Ciudad Carmelo

We all know that a good diet can influence our health and the willingness we have to face the day-to-day. The secret is not just eating fruits and vegetables. Rather, eat a balanced diet with all foods in the right amounts. That’s because our bodies need a little of each food for us to have a healthy life.

However, fat is seen as a big villain these days. Most people live wanting to burn it out of their lives. However, some perceptions people have about fat can be wrong. Whether it is common sense passed down from generation to generation, or some knowledge that has been gained more recently. The fact is, fat may not be as bad as people think. Here we show some of the common mistakes about it.

1 – Vegetable oils make you less fat

Regardless of where the oil comes from, they are all fat and provide nine calories per gram. Because of this, whether of animal or vegetable origin, the oil will gain weight if consumed in excess.

2 – Margarine is better than butter

This is another widespread conception. Because margarine is of vegetable origin, there are those who believe that it is a better option. However, for a vegetable fat to solidify, it must undergo a hydrogenation procedure. This process converts “cis” fats, which are considered healthy, into “trans” fats, which are of no health benefit.

3 – Darker olive oil is purer

Many people believe and pass this information on as if it were true, that the darker an oil is, the purer it is. However, its color is no indication of its quality. Also because what makes the color of the oil vary is the type of olive and the moment it was harvested.

4 – Fats are harmful to health

It is very common to hear many people say that to have a healthier life you need to cut fat because it is bad for our health. However, fats are necessary for the proper functioning of the organism, as they participate in the production of hormones that absorb fat-soluble vitamins and in several other functions of the organism.

Of course, some people have health problems, or other factors that make them need to consume less fat. But this must be guided by a nutritionist. And even in these cases it is very difficult for fats to be completely excluded.

5 – You need to reduce fat consumption to lose weight

Another mistake with regard to fats is to think that they are the only factor linked to weight loss. It all depends on the type of diet and habits that the person follows.

For example, on low carb diets, it is necessary to increase the consumption of fat a little so that the person has more energy. But all of this is done in a balanced way along with other nutrients.

Also, recent research shows that saturated fat, which comes from animal foods, is not the villain of heart disease or obesity. And one thing that is good to keep an eye on are the “0% fat” products. That’s because they have the addition of other ingredients to make up for their flavor.

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Would we be able to produce poison? Well, human beings are unlikely to join the plethora of venomous animals that inhabit the Earth today. However, it is not impossible. That’s right, you did not misread. According to a recent report, published by the LiveScience news portal, both mammals and reptiles have all the necessary tools to produce poison.

And what would these tools be? According to the report released by the LiveScience news portal, the tools are limited to a collection of highly flexible genes, which are particularly associated with the salivary glands. These genes, in recent research, have succinctly revealed how venom evolved – independently of the non-poisonous ancestors that inhabited the animal kingdom.

“Essentially, we have everything we need to start producing poison,” revealed doctoral candidate in evolutionary genetics Agneesh Barua. As explained by the researcher, who is currently conducting research on the subject at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, in Japan, “we just need to evolve to do this”.

Poison and research

Poison production is common throughout the animal kingdom. The substance is present in several creatures, such as spiders, snakes and slow lories – one of the only poisonous primates that exist in the world. In many of these living beings, the venom is produced by modified salivary glands – that is, they are quite different from the ones we have.

“The discovery of Barua is a milestone in the field,” said Bryan Fry, a biochemist and poison expert at the University of Queensland in Australia. “The information is absolutely sensational and the studies are extraordinarily complete.”

Even though our salivary glands are different from those of animals that produce venom, what makes Barua’s study relevant is nature’s flexibility . According to the researcher, many of the toxins that are present in some poisons are commonly found in different species.

“Some components that are present in the venom that centipedes produce are also found in some snake venoms,” points out Ronald Jenner, a venom researcher at the Natural History Museum in London.

To validate his research, Barua did not focus on toxins – as the poison evolves rapidly due to the complex mixture of compounds. Instead, researcher and study co-author Alexander Mikheyev, an evolutionary biologist at the National University of Australia who focuses on “household” genes, focused on a class of genes that are associated with the venom but are not responsible ​​by the creation of toxins.

Humans and the production of poison

In short, these regulatory genes form the basis of the entire venom production system. “To better understand the whole scenario, we started by studying the genome of an Okinawan brown viper. Once we know the function of all the genes that were present in the animal, we distinguish which genes are associated with the venom,” said Barua.

In the midst of their analysis, the team’s researchers found a constellation of genes that are common to all amniotes – animals that fertilize their eggs internally or lay eggs in the earth; these animals include reptiles, birds and some mammals.

“Many of these genes are involved in the production of proteins,” said Barua. “And that makes perfect sense, because venomous animals must manufacture a lot of toxins , which are basically made of proteins.”

Interestingly, the same types of regulatory genes are found in abundance in the human salivary gland, which also produces an important protein ‘stew’. This genetic basis is what allows for the wide variety of poisons that are independently developed throughout the animal kingdom.

Poisonous

The research therefore points out that every mammal or reptile has the genetic structure that can constitute a venom production system. Humans, in the meantime, are no exception, mainly because they produce a key protein that fuels poison production: kallikreins.

Even though kallikreins are a natural starting point for humans to theoretically start producing poison, we scientists say we will never develop such an ability because the production of poison depends so much on how the animal lives.

“It is evolution that adapts the production of poison. This involves the needs of an animal. This is basically due to natural selection,” said Fry. “Humans throughout history have developed tools, weapons and structures to meet most of their own needs without having to rely on poison production.”

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