Your Busy Chemistry Laboratory
As a kid, I always wanted a chemistry set. I didn’t realize then, that I had the most advanced laboratory imaginable tucked inside my own body. The liver is the body’s master chemistry lab, supply store, and poison control centre. It performs hundreds of functions.
Unless you're engaging in vigorous exercise, about half the body’s total amount of blood is flowing through the liver and kidneys during any minute of the day. In that minute, the liver destroys some 140,000 red blood cells, which your bone marrow promptly replaces!
If your body has to deal with a poison, it relies on the liver to perform a variety of metabolic reactions. These can change a dangerous chemical structure into something harmless. As long as a healthy liver isn’t overpowered by a massive dose of any one toxin, it can employ its versatile control strategies to protect the body from a huge number of adverse chemicals.
As a nutrient supply centre, the liver can store vitamins and minerals. It can also store up to twenty per cent of its weight in glycogen, which is the body’s form of stored sugar. Liver cells convert glycogen into glucose to maintain a steady blood sugar concentration.
So next time you visit a chemistry lab, be glad you have a compact one tucked right beside your stomach.
As a child, Dr. Humphreys had always wanted a chemistry kit. He eventually got that kit, performed experiments, made messes, experienced successes and failures. He so enjoyed the field that he pursued the study of chemistry (although he admits to being late on occasion submitting lab assignments!) What began as curiosity, an interest, developed into a lifelong call.
Many of us can identify with particular childhood interests and inclinations which led us to follow certain vocational paths. This might have been something as innocuous as loving to sing in the bathtub, or to climb or catapult around in the yard. This may have included a bent towards helping wounded birds and animals. It could have been evidenced by the dismantling of all sorts of household equipment (without the skills to re-assemble them!)
In best case scenarios, this interest is affirmed and improved upon by others in our social circles. We are encouraged to sing and to receive music lessons. We take gymnastics or join sports teams. We go to zoos and talk to the staff. We become chief helper when an appliance breaks down and needs repair.
What is the source of these particular inclinations? Sometimes they seem to emerge as part of the personality. At other times they are fostered by opportunities which adults or peers provide. At any rate, they can be developed and refined until we have mastery in that field. Then we can be the ones to encourage interest and offer instruction to others in our midst.
All of us are gifted in various ways. Some are stronger in getting tasks accomplished; others are stronger in relational skills. Some are visionaries; others are maintainers of that vision. Some are good leaders; others good followers.
It always seems a challenge to decide whether it is more profitable to hone one’s strengths or put energy into weaker and underdeveloped areas. Is it better to do what we already do well or to strive for some semblance of balance and versatility?
We have only a finite amount of time and energies. It is worth investing them wisely. Today, consider your criteria for how you spend those resources. What kinds of results are you expecting for your investment?
Dr. David Humphreys and Debbie Hughes
August 2004
