Your amazing parathyroid glands
These tiny glands are busy with tasks essential to our survival, but most people have never heard of them.
Where are the parathyroid glands?
From the name, you might assume the role of the parathyroid glands is related to that of the thyroid gland. Well, you’d be wrong. The name comes solely from their location: they sit just behind the thyroid gland: two on the right side, two on the left.
What do the parathyroid glands do?
Logically enough, parathyroid glands makeโปรโมชั่นพิเศษจาก UFABET สมัครตอนนี้ รับโบนัสทันทีparathyroid hormone (PTH). And what does PTH do? It has several functions, including:
- Regulating calcium: Calcium is a mineral with many essential roles throughout the body, such as maintaining bone strength, allowing nerves and muscles to function normally, and making sure blood clots as it should. Higher levels of PTH lead to higher calcium levels in the blood through actions on the kidneys and bones.
- Regulating phosphorus: Among other roles, this mineral is a key component of our DNA, bones, and teeth. Phosphorus activates essential enzymes throughout the body, including enzymes necessary for cell reproduction and survival. It also helps with nerve and muscle function.
- Regulating vitamin D: This vitamin is actually a hormone that helps maintain normal levels of calcium throughout the body, by controlling how much gets absorbed from food in the intestinal tract and how much is lost by the kidneys in your urine. Remember PTH? Well, PTH regulates production of the enzyme that converts inactive vitamin D to an active form that helps your gut absorb calcium and reduces the loss of calcium in urine.
PTH released by the parathyroid glands helps keep each of these nutrients in balance. For example, if your blood calcium level falls, your make more PTH. Higher amounts of PTH prompt bones to release stored calcium into the bloodstream, and also signal the kidneys to pull back on the amount of calcium lost through urine.
What if your blood calcium level rises? Then make less PTH, which helps to correct the blood calcium level.