You're Being Eaten Alive!

in #science7 years ago

Picture

Plants are harmless, plants don’t hunt us down and eat us, they are food! Aside from poisonous plants of course, but they only try to defend themselves, they’re not trying to eat us.

In contrary to … pineapple.

Ever eaten a pineapple and your mouth hurt? You probably assumed it’s because of the acid, like when you eat a lemon and have a cut on your lip. And yes, that hurts too, but for pineapple to hurt, you don’t need a pre-existing injury because the pineapple actively causes injuries.

Inside the fruit, there is an enzyme called bromelain (also called the pineapple enzyme, how creative). It’s only found in pineapples and it has a proteolytic function, which means that it digests proteins. For whatever reason a pineapple needs something like that.

If you eat the pineapple, the bromelain is released into your mouth and starts “eating” the inner skin of your mouth. And that hurts a bit. It’s not really dangerous, as long as you don’t eat a lot of it or are allergic. In fact, bromelain is used for the treatment of muscle injuries and to help with … digestion.

There are other suspected effects that the enzyme could have, from improving the immune function to fighting cancer, but none of this is well-established enough to be used to cure people. But! Bromelain seems to improve the effects of certain antibiotics and has been shown to help with getting rid of a urinary tract infection, as long as antibiotics are used too.

If you want to take bromelain for whatever reason, the therapeutic amount is at about 2000 to 3000 MCU. What’s MCU? No, not Marvel Cinematic Universe, not Microcontroller Unit, it’s Milk Clotting Units. You can also use GDU (*Gelatin Dissolving Units), one GDU is about 1.5 MCU. @suesa

So much useless knowledge.

But pineapples aren’t the only thing that digests us, we digest ourselves! Or at least our cells do, in a way. The process is called autophagy (“self-eating”) and its purpose is degradation of stuff inside the cells, which serves as a defense mechanism against infections or general problems inside the cell.

There have been studies which show that short-term fasting upregulates autophagy in cells, which can have positive effects on neurons. Doesn’t mean that fasting is the cure for everything, but a short-term fast now and then certainly doesn’t hurt - if done right.

I think some of you expected something else when I said that “we digest ourselves”, maybe something related to the stomach. After all, our stomach acid is so acidic that it can break down seemingly anything. Why doesn’t it eat through our stomach and dissolves us from the inside out?

The solution to this is the mucus layer secreted by special cells in the stomach. This mucus isn’t broken down by the acid and protects the cells underneath. Additionally, digestive enzymes (we have those too, it’s just not bromelain but stuff like pepsin) are kept away too.

Side note: Pepsis means digestion. The drink Pepsi was named after dyspepsia which means indigestion because it was supposed to help with just that.

The protective mucus layer can be disturbed by a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori, which lives inside the stomach of most of the world’s population. It can generally be handled by our body, but if something goes wrong, a H. pylori infection can have devastating effects. Stomach ulcers are just one of them.

But it wasn’t always known that H. pylori is the cause of this. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren researched it about 20 years ago, resulting in Marshall ingesting some of the bacteria to prove the theory. He developed gastritis, as a result, treated it with antibiotics and was later awarded a Nobel Price for it.

What would you do for a Nobel Price?


Thanks @apsu for the topic! I could have written something useful but you wanted pineapples.

This is my last post for this year, as I’m going on a mini-vacation till the 1st of January and will barely be reachable for anyone. I hope you all enter this new year in a positive way, we’ll see each other on the other side!

Don’t blow yourself up with fireworks.

Sources:

Bromelain (Pineapple enzyme)

Short-term fasting induces profound neuronal autophagy

Autophagy: process and function

Why don't our digestive acids corrode our stomach linings?

Pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori Infection

Pepsi

Pepsin

Dyspepsia


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I've always wanted to start a resort / spa where I promote pineapple juice sensory deprivation chambers and baths. Those that refuse get a chemistry token.

Those that think it is a wonderful idea, well, they signed the waiver!

The new sort of “survival of the fittest” - great idea!

Ahahahaha I can’t stop laughing, the images in my mind after reading your words....thank you

It would make a great film.

Thats a cool fact that I never knew, but have always known/felt that after I eat too much pineapple, my mouth hurts, and I also thought it was because of the acid. who knew?!?!

Thanks for sharing Suesa, happy holidays to you and your love ones
tip!

most of us didnt know , am also impressed and buffled by it, great info

I'm just amazed that she found all these side-related facts stemming from the single topic 'pineapple'!

I'm just really great :P

I second the motion. Your effort here is very 'above and beyond'. You deserve your own show on the BBC!

I would totally watch the show. it was great info! I'm a pineapple lover and now I'm obsessed!

I saw somewhere how to choose a good ripe pineapple but I can't recall what it was. I'm going to have to google next time I see them in the market. This really is a fun topic!

I smell it. If it smells sweet, then it's good. Same rule applies for cantalope

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How much did the Nobel Price cost him?

You also totally forgot to credit chat. I oughta flag you for that! :P I was totally the one that suggested about pineapples eating you! You said it was too obvious! Yet here we are! You also totally got the idea for the different MCU's from chat.

I'm thinking you had been talking about the topic, but I do have a vague feeling I had said about "pineapple eating you" and after that suesa mentioned she'll write a post :D

But wouldn't be surprised if you had suggested it too. Who knows. I'll upvote your comment to recognize your significance in the topic.

LOL! Yeah, she said you had suggested the topic of pineapples, and asked chat what she should write about pineapples, and I suggested the pineapples eating you.

suesa 3:29 AM
apsu wanted me to write something about pineapples today
now I can go down one of two roads
the "this are the issues with pineapples because a lot of pesticides are used" road
or the "lol, why do people say pineapple makes sperm taste better?" road

geekpowered 3:30 AM
how about the fact that when you eat a pineapple, it's also eating you?

suesa 3:31 AM
thought about that but it's like the most obvious thing

And to think that SpongeBob lives inside of a pineapple under the sea...

Very nice article, as usual.. Have a nice mini-vaccation, I am looking forward to read more of your articles next year.

Nice Post... Thumbs Up! :-)
Btw bromelain is also said to be a natural way of treating migraine. Despite the many cases in which it has provided pain relief I do not know the rational reason behind. U?
Best,
mountain.phil28

Nope, no idea, but I might just try it when my next migraine attack hits! (it's probably something else inside the pineapple that causes this)

As one hits the google search button on this question, you get some search results claiming that the effect is caused by the enzyme... Mhmmm.
As long as it helps. - So good luck for your trial. May it not be necessary too soon. ;)
Best,
mountain.phil28

This. This why I freaking love science! Why settle for plain-old horror-slashers when true terror surrounds us. Every day. All day. "Who's eating who? Who's eating you" should be the pineapple theme song.

Also, mad scientist much? How many have experimented on themselves, do any still do that?

But, yeah. Learned something new, as always.

It happened so that I was in a hard discussion with this strange guy. I was very logical and was knocking all his false claims down. He got infuriated and tried to punch me. Since I'm a black belt to within a few micro-seconds that guy was on the ground. To my surprise, he neither wept nor got mad at me rather started chanting the mantra. Next time, I woke up I had turned into a fly and a pitcher plant was ready to consider me the finest steak for that day...

Luckily, I have got a laser-like memory so whatever I listen, it stays fresh in my memory. I chanted the same mantra and it turned me into a human again.

So, the point is you had not written these lines if you had gone through what I have been...

Plants are harmless, plants don’t hunt us down and eat us, they are food! Aside from poisonous plants of course, but they only try to defend themselves, they’re not trying to eat us.

Now on a serious note, Pepsi is named after pepsin is an info for me. Also bromelain is something new for me. I really like eating pineapple specially when it's frozen because I live in really hot part of the world. Your posts are always full of some value. So spending time here is never a waste. Thank You @suesa. Shared.

Steem On!