Nuances of Nutrition

So I have an Animal Nutrition exam on Wednesday and in studying I've rediscovered all of the wonderful quotes said in lecture by both Professor Reich and Professor Naylor. Now I've already mentioned quite a few of Reich's best and you most likely, "don't give a flying fandango", but I'm going to share with you some more of the ridiculous, sometimes hilarious things these two professors have said in the course of lecture. I'm not sure if I've told you before, but "LIVER = GOD". There is no greater being in the entire body (although I would have to disagree and say that the liver can't possibly be God because it is constantly listening to that insanely bossy insulin as well as the hormones that occupy the lesser managerial positions). Also thanks to Reich I will never ever forget that the nucleus in adipocytes is pressed up against the membrane like a squashed fly on a windshield in case you were wondering. Also for those of you that LOVE cats, did you know that "the lion is the King of Parasites" and here you thought he was just the King of the Jungle! What I think Reich meant was that instead of hunting for food a lot of times lions will scavenge for food and steal food from other hunters. Personally I love lions and I don't blame them for stealing food when they are starving and there just aren't enough gazelle on the Savannah. I mean really who actually likes those hackling hyenas anyway? Remember when pancreatic lipase breaks down triacylglycerol it doesn't want to be inappropriate and you give you the middle finger so only 2 fatty acids are removed and you are left with monoacylglycerol. Always, always remember that if there is not enough bile, or fat absorption fails for some other reason you will be left with that stinky, slimy, shimmery, silvery, shiny, slithery, steatorrhea!

Now Professor Naylor isn't quite as vivacious as Dr. Reich, but in his own British way he can be quite entertaining. I'm afraid that most people don't really understand his British sense of humor, but he can be funny at times especially when he's comparing our class to a herd of cattle. Yep, he's done that a number of occasions. One time in particular we were discussing overcrowding in cattle and he said, "well you all should understand that quite well". We are the largest class so far at Ross so I understood his sentiment, but my classmate next to me turns to me and exclaims, "Did he just compare us to cattle?". Apparently Dr. Naylor doesn't always use his head. He recounted a story for us in lecture while we were discussing supplemental mineral blocks for cattle and horses and the like. Pointing to a picture of a colorful wall of mineral blocks he says, "This is in Mexico and look at all of those pretty blocks. I have NO idea what was in them, but I made the awful mistake of licking one and got very, very sick"! I can't imagine what would possess the man to actually lick a mineral block out in the middle Mexico meant for animals, but clearly it was a terrible idea. While today's lecture is not covered on my exam I will share with you anyway the funny moment of today's nutrition lecture. The question was, "Can you make US Whiskey out of Ryegrass? Yes or No." The answer was No and right around 68% of the class got it wrong so Dr Naylor says, "Here's a fun slide with a serious message: Drink Scotch!" Regardless we later learned that the answer was in fact no because rye grain and ryegrass are completely different and while you can make alcoholic beverages such as whiskey and beer from rye grain you cannot use ryegrass. Now you know!!!

OH and before I forget, Did you know that most common domestic animals do NOT need to consume Vitamin C because they can synthesize it??? I bet you didn't! Of course this is not true for animals like rabbits and guinea pigs, but I ask you, "When's the last time you fed your cat an orange?" On that note I leave you until after my nutrition exam, wish me luck!!!