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Water's Role in the Body
Water helps nearly every part of the human body function efficiently.
Most of the human body is made up of H2O, with cells consisting of 65-90% water
by weight.
Therefore, it isn't surprising that most of a human body's mass is oxygen.
Carbon, the basic unit for organic molecules, comes in second. 99% of the mass
of the human body is made up of just six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen,
nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus.
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Oxygen
(65%)
Carbon (18%)
Hydrogen (10%)
Nitrogen (3%)
Calcium (1.5%)
Phosphorus (1.0%)
Potassium (0.35%)
Sulphur (0.25%)
Sodium (0.15%)
Magnesium (0.05%)
Copper, Zinc, Selenium, Molybdenum, Fluorine, Chlorine, Iodine, Manganese,
Cobalt, Iron (0.70%)
Lithium, Strontium, Aluminium, Silicon, Lead, Vanadium, Arsenic, Bromine (trace
amounts) |
Reference: H. A. Harper, V. W.
Rodwell, P. A. Mayes, Review of Physiological Chemistry, 16th ed.
Lange Medical Publications, Los Altos, California 1977. |
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