Danna Clinger, age 13, of Richardson, tex , for her question:
Why is iron important to the human body?
It seems natural for the body to need gases such as Oxygen and hydrogen and chalky minerals like calcium and carbon. But iron and traces of other metals seem oddly out of place, even in our durable bones. However, iron is not only important, it is vital to the body's chemical processes.
The iron in the human body, of course, is not in the form of nuts and bolts. There is enough Of it to make several nails, and the supply is used and stored as small atoms and molecules. More than half of these fragalents are part of hemoglobin m01ecules in the red blood cells. A few float in the blood plasma, and many are strewn throughout the protoplasm of the living cells. Some are saved and stored in the liver, where old red cells are scrapped. But some are lost, and the daily food diet must provide about 15 milligrams of iron to replace them.
The body's iron performs a number of duties in the chemical activities of the living cells. Most of these chores depend upon a natural attraction between iron and axygen. The body's main fuel is Oxygen. It stokes the slow burning furnaces within our billions of living Cells. When atoms of oxygen and iron meet they tend to form 100Se ties or combine in molecules. Rust is a chmical compound of m01ecuies of iron and Oxygen. And rusting is a slow burning somewhat like the chemical processes in the body.
Oxygen provides the energy We need to move and think, to convert food into usable nourishment and to repair worn cells and build new ones. But this Oxygen fuel must be toted to where it is needed. Most of the body's iron mo1ecules are engaged in the toting of Oxygen. When the red blood cells reach the air filled lungs, their iron atoms gather molecules of Oxygen. As the blood stream sweeps through the body this loosely held Oxygen is grabbed by the busy Cells and used to stoke their energy producing activities.
The iron within the protoplasm performs several different chemical chores. Iron within the muscle tissues triggers the energy We need to move. Some is part of m01ecules stuffed into busy cytochromes. These small bodies help oxygen combine with hydrogen and help to regulate the tiasue fluids.
The body's iron performs other complex chemical duties, but none so vital as the toting of oxygen in the red blood cells. Traces of iron in the blood plasma can hold only enough Oxygen to last us two and one half seconds. This is just one of many good reasons to include vegetables, lean meat, eggs, whole wheat, liver and other iron rich foods in our daily diets.