BIOLOGY

Respond to the following post.

1. All living things on Earth are very structured and organized, on a biological level. The biological levels of organization start from the smallest group, the atom, all the way up to the largest group, the biosphere. Each level of organization is “built” from the level before it.  To my understanding, the levels of organization are as follows:

1. Atom: smallest unit of matter.

2. Molecule: chemical bond of at least two atoms. An example is human DNA.

3. Organelles: structure made of molecules that perform functions of cells.

4. Cells: smallest functional unit of function and structure. An example is the human sex cells, the gametes.

5. Tissue: groups of cells working as a team. An example is human skin tissue. 6. Organs (groups of tissues with a common function) and organ systems: groups of organs that work as a team. An example is human skin, the largest human organ. An example of an organ system is the human respiratory system.

7. Organism (group of organ systems), populations (Groups of organisms), and communities (groups of populations): An example of an organism is a human and the number of humans living in a particular place is a population. An example of a community is different groups of humans living a certain neighborhood of the city.  

8. Ecosystem: all living organisms and their environment. An example is all the plants and animals living in a forest.

9. Biosphere: the group of all the ecosystems on Earth.

Respond to this posting.

2. Transfats are trans-fatty acid. A form of unsaturated fat, it Is found in a variety of foods and meats. It occurs naturally among grass eating animals, and natural transfats are not considered bad for your health (Fowler et.al, 2013). However, artificial trans fats are extremely hazardous. These are industrial and partially hydrogenated fats.  Transfats raise bad low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and lower your HDL (good) cholesterol levels, and are a key indicator for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other issues (Fowler, et.al, 2013) . Heavy transfat consumption over time builds plaque in the arteries and causes the aforementioned heart issues (American Heart Association, 2017).

Transfats are artificially formed by food companies. The unsaturated oil is partially hydrogenated to increase shelf life and taste (Mayo Clinic Staff. 2020). The hydrogen gas coverts the double bonds of the cis conformation to a trans- conformation. Although people may rail against this process by food companies, this is necessary in shipping the food out and having it last longer. This also preserves the “taste” that many consumers like in their favorite snacks. However, the companies who use this process have an obligation to inform the consumer of this practice.

Transfats can be found in a lot of food items. Found in cheap and abundant cooking oils, many restaurant chains use oils heavy in transfats for many reasons. First, these oils last a long time, and are usually quite tasty. This is the preferred oil for deep frying foods, and is used for a multitude of frozen foods and snacks (doughnuts, frozen pizzas, cakes, biscuits, pie crusts, cookies, chips, stick margarine etc.) and are often quite available and affordable (American Heart Association, 2017). Even if an individual is not eating or preparing a food that has transfats, the cooking oil used in the preparation could contain heavy amounts of its industrial variant. The consumer should look for foods and items that have low trans fats and limit their consumption of that tasty food that does.