have both L-fucose and D-galactose. Type AB have all the 3 sugars attached. Cool stuff, right? These sugars are antigenic which means they are capable of eliciting an immune response. For example, if type A blood is transfused to a patient of type B blood,...