The body’s building blocks

The list of tasks are long

Your body is around 64% of water. 16% is protein, 16% is fat, and since we use carbohydrates fairly quickly up for energy production they account only for 1%. Minerals are around 4% of the whole body. These percentages are generally meant, all of the numbers depends on the individual.

Proteins have several different tasks within the body, which makes sense as they account for a big proportion of the human system.

• enzymes, accelerate and direct biochemical reactions
• defense system, like immune cells
• transportation of molecules, ions. Oxygen is attached to haemoglobin in blood, which is a protein.
• regulation via hormones
• structures that support and protect
• movement, muscle tissues are mainly built up of it
• storage of essential nutrients
• stress response

Proteins have smaller parts. Their building blocks are amino acids, numerically 20, out of which 9 are essential meaning the body can’t synthesize therefore it must be ingested by food. The amino acids are in part made of nitrogen. Our bodies are not able to store protein so they are usually converted in to carbs or fats. During this process this nitrogen is cut off the molecules and is floating towards the kidneys in the form of urea. This molecule after leaving the body converts into ammonia which gives urine the typical smell. To be clear and simple, kidneys are the filter of the body and therefore they are the organs that handle nitrogen as well.

When the protein intake is higher than the recommendations, which is 0.8 g/ kg, it may be hard on the kidneys. It has been shown that chronic kidney disease patients are impacted negatively when the diet is too high in protein, possibly it is not so good in healthy individuals either. For the filtration of nitrogen more water is needed, therefore higher water consumption is needed to avoid dehydration.