Page 114 - The Miracle of Hormones

THE MIRACLE OF HORMONES

The sense of pain is communicated
by the nerve cells. But how do the cells
that produce the cortisol know the mech-
anism that slows down, and partially
stops the electrical impulses of the nerve
cells?

In times of emergency it converts
fats and proteins into sugar:

In order for body and brain cells to
be nourished, sugar is required; all cells
need a continuous supply of sugar, other-
wise, the person will soon die.
When a person is injured,
the cortisol hormone When someone is hungry, if there are
goes into action without no nutrients from which sugar can be ob-
his knowing it.
tained, the amount of sugar in the blood
will drop. In this situation, cortisol comes
into play and does not allow the body to remain without sugar. It ensures
the conversion of stored fats and proteins into sugar, keeping the level of
blood sugar within safe limits. 31
Fat or protein (or both) are converted to sugar. This function is really
highly complex. To change one material into another is to completely alter
the composition of the molecules. If a fat molecule or a protein molecule
were enlarged trillions of times and placed on a table, most persons
would not know which atoms had to exchange places with others. Howe-
ver, inside the cells are refineries that accomplish this change through a
very complex operation. The cortisol hormone knows the stages in the
process of this change. It is designed to open the lock that will allow this
change to begin. How do the cells that produce cortisol know the shape of
the key required to start the operation that will convert fat or protein to
sugar? How do they know what operation is needed to convert the for-
mula of the fat molecule (CH -(CH )n-COOH) into the formula of the
3 2
sugar molecule (CH OH)?
2

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