That’s because your way of thinking is too simplistic.
Yes a chemical can behave differently in one environment – i.e. with a certain set of molecules surrounding it – than it does in another, even H2O.
Now put a molecule with two different environments into the most complex chemical factory known to man – i.e. a mammalian body – toss things like bioavailability, the gut microbiome and the first-pass effect into the mix and results can be very different indeed, as shown by the paper.
Then there are all kinds of other effects going on in the human body, like osmotic pressure that moves H2O across cell membranes, that can cause brain cells to swell (cerebral edema), which causes mechanical compression of the brain stem to the skull base, which can cause the simple H2O in your example to kill someone if they drink too much of it in a short amount of time.
That’s because your way of thinking is too simplistic.
Yes a chemical can behave differently in one environment – i.e. with a certain set of molecules surrounding it – than it does in another, even H2O.
Now put a molecule with two different environments into the most complex chemical factory known to man – i.e. a mammalian body – toss things like bioavailability, the gut microbiome and the first-pass effect into the mix and results can be very different indeed, as shown by the paper.
Then there are all kinds of other effects going on in the human body, like osmotic pressure that moves H2O across cell membranes, that can cause brain cells to swell (cerebral edema), which causes mechanical compression of the brain stem to the skull base, which can cause the simple H2O in your example to kill someone if they drink too much of it in a short amount of time.