"I should also remind everyone that water is a poison with a lethal dose of something like a gallon and a half drank over an hour and a half. "

A few years ago, a woman died after trying to win an iPod on a radio show during a contest that involved who could for drink the most water in the shortest period of time.
i've used that example numerous times in my advanced physiology class, to explain why tonicity (the substrate concentration) in your body fluids *really* matters. So yes, water kills. Drowning is another example of how water can kill. Inhaling water is a really bad idea. Water has free oxygen in it...right? You breathe to get free oxygen...right? But water kills you if you have your lungs full of it. Not fish. They can breathe water. My point: PHYSIOLOGY determines toxicity.

So...in a slight tangent....trans fats were recently banned in the USA by the USDA with the blessing of the AMA. Trans fats are organic...but they've been manipulated chemically. They are just hydrocarbons, but they wreak havoc on the cardiovascular system. To a chemist, there is little difference between partially hydrogenated hydrocarbons from chemical processing versus "natural" sources of partially hydrogenated oils (like dairy products). Still, the medical profession has shown there's a significant difference to (the physiology of) the body. Trans fats like margarine are worse for your blood vessels than "natural" partially or fully saturated fats like butter. Lesson: We didn't evolve with margarine. We did evolve with butter.


Christina

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