Why is too much sodium or cholesterol harmful? Why does iron deficiency cause anemia and iodine deficiency cause a goiter? Why does a pH imbalance make some drugs less effective? Why might a pregnant woman go into convulsions if she has suffered several days of vomiting? Why can radiation cause cancer as well as cure it?

None of these questions can be answered, nor would the rest of this book be intelligible, without understanding the chemistry of life. A little knowledge of chemistry can help you choose a healthy diet, use medications more wisely, avoid worthless health fads and frauds, and explain treatments and procedures to clients. Thus, we begin our study of the human body with basic chemistry-the simplest grade of the body's structural organization.

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