Millions of Dollars Per Pound

Psalm 139:14
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvellous [are] thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.”

Sometimes information can be so simplified that it becomes deceiving. All of us have heard that the human body is made up of only a few dollars worth of chemicals. However, that commonly repeated statement doesn’t reflect what’s really in the human body.

Take the complex sugar called hyaluronic acid. This sugar, found in the bodies of all animals and man, is the most effective lubricant known. It is also elastic, which means that it can absorb shock and return to its original shape. Hyaluronic acid lubricates your joints. And it protects delicate tissues in your eyes.

Hyaluronic acid is added to some cosmetics, skin moisturizers and shaving creams. It’s also used in eye surgery to help the eye keep its shape and to protect eye tissues. The problem is, the hyaluronic acid used in eye surgery costs millions of dollars per pound. Although only a couple of hundred dollars worth is needed, this high cost prevents another medical use for this amazing substance. Medical researchers believe that lubricating arthritic joints with hyaluronic acid would restore lubrication and ease the causes of joint pain. Research continues on less expensive methods for making hyaluronic acid.

When people forget how fearfully and wonderfully God has created us, it’s easy to reduce the wonders of the value of the human body to a few dollars worth of chemicals. Surely this is not the thankless attitude we should express to others.

Prayer:
Lord, I thank You that I am indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. Forgive my careless thanklessness and help me to more clearly see the countless reasons I have to continually thank and praise You! Amen.

Notes:
Andrew Pollock. 1992. “Tapping the Body’s Own Lubricant at Millions of Dollars a Pound.” The Vancouver Sun, Feb. 8, p. 7. Photo: Hyaluronic acid is used in the treatment of wrinkles … but not this kind of wrinkles.