Casefile 19: Killer fats

(OMG. This is our 21st post! Ah, it's our last graded post! Woot! :D)

Hello! I've been absent for a week. I hope you didn't miss me. :p

Anyway, yeah, every girl or woman is scared of fats!!! It makes you fat and ugly!!! :( But what happens to fats in our body? I'm sure all of you know that lipases digest our scary fats. Ok, let's continue from my previous posts. I've done amylases, I've done proteases, so now... lipases!

So what happens if we have too little lipases?

1. HEART ATTACK
Lipases digest fats. Without lipases, fats cannot be digested and may clog blood vessels! This leads to high blood cholesterol! Anyway, eating too much saturated fats and TRANSFATS can put too much pressure on lipases that they cannot handle! This is equivalent to lipase deficiency! The result? Heart attack!

Woah, why does so many things lead to heart attack? So scary! No wonder people always say that life is fragile and vulnerable! Treasure all that you have! Who knows who will be gone tomorrow! Touch wood! :p

2. DIABETES
Lipases control the permeability of the cell membrane. So, a lack of lipases will cause the membrane to go haywire. It'll become impermeable, so nutrients cannot enter and wastes cannot leave the cell! Argh! Imagine all the wastes clogging up in your cells!! EWWWW! :/

Anyway, the same thing happens to diabetic patients, 'cos their kidneys cannot function and clear wastes properly. So, diabetic people usually have lipase deficiency!

3. MUSCLE SPASM
Do you know that Heather had muscle spasm during OBS? Well, if you didn't, now you know. :p

Anyway, a VERY COMMON symptom of lipase deficiency is muscle spasm! A deficiency of lipase triggers off severe pain in your muscles, causing your muscles to contract, and hence you can neither sit nor stand still, and cannot stop trembling. It's scary. It's just like having fits, and it can be fatal!!! o.O (Heather could have died? TOUCH WOOD.)

Note: If you experience such cases, doctors often advise patients to take muscle relaxant drugs. BUT!! They are toxic!!! So, maybe adding some lipase to your diet may help. :))))

Foods high in lipase are:

1. Fresh avocado

Fresh!

2. Coconut flesh

Milky!

3. Raw animal fats e.g. marinated fish
Whee!

4. Cream
Ahhh! Italian Ice Cream!

5. Butter
Lamb: Maa..a.aaa...

6. Egg yolk
Twins!

Mmmmm... Don't they look delicious?? :D

As lipase is a water-soluble enzyme, these foods high in lipase must retain their water. Hence it'll be best if they're eaten in their original form (haha, then i won't suggest you to eat raw meat, unless you want to. :p).

Love,

Detective CxY.

http://squarehe.com/images/0603/raw-meat.jpg
http://harrygow.com/capaldis/graphics/front_pic2.jpg
http://www.rachelleb.com/images/2004_04_09/lamb_shaped_butter.jpg
http://www.siber-den.net/photos/2004egg/egg.jpg
http://www.onsushi.com/images/avocado.jpg
http://www.deliciousorganics.com/images/coconut.jpg

Case file 18: Marasmus

ESS tests are OVER and done with! OK back to BIO =) (diff font colour!!!!)


Today, lets talk about Marasmus. Marasmus is a form of severe protein-energy malnutrion, something like Kwashiorkor, caused mostly by prolonged calorie deficiency and energy deficiency. BUT, don't go start bingeing yet, because, Marasum occurrence increases prior to age 1 - which i doubt u are, if u are reading this blog. Marasmus, together with Kwashiorkkor and marasmic KW represent a group of pathologic conditions associated with a nutritional and energy deficit occuring mainly in young children from develping countries.


Infants suffering from Marasmus usually have a shrunken wasted appearance - dry skin, loose skin folds hanging over the glutei (simply put, ur BUTT muscles ), axillae (underams haha), etc. Drastic loss of adipose tissue from normal areas of fat deposits like buttocks and thighs. The afflicted are often fretful, irritable, and voraciously hungry. There may be alternate bands of pigmented and depigmented hair (flag sign), or flaky paint appearnace of skin due to peeling. Chronic diarrhea is also a frequent symptom.


Marasmus can also cause the amount of fat in the body to be severely decreased. In fact fat stores can be decreased to as low as 5% of the total body weight. And this remaining fat is usually stored in the liver (insulation??) so not much of it can actually be seen. In serious cases, the protein mass can decrease up to 30% (protein mass is usually found in the muscle and some organs). Organs that are affected primarily first are the - liver, heart, pancreas, and digestive tract.


The loss in weight and muscle mass because of Marasmus will inadvertly result in decrease in energy expenditure - impairing the response of sufferers to changes in the temperature, increasing risks of hypothermia


To diagnose Marasums, doctors may conduct physical examintation and a health histroy that probes eating habits and weight changes and assess the nutritional status. Nutritional status can be derived by comparing heigha nd weight to standardised norms, calculating BMI and measuring skindfold thickness or the circumference of the upper arm. A good nutritional and balanced diet in the long run is the only way to treat and prevent Marasmus. But in severe cases, three stages of treatment may be needed:

1. correcting fluid and electrolyte imbalances, treating infection with anti biotics that don't affect protein synthesis and addressing related medical problems.
2. replenishing essential nutrients slowly to prevent taxing the patient's weakened system by too much food
3. physical therapy may be beneficial to patients whose muscles have deteriorated significantly.


Marasmus is very common in less developed countries because of the poverty. Thus, many people cannot afford proper medical healthcare, or even the food. In all honesty, this has been one of the saddest diseases i have researched on so far. The children do not deserve this, and we should do something to help, even if its only on a monetary basis. (oops, did i go off topic?? sry!! )
marasmus in a 3 mth old baby.

prof. chia