Human Body - The Inside Story

From a Cell into a Human

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We all starts from a single cell.  When ovum is fertilized by sperm during conception, it forms a single cell called zygote.  This single cell then starts dividing itself into 2 cells, 4 cells, 8 cells and so on.  Within 3 days or 72 hours, a ball of 16 cells is formed.  This process continues until a fetus is formed within 9 weeks time, and it now has over billions of cells.  That is how we are formed from a single cell.  If you are interested to read more about detailed prenatal development, you may read more about it on Wikipedia.
Our body cells are simply amazing.  Every tasks within our body are fully automated - ageing from a baby to a teen, an adult, an elderly and eventually die; our mental growth and physical development; the many physical and biological changes that follows; all these processes are entirely performed by our cells automatically.  Our cells know what to do and how to get their work done properly as long as they are given the ideal condition (adequate amount of oxygen and water, balanced nutrients and unpolluted living environment) to carry out their daily routines.  Do you know that an average adult is made up of over 30 trillion (30,000,000,000,000) cells?  Based on more recent research, it is estimated that our body's ecology isn't complete without the estimated 40 trillion bacterias that resides inside our body.

Cell

Cell is the basic building block of life.  It is the most basic biological unit in every living organisms.  A single cell contain many different structures, each with different functions, hence if you were to observe  a cell under a very powerful microscope, they look like a "mini planet".

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In human body, there about 210 known distinct cell types, all differs in size, shape, function and lifespan (some cell only lives for few days while some can live up to 100 years).  Cell is the smallest unit of life that can divide itself independently.  During cell division, it forms supercoils that are shorter and denser as the cell's DNA is copied and split into two identical cells.  It is this cell division function that gives us the ability to grow and recover from injury or wound.  Basically, everything inside our body is controlled and operated by our body cells.

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Biologically, the organs in the human body has been grouped into 10 organ systems - Skeletal System, Muscular System, Circulatory System, Digestive System Urinary System, Nervous System, Lymphatic System, Endocrine System, Respiratory System and Reproductive System (Male/Female).  Each of these organ systems is formed by a combination of two or more organs.  Every organ is formed by a group of tissues and tissue is formed by a group of cells.  Although there are 10 systems in our body, they do not operate independently.  All these 10 systems are inter-related and all of them are fully controlled and operated by our body cells.
When our cells are unhealthy, our whole foundation will be shaken as illness/disease spreads.  By the time symptoms of illnesses and diseases start to appear, it means that the damage has already spread beyond our cells to our organs and organ systems.  When there is something wrong with our body, we should neither stop our diagnosis at the organ system's level nor should we stop our diagnosis at the organs or tissues' level.  We should trace it down to the root of the issue, our cells, because they are the ones that operates our body, not the tissues, not the organs and not the organ systems.  Our cells' health determine our body's health.

DNA and Chromosomes

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DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), also known as genetic code or our gene, is a chemical code with instructions that determines how a cell grow, develop, function and maintain itself.  Inside a cell's nucleus, a total of 23 pairs of chromosomes forms the human DNA.  Each chromosome forms long strands that look like twisted ladders while the "rungs" contain genes that control the reproduction of proteins to build and run cells.  This multi-coiled structure enables an incredible length to be packed into a tiny space, which if unwound, can stretch about 5cm!  Scientists have been researching on DNA because it is the "commander" of our cells and they believe that we would be able to control our cell activities if we could manipulate our cells' DNA.  If we fully understand how the DNA works and has the ability to alter it at will, it may be possible to control the function and development of our cells.  If the DNA is the controller that our cells are holding to control our body, manipulating the DNA is like rewriting the code of the controller.

What does our Cells Need to be Healthy?

Every organisms need 3 basic elements to survive - air, water and food.  Our cells are no exception.  However, fulfilling all the survival requirements would not guarantee our cells to be healthy.  Not to mention that even these 3 basic elements are deeply polluted these days, therefore it is not surprising that almost everyone are unhealthy.

We can control our limbs, body, eyes, mouth, tongue, head, somewhat control our breathing, etc., but we cannot control our cells' activities.  The only thing that we can do for our cells is, providing them with what they need so that they can carry out their tasks flawlessly!  When our cells can carry out their tasks flawlessly, not only our cells are healthy, but our entire body will also be healthy.  Below are all the elements that are required by our cells for them to be healthy:

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1. Essential Nutrients - Food for our Cells
Human body requires over 100 types of nutrients daily to achieve its optimal performance.  Most of these nutrients can be made within the body, but there are 46 types of nutrients that cannot be made.  These 46 types of nutrients MUST be obtained from our dietary intake and they are essentially the reason why we need to eat, hence they are called the essential nutrients.  It is also very important to ensure that we consume a balanced portion of these 46 types of nutrients because they cannot work properly even if only one of them is lacking.  Next time you think of food, think of what your cells need, instead of just thinking about food that your tongue desires.  Food for our cells need to be 100% organic, otherwise it is probably doing you more harm than good.  Of course, when you eat unhealthy food, you won't die immediately and you often won't feel the ill effect immediately, because our body is designed to keep us alive and to carry out their tasks with minimal interruption to our daily activities.  So start eating for our cells instead of just eating to fill our stomach or just to satisfy our taste buds.

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2. Antioxidants - Shield/Protection for our Cells
Our cells are exposed to numerous threats and one of them is called free radicals.  Some of these free radicals are inevitable byproducts, created by our cells when they convert food into energy, while the other free radicals are generated through exposure to UV rays in sunlight, environmental pollution, and chemical or toxins in our air, food and water.  Free radicals are the electron thief that steal electron from our healthy cells.  The scary part of this electron thief is that it turns its "victim" in to a "thief" as well, causing a chain reaction.  Excessive free radicals attack and alter the DNA in our cells, causing cell mutation and uncontrollable reproduction of abnormal cells, leading to tumors, cancer, and a host of other chronic degenerative diseases like arthritis and heart disease.  Therefore, we need antioxidants to act as a shield or protective layer for our cells.  Antioxidants have extra electrons, allowing them to generously give electrons to free radicals without being turned into a "thief".  Although our cells have developed some ways to defend itself from some of these free radicals, there are still far too many that our cells couldn't handle.  Hence, harnessing the bio-dynamic protective elements, phytonutrients (plant nutrients), from plants is a much better option.  Free radicals come in different shapes, sizes and chemical configurations, so there is no single antioxidant that can work on all free radicals.  According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in US, nutrients should come primarily from foods such as fruits and vegetables.  These foods also have naturally occurring substances and high amounts of phytonutrients that may help protect you from chronic diseases, especially colorful fruits and vegetables, which basically come under 7 'family colors' of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and white.  Bear in mind that there is no ONE antioxidant that can eliminates all free radicals.  Different antioxidant works differently in different part of our body, which is why the nature has provided us with not just one, but various different types of antioxidants.

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3. Internal Terrain - Living Environment of our Cells
Apart from feeding and protecting our cells, our cells also need an ideal environment to live in.  Our body is not as solid as it seems and all of our cells are not connected to one another side by side.  If you observe our body under a super microscope, you will notice that our cells are actually immersed in some kind of body fluid called internal terrain.  This internal terrain is composed of water, trace elements and minerals.  Internal terrain is not only the living environment of our cells, but it is also responsible for controlling all physiological functions of our cells, generating billions of tiny electrical impulses to allow communication between cells, repair cellular damage, and replicate cell DNA.  Therefore it is not exaggerating at all to claim that cells cannot be healthy without a healthy internal terrain.

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4. Oxygen (O2) - Fuel for Cell Metabolism
Without oxygen, our cells will be unable to metabolize nutrients.  Did you know that 90% of our body's energy is generated from oxygen while only 10% of it actually comes from food?  Oxygen is just far too important to our cells, without which, our body can barely survive past 5 minutes.

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5. Water (H2O) - About 70% of our Cell is Water
Water is another important basic element.  Without water, there can be no life.  Our cells are 70% water and they are immersed in internal terrain, so our body is actually a living aquarium.  If we are dehydrated for over 3 days, our body is in grave danger.

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6. Healthy Metabolism - A Vital and Constant Process Performed by our Cells
The chemical reactions of enzymes to convert food & oxygen into energy & waste is called metabolism.  Do you know that whatever food that you take can turn into either nutrients or toxic?  If your cell metabolism is healthy, the food that you take will turn into nutrient, but if your cell metabolism is unhealthy, the food that you take will turn into toxic.  Metabolism is a process that only ends when we die.  In order to ensure healthy metabolism, our body needs to be able to produce all the necessary enzymes.  Enzymes are needed to do everything from moving to thinking to growing, therefore there are thousands of enzymes that are needed by our cells to carry out all these tasks.  These enzymes can be divided into 3 main groups, food enzymes, digestive enzymes and metabolic enzymes.  Food enzymes found in food are the only enzymes that we need to obtain from food, while digestive enzymes and metabolic enzymes are produced by our body.  Digestive enzymes are only produced when food enzymes are insufficient, but metabolic enzymes are required for every other processes.  In order for our body to carry out metabolism healthily, we must ensure that our diet  are not only balanced, but also consists of food of which their enzymes aren't destroyed.