The Chemistry of Life<\/h3>\nIt\u2019s all chemical. All matter is composed of substances which are identified as chemicals. The matter all around us is composed of different chemical elements that are arranged in different combinations or ratios. In total, there are 118 chemical elements<\/a> (only 92 naturally occurring, the rest man-made!), and when they combine through different chemical reactions, we get different products. H2<\/sub>O is water, and it is the composition of 2 hydrogen atoms with 1 atom of oxygen. Everything is composed of chemicals, but some are more complex than others and that can make them more difficult to understand. ![\"It\u2019s](\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@id='site-wrapper']\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::MAIN]\/*[1][self::ARTICLE]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::SECTION]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::P]\/*[3][self::A]\/*[1][self::IMG]\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n- Sucrose<\/a> (sugar) is C12<\/sub>H22<\/sub>O11<\/sub><\/a> which is a ratio of 6 carbon: 22 hydrogens: and 11 oxygen.<\/li>\n
- Steel<\/a> doesn\u2019t have just one set chemical formula, but it is the combination of iron and carbon, along with other metals and sometimes alloys.<\/li>\n
- Diamonds<\/a> are pure carbon, formed by extreme heat and pressure.<\/li>\n
![\"It\u2019s](\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@id='site-wrapper']\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::MAIN]\/*[1][self::ARTICLE]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::SECTION]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[3][self::UL]\/*[4][self::LI]\/*[1][self::A]\/*[1][self::IMG]\")
<\/a>Living organisms are mostly made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen (CHON<\/a>), which make up 95% of the mass of the organism. The human body<\/a> is roughly 65% oxygen, 18.5% carbon, 9.5% hydrogen, 3.5% nitrogen, and 3.5% other chemical elements<\/a> like calcium, phosphorus, and other 15 others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nChemical Literacy<\/h3>\nSo, what Is chemical literacy? I am not suggesting you need to remember back to your high school years and know about stoichiometry or thermodynamics calculations in our daily life \u2013 that\u2019s not being chemically literate for the everyday user. It is really about knowing enough to make good decisions in your daily life, understanding marketing and propaganda tactics, and knowing when to be afraid and when not to be afraid. This is a higher-value skill for the average person.<\/p>\n
In other words, chemical literacy is being able to understand and use chemistry in everyday life. It involves three main parts<\/a>: knowing chemistry, being aware of its importance, and applying it effectively. When it comes to chemical literacy, there is well-documented research on the topic by Schwartz et al al. in three of their publication in 2006a<\/a>, b<\/a>, and 2011<\/a>. These authors review literacy and what it means at a high school level, which is where most of us get introduced to the topic, but also where many of us last learn about it. From their research, they divide chemical literacy into four segments<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n- scientific and chemical content knowledge,<\/li>\n
- chemistry in context,<\/li>\n
- higher-order learning skills, and<\/li>\n
- affective aspects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
However, that isn\u2019t very clear, and not even my husband who is chemically literate understood what was meant by \u201caffective aspects\u201d. So maybe we shouldn\u2019t focus on what the \u2018academic\u2019 research world thinks of chemical literacy, and maybe more on the practical side of it all. When I refer to chemical literacy, I am more focused on being aware of its importance and having the content and context (1 and 2) to understand what I am being presented with. Everything is composed of chemicals, and therefore understanding them can\u2019t hurt. I hear all the time, even from my friends and family, about eating only \u201cclean ingredients\u201d or if you can\u2019t read (or pronounce) it, you shouldn\u2019t eat it<\/a>. Oh, this one grinds my gears, first of all, because I am really poor at reading (I am a phonetic reader), but also because this is just silly! Food labels are not written with chemical elements listed, they are written according to their ingredient or chemical names, like sucrose, and not C12<\/sub>H22<\/sub>O11<\/sub>.<\/p>\nGoing bananas for chemicals<\/h3>\nLet us take a simple example, the banana. Now if a banana were to have a food ingredient label, it would say 100% banana, and if it were an ingredient in another food, it would be listed simply as banana. Easy, right!? But what if you listed the composition of that banana what would that label look like?<\/p>\n![\"Banana](\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@id='site-wrapper']\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::MAIN]\/*[1][self::ARTICLE]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::SECTION]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[11][self::FIGURE]\/*[1][self::A]\/*[1][self::IMG]\")
<\/a>Source: James Kennedy, 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nJames Kennedy<\/a>, a chemistry teacher and author has a great source of infographics on his website which breaks down the ingredients of a banana<\/a>, not the chemical composition but what would be the ingredient name. We know that bananas are safe to eat, but if you were to live by the mantra of if you can\u2019t pronounce it you shouldn\u2019t eat it, would you eat it? Can you pronounce phenylalanine or phylloquinone? Phenylalanine is an amino acid (C9<\/sub>H11<\/sub>NO2<\/sub>) that is used to make protein. Without it \u2013 no muscles, cartilage, bones, or cells. What about phylloquinone, whose chemical formulation is C31<\/sub>H46<\/sub>O2<\/sub> and is described as 2-methyl-3-(3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexadec-2-enyl)naphthalen1dione<\/a>? \u00a0Good luck saying that! It is vitamin K1, a fatty acid which is needed for \u201cblood coagulation and bone metabolism<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"It\u2019s](\"https:\/\/saifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/water-e1732038266105-150x142.png)
<\/a><\/p>\n- \n
- Sucrose<\/a> (sugar) is C12<\/sub>H22<\/sub>O11<\/sub><\/a> which is a ratio of 6 carbon: 22 hydrogens: and 11 oxygen.<\/li>\n
- Steel<\/a> doesn\u2019t have just one set chemical formula, but it is the combination of iron and carbon, along with other metals and sometimes alloys.<\/li>\n
- Diamonds<\/a> are pure carbon, formed by extreme heat and pressure.<\/li>\n
Chemical Literacy<\/h3>\n
So, what Is chemical literacy? I am not suggesting you need to remember back to your high school years and know about stoichiometry or thermodynamics calculations in our daily life \u2013 that\u2019s not being chemically literate for the everyday user. It is really about knowing enough to make good decisions in your daily life, understanding marketing and propaganda tactics, and knowing when to be afraid and when not to be afraid. This is a higher-value skill for the average person.<\/p>\n
In other words, chemical literacy is being able to understand and use chemistry in everyday life. It involves three main parts<\/a>: knowing chemistry, being aware of its importance, and applying it effectively. When it comes to chemical literacy, there is well-documented research on the topic by Schwartz et al al. in three of their publication in 2006a<\/a>, b<\/a>, and 2011<\/a>. These authors review literacy and what it means at a high school level, which is where most of us get introduced to the topic, but also where many of us last learn about it. From their research, they divide chemical literacy into four segments<\/a>:<\/p>\n
- \n
- scientific and chemical content knowledge,<\/li>\n
- chemistry in context,<\/li>\n
- higher-order learning skills, and<\/li>\n
- affective aspects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
However, that isn\u2019t very clear, and not even my husband who is chemically literate understood what was meant by \u201caffective aspects\u201d. So maybe we shouldn\u2019t focus on what the \u2018academic\u2019 research world thinks of chemical literacy, and maybe more on the practical side of it all. When I refer to chemical literacy, I am more focused on being aware of its importance and having the content and context (1 and 2) to understand what I am being presented with. Everything is composed of chemicals, and therefore understanding them can\u2019t hurt. I hear all the time, even from my friends and family, about eating only \u201cclean ingredients\u201d or if you can\u2019t read (or pronounce) it, you shouldn\u2019t eat it<\/a>. Oh, this one grinds my gears, first of all, because I am really poor at reading (I am a phonetic reader), but also because this is just silly! Food labels are not written with chemical elements listed, they are written according to their ingredient or chemical names, like sucrose, and not C12<\/sub>H22<\/sub>O11<\/sub>.<\/p>\n
Going bananas for chemicals<\/h3>\n
Let us take a simple example, the banana. Now if a banana were to have a food ingredient label, it would say 100% banana, and if it were an ingredient in another food, it would be listed simply as banana. Easy, right!? But what if you listed the composition of that banana what would that label look like?<\/p>\n
Source: James Kennedy, 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n James Kennedy<\/a>, a chemistry teacher and author has a great source of infographics on his website which breaks down the ingredients of a banana<\/a>, not the chemical composition but what would be the ingredient name. We know that bananas are safe to eat, but if you were to live by the mantra of if you can\u2019t pronounce it you shouldn\u2019t eat it, would you eat it? Can you pronounce phenylalanine or phylloquinone? Phenylalanine is an amino acid (C9<\/sub>H11<\/sub>NO2<\/sub>) that is used to make protein. Without it \u2013 no muscles, cartilage, bones, or cells. What about phylloquinone, whose chemical formulation is C31<\/sub>H46<\/sub>O2<\/sub> and is described as 2-methyl-3-(3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexadec-2-enyl)naphthalen1dione<\/a>? \u00a0Good luck saying that! It is vitamin K1, a fatty acid which is needed for \u201cblood coagulation and bone metabolism<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n
- Steel<\/a> doesn\u2019t have just one set chemical formula, but it is the combination of iron and carbon, along with other metals and sometimes alloys.<\/li>\n
![\"It\u2019s](\"https:\/\/saifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Pencil--e1732038335555-150x128.png)
<\/a>Living organisms are mostly made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen (![\"Banana](\"https:\/\/saifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ingredients-of-a-banana-poster-4-e1732051847271-450x697.jpeg)
<\/a>![\"Figure](\"https:\/\/saifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/banana-chemical-formula-1020x776.png)
<\/a>