Steven's Herbaweb News ● Volume 1 Number 3

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Formula 3 - Cell Activator®

Fuel your cells for peak performance.

Now you can prime your cells to maximize energy production with new Formula 3 Cell Activator®. This improved formula contains even more of the vital nutritional factors your cells need to generate energy, plus rare botanicals that help support stamina and endurance.

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Welcome!

In this issue, we're going to talk about Formula 3 - Cell Activator. We've all heard about "villi" and how Formula 3 helps us get more nutrition from the food we eat. I frequently tell people that one of the great values of the Cellular Nutrition system is that you can get more nutrition from less food.

I decided to do some research on how we actually do get nutrition from our food, and what are those things called "villi". After all, I might as well actually know what I'm talking about, right?

Fortunately for me (and, hopefully, for you) the World-Wide Web is a wonderful resource. So let's begin...

The small intestine

Digestion within the small intestine produces a mixture of disaccharides, peptides, fatty acids, and monoglycerides. The final digestion and absorption of these substances occurs in the villi, which line the inner surface of the small intestine.

This scanning electron micrograph (courtesy of Keith R. Porter) shows the villi carpeting the inner surface of the small intestine.

The crypts at the base of the villi contain stem cells that continuously divide by mitosis producing

more stem cells ,

cells that migrate up the surface of the villus
while differentiating into

columnar epithelial cells (the majority).
They are responsible for digestion and
absorption.
goblet cells, which secrete mucus;
endocrine cells, which secrete a variety of
hormones;

Link to Gut Hormones.
Paneth cells, which secreted peptides that
protect the intestine from microbes (these
don't follow the others up the villus).

All of which replace older cells that continuously
die by apoptosis.

The villi increase the surface area of the small intestine to many times what it would be if it were simply a tube with smooth walls. In addition, the apical (exposed) surface of the epithelial cells of each villus is covered with microvilli (also known as a "brush border"). Thanks largely to these, the total surface area of the intestine is almost 200 square meters, about the size of the singles area of a tennis court and some 100 times the surface area of the exterior of the body.

The electron micrograph (courtesy of Dr. Sam L. Clark) shows the microvilli of a mouse intestinal cell.

Incorporated in the plasma membrane of the microvilli are a number of enzymes that complete digestion:

aminopeptidases attack the amino terminal (N-terminal)
of peptides producing amino acids.

disaccharidasesThese enzymes convert disaccharides into their monosaccharide subunits.

	maltase hydrolyzes maltose into glucose.
	sucrase hydrolyzes sucrose (common table sugar) into glucose and fructose.
	lactase hydrolyzes lactose (milk sugar) into glucose and galactose.

Fructose simply diffuses into the villi, but both glucose and galactose are absorbed by active transport.

fatty acids and monoglycerides. These become resynthesized into fats as they enter the cells of the villus. The resulting small droplets of fat are then discharged by exocytosis into the lymph vessels, called lacteals, draining the villi.

And so?

As we've been told, you can see that there are these villi, like little fingers. And those villi are responsible for absorbing nutrition from the food we eat. That's really what all of the above boils down to.

And since the villi increase the effective surface area available for absorption, it's pretty clear that if they're all clogged up they're not doing a good job.

And what is the "Krebs Cycle"?

If you've read the fact sheets about Formula 3, you've seen that it also contains "Essential micronutrients to support the Krebs Cycle and enhance cellular energy production." Needless to say, I wondered what the "Krebs Cycle" is and why I care. Here's a short description and a good pointer:

The citric acid cycle (also called the Krebs cycle, after its primary discoverer, Sir Hans Krebs) is a central part of the chemistry which converts food components like carbohydrates, fats, andd proteins into ATP and thus provides energy to carry out biological functions.

Wow! Okay - I'm not sure I get all of that. I think it says that the Krebs cycle is a significant mechanism by which we turn fuel into energy. Certainly sounds like something I'd want to have working correctly, eh?

Here's the link:

http://www.chem.wsu.edu/Chem102/102-CitrAcCycOxPhos.html