Consider an example:
background: fats are chemically stored as triglycerides in the adipose tissue of humans. the structure
of triglycerides consists of a glycerol backbone attached to three fatty acids (see the biological molecules
chapter of your textbook). olestra is synthesized from sucrose and can bond with six, seven, or eight fatty
acids. the resulting molecule is structurally too large and irregular to move through the intestinal wall
of the small intestine. because humans have no evolutionary experience with this molecule, no digestive
enzymes are able to break apart this molecule into its simpler components. olestra has the same taste as
fat, but it passes through the gastrointestinal tract undigested without contributing calories or nutritive
value to the diet.
lays potato chips bought the patent on this synthetic fat, originally developed by johnson and johnson.
in the late 1990s, wow potato chips were commercially released for sale. shortly thereafter, consumers
began complaining about diarrhea, gas, cramps, bloating and general gastrointestinal distress.
observation: olestra potato chips contain a synthetic fat, not digestible by humans. synthetic fats sometimes
cause gastrointestinal (gi) distress in humans. in certain cases, intestinal distress results in cramps in humans.
hypothesis: olestra is the cause of intestinal cramps.
this hypothesis is easily tested because if olestra is the cause of the cramps then more people who
eat them will get cramps when compared with people who eat regular chips.
mo
experimentation: write a brief description of how you would perform this experiment: