You can opt-out at any time. https://www.thoughtco.com/elements-in-the-human-body-p2-602188 (accessed January 25, 2021). Human beings learn about the outside world through these orifices. Water (H2O) is composed of two parts hydr… Start studying 13 most common elements in the human body. The remaining elements are trace elements, of which more than a dozen are thought on the basis of good evidence to be necessary for life. In a large sample of adults of all ages and both sexes, the figure for water fraction by weight was found to be 48 ±6% for females and 58 ±8% water for males. Also, the element composition does not scale linearly. https://www.bibalex.org/SCIplanet/en/Article/Details?id=12462 The adult human body averages ~53% water. Aluminum is interesting because it is the third most common element in the Earth's crust, but its role in the human body is unknown. [5] About 29 of these elements are thought to play an active positive role in life and health in humans.[6]. The eleven common elements found in the human body and their percentage of total body weight. Oxygen is one of the most abundant chemicals elements in the human body. Organic chemistry is centered around carbon. Along with water and organic compounds, the body’s constituents include various inorganic minerals. For more details, see our Privacy Policy. Specific elements play critical roles in the structures of proteins and the activities of enzymes in the human body. Not all of the elements found within the body are essential for life. The system of five elements are found in Vedas, especially Ayurveda, the pancha mahabhuta, or “five great elements”, of Hinduism are bhūmi (), ap or jala (), tejas or agni (), marut, vayu or pavan (air or wind) and vyom or shunya (space or zero) or akash (aether or void). Water is the most abundant chemical ingredient in the human body, as it accounts for about 60% of the ... Organic Compounds Essential to Human Functioning. Our daily newsletter arrives just in time for lunch, offering up the day's biggest science news, our latest features, amazing Q&As and insightful interviews. All 11 are necessary for life. [1] All of the mass of the trace elements put together (less than 10 grams for a human body) do not add up to the body mass of magnesium, the least common of the 11 non-trace elements. Approximately 60% of the human body is composed of water. [8] Water is ~11% hydrogen by mass but ~67% hydrogen by atomic percent, and these numbers along with the complementary % numbers for oxygen in water, are the largest contributors to overall mass and atomic composition figures. The human body consists of as many as 60 chemical elements. Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. What Are the Elements in the Human Body? The pancha bhoota are the basic elements that make up any living organism on Earth or anywhere else in the Universe. Please note that the elements do not show their natural relation towards each other as in the Periodic system. Appendix F", "Elemental Composition of the Human Body", Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21: Food and Drugs, Ch 1, subchapter B, Part 101, Subpart A, §101.9(c)(8)(iv), Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and New Zealand Ministry of Health (MoH), "Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Review of Fluoridation and Regulation Issues", "Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for fluoride", WHO/SDE/WSH/03.04/96 "Fluoride in Drinking-water", Safe Upper Levels for Vitamins and Mineral (2003), boron p. 164-71, nickel p. 225-31, EVM, Food Standards Agency, UK, "Scientific Opinion on the re-evaluation of gold (E 175) as a food additive", "Systematic review of potential health risks posed by pharmaceutical, occupational and consumer exposures to metallic and nanoscale aluminum, aluminum oxides, aluminum hydroxide and its soluble salts", "Essential and Ubiquitous: The Emergence of Lanthanide Metallobiochemistry", "Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body", "Humans Carry More Bacterial Cells than Human Ones", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Composition_of_the_human_body&oldid=1002400303, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Deemed essential trace element by U.S., not by European Union, Suggested function from deprivation effects or active metabolic handling, but no clearly-identified biochemical function in humans, Limited circumstantial evidence for trace benefits or biological action in mammals. In terms of tissue type, the body may be analyzed into water, fat, connective tissue, muscle, bone, etc. Oxygen- the most abundant element found in the body, making up a whopping 65% of you. The numbers in the table are averages of different numbers reported by different references. Some are considered contaminants that appear to do no harm but serve no known function. Chief among these are calcium, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, and iron. "Ultratrace minerals". [33] Transferrins can bind aluminium.[34]. Body composition may be analyzed in various ways. There are several ways to consider the composition of the human body, including the elements, type of molecule, or type of cells. Oxygen is the most abundant, while hydrogen occupies the third place in the list. National Research Council (United States), List of distinct cell types in the adult human body, "Arsenic in Food and Dietary Supplements", "Bromine Is an Essential Trace Element for Assembly of Collagen IV Scaffolds in Tissue Development and Architecture", "Guidance for Industry: A Food Labeling Guide 14. While 21 are considered either trace elements or major elements and are important for health, just four elements make up 96 percent of a body’s mass. Only 25 of these elements are considered essential to a normal human body. The adult male body is about 60% water for a total water content of some 42 litres (9.2 imp gal; 11 US gal). Many other elements may be found in extremely small quantities (less than 0.01%). Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. ", Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, B.A., Physics and Mathematics, Hastings College. The Earth and the human body have many elements in common. It is also an essential part of the human diet. bonds well and can be broken easily. Aluminium, the third most common element in the Earth's crust (after oxygen and silicon), serves no function in living cells, but is toxic in large amounts, depending on its physical and chemical forms and magnitude, duration, frequency of exposure, and how it was absorbed by the human body. Elements in the Human Body (25) Here are all the elements required if you want to build a human body, in order of the quantity required. Those that neither help nor harm humans are called commensal organisms. Because of water content, the human body contains more oxygen by mass than any other element, but more hydrogen by atom-fraction than any element. The most abundant elements in the Earth’s crust are oxygen (46.6%) and silicon (27.7%). Below table gives a reference on what component of the human body is associated with these elements. 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