Antioxidants

Antioxidants

November 23, 2012

Organic chemistry is the study of structure, properties and the reactions dealing with carbon compounds (organic chemistry, n.d.). This type of chemistry may deal with small items, but knowing how organic chemistry works as a whole has an impact on our daily lives and also the occupations some of us consider. Knowing the bases of organic chemistry can be important and sometimes even required to learn for the bases of many health care professions. Learning organic chemistry can have an effect on how common healthcare occupations do their individual jobs, such as breaking down the basic parts of a compound, such as in a medicine, seeing how the properties interact and the reactions they can have. By knowing this you then can applying this to an individual health, like a pharmacist does on a daily basis. Organic chemistry may be a small part in healthcare but it does pay an important part. It can be significant that people venturing into a healthcare profession take organic chemistry course to provide an understanding of the compounds that have impact within the people they are treating. There are many professions within healthcare that organic chemistry can have an impact on, such as chiropractors, nutritionists and pharmacists.
There can be many advantages in knowing the basis of organic chemistry and applying that to the healthcare fields. One of the main goals within health care is the overall health of the patients. I believe within chiropractic, nutrition and pharmacy, overall health of patients can be dependent on some aspects of organic chemistry. Take chiropractic for example, the main bases of this occupation is the study of biochemistry and physiologies, which both have an organic chemistry component. Organic chemistry is a main prerequisite to apply to any Doctor of chiropractic programs. To further your education beyond, you must first have the knowledge of what compounds are made of and how they work. This goes within any occupation, but for chiropractors there main job is the manipulation of the spine and the other ailments that go along with this. Being able to work on the full musculoskeletal system, means chiropractors also have to treat the chemical components that make up each system. If there is a chemical component off it can be their job to try and put the body back into the correct balance. To do this they need a working knowledge of these chemical compounds and how they relate and react to the area surrounding it.
In nutrition, a big thing within organic chemistry is what you eat and how well you are able to digest the material while obtain key components for health. This whole occupation is based on nutrients, to understand nutrition you have to know biochemistry and you really cannot do biochemistry without the knowledge of organic chemistry (Fienman, 2011). Nutritionist should now how food and other items for ingestion are composed and how they are broken down, like carbohydrates or sugars. Knowing into what chemical properties food breaks down into, it can further on how it is absorbed and what absorbs it. The main component nutritionist work with is simply water, H2O. They must know on the interaction of water and the food that they are in taking. Knowing these properties can aid within a nutritionists job.
Pharmacists also have to know a great deal about interactions also. Pharmacist’s main job is to fill and dispense medications to patients and also give advice on how to use the medications safely. Some of the main aspects of this job are reliant on medical chemistry and pharmacology, which have main touches of organic chemistry throughout. The human body is made up of many organic compounds, since a pharmacist dispenses drugs to put into the body, they must know the human body’s reaction to each drug. Also the pharmaceutical companies use organic chemistry all the time. These companies making the drugs are using many different compounds to process different medicines, putting the use of organic chemistry reactions to use. So a pharmacist must understand how the chemical compounds in which these drugs are made up of work. It is important that they know the nature and the composition of each, do avoid any harmful effects on the body. Knowing these different make ups enable the pharmacist to know drug interactions and also side effects that can occur while in use of a drug.
Toxins play a big role in health care, from the pharmacists who are delivering the correct medication to reduce effects of a toxin, to a nutritionist that is trying to help to avoid putting the toxins into the body, and also the chiropractor who is trying to release those toxins within the body so they can expel them naturally. There are different types of toxins; exogenous, endogenous and autogenous. An exogenous toxin is a form of toxin that is caused by external agents such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, coffee and other environmental poisons. These can enter your body by either a voluntary act or involuntary, such as a pesticide on the surface of an item of food you eat. An endogenous toxin is found within the human body, these can be associated to tuberculosis, syphilis and many other diseases. This type of toxin cannot always be prevented. An autogenous toxin, is a toxin that is a result from a hereditary factor (Jesse, 1990). These three types of toxins can have harmful effects on a body. By learning organic chemistry for health professions, it is possible to know which chemicals have a high toxicity and why they can harm the body in the way they do. This is why detoxification can be an important factor in cleansing the body and make a push to overall health.
Within chiropractic adjusting and manipulation of the spine is an easy way in releasing many different toxins into a person system. Toxins can travel throughout many parts of the body, they can travel very quickly though the blood system. But this allows it to circulate though the lymphatic system, allowing the lymph to remove excess waste and toxic materials. Many of the drainage remedies that go along with ridding the body of toxins are complex homeopathic remedies (Jesse, 1990). An understanding of organic chemistry can help in this by allowing the chiropractor to know what chemicals bind with other chemicals could found in the location that the toxins are stored. This could help in ridding the toxins quicker. With any homeopathic remedies or the release of any neurotoxins within your system it is very important to drink a lot of water; a good amount of water can help flush those toxins away.
Organic chemistry is a required course needed for many healthcare programs. There is a slight different in the number of organic chemistry credits you need depending on which occupation you are going for and also the school you are attending. But with any medical programs a solid foundation of organic chemistry can help you in many aspects. One way this is possible is with building a base of organic chemistry knowledge, this give you a head start on other classes, such as biochemistry, which has all the fundamentals of organic chemistry built into it. Another way organic chemistry is helpful within a medical program is that is gives you the knowledge that is needed within many situations, such as determining toxins to knowing how a specific chemical is broken down. Within chiropractic it gives a base of working chemicals within the body that can react with each other. With a nutritionist is helps within knowing what different chemicals are being put into the body and how the food is broken down. Lastly with a pharmacist, an organic chemistry background help within being able to determine drug interactions due to the makeup of the drug and knowing if a medicine is within the right components. Organic chemistry not only impacts these three occupations but many others, in many different ways. This is why a working knowledge of organic chemistry can be very important no matter which path you choose within the health care field.

References

Feinman, R. D. (December 8, 2011). Biochemistry and Nutrition. In Word Press. Retrieved October 21,2012, from http://rdfeinman.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/can-i-teach-you- organic-chemistry-biochemistry-and-nutrition-in-a-few-blogposts/.
Jesse, T. D. (1990). Homeopathic Detoxification. Dynamic Chiropractic, Vol. 08, Issue 26. http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=45547 Organic chemistry. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/organic chemistry

References: Feinman, R. D. (December 8, 2011). Biochemistry and Nutrition. In Word Press. Retrieved October 21,2012, from http://rdfeinman.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/can-i-teach-you- organic-chemistry-biochemistry-and-nutrition-in-a-few-blogposts/. Jesse, T. D. (1990). Homeopathic Detoxification. Dynamic Chiropractic, Vol. 08, Issue 26. http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=45547 Organic chemistry. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/organic chemistry