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Of the body's total iron content, about 400 mg is devoted to cellular proteins that use iron for important cellular processes like storing oxygen (myoglobin) or performing energy-producing redox reactions (cytochromes). A relatively small amount (3–4 mg) circulates through the plasma, bound to transferrin. [9]
The remaining elements found in living things are primarily metals that play a role in determining protein structure. Examples include iron, essential to hemoglobin; and magnesium, essential to chlorophyll. Some elements are essential only to certain taxonomic groups of organisms, particularly the prokaryotes.
The main elements that comprise the human body (including water) can be summarized as CHNOPS. Element Symbol percent mass percent atoms Oxygen O 65.0 24.0 Carbon C 18.5 12.0 Hydrogen H 9.5 62.0 Nitrogen N 2.6 1.1 Calcium Ca 1.3 0.22 Phosphorus P 0.6 0.22 Sulfur S 0.3 0.038 Potassium K 0.2 0.03 Sodium Na 0.2 0.037 Chlorine Cl 0.2 0.024 Magnesium Mg
Found naturally in many foods and dietary supplements, it is a key component of hemoglobin, the part of red blood cells responsible for transporting energizing oxygen throughout your body ...
Women who must use their stores to compensate for iron lost through menstruation, pregnancy or lactation have lower non-hemoglobin body stores, which may consist of 500 mg, or even less. Of the body's total iron content, about 400 mg is devoted to cellular proteins that use iron for important cellular processes like storing oxygen (myoglobin ...
Roughly 5 grams of iron are present in the human body and is the most abundant trace metal. [1] It is absorbed in the intestine as heme or non-heme iron depending on the food source. Heme iron is derived from the digestion of hemoproteins in meat. [4] Non-heme iron is mainly derived from plants and exist as iron(II) or iron(III) ions. [4]
Red meat is an obvious and effective way to boost iron levels, as it’s easily absorbed. A 4-ounce serving of ground beef , for example, packs 2.19 mg of iron, over 12% of the daily value.
The abundance of metal binding proteins may be inherent to the amino acids that proteins use, as even artificial proteins without evolutionary history will readily bind metals. [8] Most metals in the human body are bound to proteins. For instance, the relatively high concentration of iron in the human body is mostly due to the iron in hemoglobin.