Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The Function of Oxygen in Nutrition

come to recup wednesday and thursday!Two components of air have an effect on your health
  • oxygen
  • carbon dioxide
Why do we need oxygen?

  • Humans need nutrients to survive
  • We extract nutrients from food
  • We extract nutrients through chemical and mechanical processes
  • These processes break down food into smaller nutrients
  • These smaller nutrients are then more easily absorbed into our system, by cells, and circulated throughout the body
Oxygen helps to break down foods into the smallest possible parts.
  • it is required to release the energy found in nutrients

Oxygen allows the energy to be released from carbs, lipids, and proteins
  • it makes carbon dioxide as a waste product

The process of oxygen breaking down nutrients happens day after day
  • we constantly need oxygen
  • we constantly produce carbon dioxide