Overview

A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. A compound is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on the circumstances and the particular organism. For example, ascorbic acid functions as vitamin C for some animals but not others, and vitamins D and K are required in the human diet only in certain circumstances.

Vitamins are classified by their biological and chemical activity, not their structure. Thus, each "vitamin" actually refers to a number of vitamer compounds, which form a set of distinct chemical compounds that show the biological activity of a particular vitamin. Such a set of chemicals are grouped under an alphabetized vitamin "generic descriptor" title, such as "vitamin A," which (for example) includes retinal, retinol, and many carotenoids. Vitamers are often inter-convertible in the body. The term vitamin does not include other essential nutrients such as dietary minerals, essential fatty acids, or essential amino acids, nor does it encompass the large number of other nutrients that promote health but are otherwise required less often.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Do You Know That There Are Drugs in Your Drinking Water?

"Probe finds drugs in drinking water was typical of the headlines in the newspapers back in March 2008, as an Associated Press report the results of an investigation by three of its reporters. So how can one drug in drinking water? That is the question that this article will try to answer.

When you fill a glass with water from a tap in your home, the water comes from the local public wastewater treatment plant which draws its supply from rivers and lakes or in some cases, ground water from Holes. The lakes and rivers in the rain falls on the hills and our waste water from households and businesses. And it is the sewage, which is the main source of drugs in our drinking water water.

So done as the drugs in the effluent from our house? We flush the toilet. This is the most common way of disposing of outdated or unused drugs. In fact, it is one of the three recommended methods available, the other two to make them into the trash or to return to a collection point.

You might think that the average individual, even if they are regelmaigen drugs, would not have that many pills to spare, so this should not be a problem. But it seems that this is the way unused pharmaceuticals sold in clinics and hospitals. A nurse with twenty years of experience reported that their clinic in a small town 10000 flushed the toilet enough drugs to fill a coffee can 1lb each month.

Another report indicated that "informal" process in more than 16000 nursing homes in the U.S. Patients flush drugs down the toilet. Ambulance services, rehabilitation centers, hospitals and even routinemaig flush expired medication because it is the cheapest and easiest way to do this it.

But it's not just people who cause the problem. Animals are involved. Routinemaig The cattle are treated with steroids to increase productivity, but about 10% of the drug is eliminated and finds its way into the water supply. In addition, veterinarians with the treatment of domestic animals the same drugs such as human and thus providing another source of contamination.

The good news is that one of the medicines that are not resolved, if at the treatment plant are trapped in the mud, the removed as part of the filtration process. Unfortunately in some cases this sludge is then spread on farmland as fertilizer for the drug another chance to pollute the water supply.

So that is the short answer to the question "How can drugs in drinking water". Are you concerned about drugs in your drinking water, perhaps you should consider installing a water filter in your home.

 

Hugh Harris-Evans is a writer and researcher on water purification issues. Visit his site now at http://www.brightwaterfilter.com to get the facts on how to choose the best water purification system.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hugh_Harris-Evans

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