Title: The Interplay of Electrons, Water, and Minerals: A Comprehensive Analysis of Their Utilization and

Significance in Human Physiology

Abstract:
This paper elucidates the fundamental roles of electrons, water, and minerals in human physiology,
emphasizing their interdependence and crucial functions in sustaining life. It explores the intricate
mechanisms through which electrons facilitate biochemical reactions, the indispensable properties of
water in cellular processes, and the vital contributions of minerals to overall health. Furthermore, it
examines the significance of maintaining electrolyte balance and mineral homeostasis for optimal
physiological functioning. The synthesis of academic literature and empirical evidence provides a
comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationships between electrons, water, minerals, and
human health.

Keywords: electrons, water, minerals, physiology, biochemical reactions, electrolyte balance, mineral
homeostasis, human health

Introduction
The symbiotic relationship between electrons, water, and minerals is fundamental to human
physiology, orchestrating vital processes essential for life. Electrons, as carriers of charge, play a pivotal
role in biochemical reactions, facilitating energy transfer and metabolic pathways. Water, constituting
the majority of cellular content, serves as a universal solvent and medium for biochemical reactions,
ensuring cellular hydration and homeostasis. Minerals, comprising essential elements, regulate
enzymatic activities, maintain electrolyte balance, and support structural integrity. This paper aims to
elucidate the multifaceted interactions and significance of electrons, water, and minerals in human
physiology, underpinning their indispensable contributions to health and well-being.

Electrons: Catalysts of Biochemical Reactions

Electrons, with their negative charge, serve as crucial catalysts in biochemical reactions, driving cellular
metabolism and energy production. Through redox reactions, electrons transfer between molecules,
facilitating the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the primary energy currency of cells. The
electron transport chain, embedded within mitochondria, harnesses the energy from electron transfer to
generate ATP through oxidative phosphorylation. Furthermore, electrons participate in enzymatic
reactions, modulating the activity of enzymes involved in metabolic pathways such as glycolysis, Krebs
cycle, and fatty acid oxidation. Thus, electrons serve as indispensable mediators of cellular processes,
regulating physiological functions and sustaining life.
 Water: The Essence of Cellular Hydration and Homeostasis
Water, comprising approximately 60% of total body weight, plays a paramount role in cellular
hydration and homeostasis. As a polar molecule, water exhibits unique properties, including high surface
tension, cohesion, and solvent capabilities, essential for various physiological functions. In cells, water
acts as a solvent, facilitating the dissolution and transport of ions, nutrients, and waste products.
Moreover, water serves as a medium for metabolic reactions, providing a conducive environment for
enzymatic activities and molecular interactions. Additionally, water regulates body temperature through
perspiration and thermoregulatory mechanisms, ensuring optimal cellular function and organismal
homeostasis. Thus, 68.7% of the fresh water on Earth is trapped in glaciers.1

30% of fresh water is in the ground.1

1.7% of the world’s water is frozen and therefore unusable.1

Approximately 400 billion gallons of water are used in the United States per day.1

Nearly one-half of the water used by Americans is used for thermoelectric power generation. 1

In one year, the average American residence uses over 100,000 gallons (indoors and outside).1

 Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, wholegrains and cereals, lean meats and reduced fat
dairy products will give your body the vitamins and minerals it needs, at the right level
and in the right balance.
 There are 13 vitamins in total – 8 of these come from the B-group of vitamins.
 Vitamins and minerals are essential for bodily functions such as helping to fight
infection, wound healing, making our bones strong and regulating hormones.
 Vitamins and minerals can cause toxicity if consumed in large amounts.

On this page


 About vitamins and minerals

  Types of vitamins and their functions
  Vitamin A
  Vitamin B
  Vitamin C
  Vitamin C deficiency and scurvy
  Vitamin D
  Vitamin E
  Vitamin K
  Types of minerals and their functions
  Calcium
  Iodine
  Iron
  Zinc
  Magnesium
  Potassium
  Sodium
  Vitamin and mineral deficiencies and supplements

  Where to get help

About vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals are organic compounds that our bodies use in very small amounts for a
variety of metabolic processes. Basically, they keep us healthy and help our bodies to function.

We get vitamins and minerals from the foods we eat. For most of us, a healthy and varied diet
(that includes all 5 food groups) is all we need to stay healthy. It is best to get vitamins and
minerals from eating a variety of healthy unrefined foods.

Vitamins and minerals can cause toxicity if consumed in large amounts.

Types of vitamins and their functions

Vitamins and minerals are a form of nutrient (called micronutrients) that are needed in small
amounts. Although micronutrients don’t give us energy, they are involved in the metabolic
processes that enable us to get energy from carbohydrates, protein and fat, which are also known
as macronutrients.

Different vitamins serve different purposes and contribute to different bodily functions. There
are 13 vitamins in total and 8 of these come from the B-group of vitamins.

Vitamin A
Vitamin A is important because it:

 makes the immune system work effectively so it can fight disease and infections
 keeps our skin healthy
 supports reproduction and growth
 helps with vision.

Food sources of vitamin A

There are different compounds with vitamin A activity in animal and plant foods. Plant foods can
be easy to spot as they tend to have orange/yellow pigment known as beta-carotene.

Plant sources include:

  orange and yellow fruit and vegetables – such as carrots, red capsicum, mangoes, sweet
potatoes, apricots, pumpkin and cantaloupe
 leafy green vegetables – such as spinach, peas and broccoli.

Animal sources include:

 liver
 eggs
 some fortified milk and milk products (with added vitamin A).

Vitamin A deficiency risks

Because of the various roles that vitamin A plays in the body, deficiency can have several health
effects. These include:

 increased risk of infections

 night blindness and irreversible blindness (xeropthalmia)
 excessive keratin build-up of the skin.

Vitamin B
B-group vitamins help our bodies use the energy-yielding nutrients (such as carbohydrates, fat
and protein) for fuel. Some B-group vitamins are needed to help cells to multiply by making new
DNA.

Except for B-12 and folate which are stored by the liver, most B-group vitamins can’t be stored
by the body. They must be consumed regularly in a healthy diet that includes a range of
wholefoods (such as lean meat, fish, wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and legumes) and limits the
intake of alcohol and processed foods.

The 8 types of vitamin B are:

 thiamin (B1)
 riboflavin (B2)
 niacin (B3)
 pantothenic acid (B5)
 pyridoxine (B6)
 biotin (B7)
 folate or ‘folic acid’ when included in supplements (B9)
 cyanocobalamin (B12).

A person who has a poor diet for a few months may end up with B-group vitamins deficiency.
For this reason, it’s important that adequate amounts of these vitamins be eaten regularly as part
of a well-balanced, nutritious diet.
Vitamin C
Dietary intake of vitamin C (from food and drinks) is essential, because the human body cannot
make this vitamin from other compounds. We also need to have vitamin C as a regular part of
our diet because the body cannot store vitamin C for very long.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is important for many metabolic processes, including:

 Collagen formation – collagen is used in different ways throughout the body. Its primary
role is to strengthen the skin, blood vessels and bone. The body also relies on collagen to
heal wounds.
 Antioxidant function– the metabolism of oxygen within the body releases molecular
compounds called ‘free radicals’, which damage cell membranes. Antioxidants are
substances that destroy free radicals, and vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant.
 Iron absorption – the process of iron absorption is aided by vitamin C, particularly non-
haem iron (found in plant foods such as beans and lentils).
 Infection fighting – the immune system, particularly cells called lymphocytes, requires
vitamin C for proper functioning.
 Other roles – vitamin C is used to produce other important substances in the body such
as brain chemicals (neurotransmitters).

Dietary sources of vitamin C

Adults need about 45mg of vitamin C per day and any excess amount (above 200mg) is excreted.

Vitamin C is sensitive to heat, so some of its nutritional benefits can be lost during cooking. Raw
foods are more beneficial as dietary sources of vitamin C. These include:

 fruit – oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, blackcurrants, mangoes, kiwifruits, rock

melon, tomatoes and strawberries
 vegetables – particularly green vegetables (such as cabbage, capsicum, spinach, Brussels
sprouts, lettuce and broccoli), cauliflower and potatoes.

Vitamin C deficiency and scurvy

A severe lack of vitamin C can lead to scurvy. We may think of it as a disease of the past, but it
does still exist. Factors or lifestyle issues that may increase your scurvy risk include:

 regularly eating unhealthy foods

 crash dieting – especially being on diets that exclude certain food groups
 being malnourished due to inadequate care
 very strict allergy diets
 having an eating disorder
 smoking – smokers need more vitamin C to cope with the extra stress on their body.
Scurvy symptoms

The onset of symptoms of scurvy depends on how long it takes for the person to use up their
limited stores of vitamin C.

Scurvy is usually easy to treat – symptoms are like many other mild complaints and may include:

 fatigue and generally feeling unwell

 loss of appetite
 nausea and diarrhoea
 fever
 painful joints and muscles
 small ‘pinpoint’ bleeding around hair follicles visible in the skin.

If you or someone you care for is at risk, please see your doctor.

2016.14

300 tons of water are required to manufacture 1 ton of steel.15

1 in 6 gallons of water leak from utility pipes before reaching customers in the US.15

American use 5.7 billion gallons per day from toilet flushes.15

Refilling a half-liter water bottle 1,740 times with tap water is the equivalent cost of a 99 cent
water bottle at a convenience store.15

It takes about 12 gallons per day to sustain a human (this figure takes into account all uses for
water, like drinking, sanitation and food production).16

Each day, we also lose a little more than a cup of water (237 ml) when we exhale it.17

By 2025, water withdrawals are predicted to increase by 50 percent in developing countries and
18 percent in developed countries.18

By 2025 half the world’s people will live in countries with high water stress.19

A water-efficient dishwasher uses as little as 4 gallons per cycle but hand washing dishes uses 20
gallons of water.20

The average family of four uses 180 gallons of water per day outdoors. It is estimated that over
50% is wasted from evaporation, wind, or overwatering.20

It takes more than twice the amount of water to produce coffee than it does tea.21

Chicken and goat are the least water intensive meats to consume.21
There have been 265 recorded incidences of water conflicts from 3000 BC to 2012.21

Hot water can freeze faster than cold water under some conditions (commonly known as the
Mpemba effect).22

If the entire world’s water were fit into a 4 liter jug, the fresh water available for us would equal
only about one tablespoon.23

Over 90% of the world’s supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica.23

Water regulates the Earth’s temperature.23

On average, 10 gallons per day of your water footprint (or 14% of your indoor use) is lost to
leaks.24

The average pool takes 22,000 gallons of water to fill.24

It takes about 70 gallons of water to fill a bathtub.25

Flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco, about 700 miles round-trip, could cost you more than
9,000 gallons of water.25

Water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population incr

.1

Approximately 400 billion gallons of water are used in the United States per day.1

Nearly one-half of the water used by Americans is used for thermoelectric power generation. 1

In one year, the average American residence uses over 100,000 gallons (indoors and outside).1

Water can dissolve more substances than any other liquid including sulfuric acid.1

The freezing point of water lowers as the amount of salt dissolved in at increases. With average
levels of salt, seawater freezes at -2 °C (28.4 °F).2

About 6,800 gallons of water is required to grow a day’s food for a family of four.3

To create one pint of beer it takes 20 gallons of water.3

780 million people lack access to an improved water source.4

In just one day, 200 million work hours are consumed by women collecting water for their
families.4
1/3 what the world spends on bottled water in one year could pay for projects providing water to
everyone in need.4

Unsafe water kills 200 children every hour.4

Water weighs about 8 pounds a gallon.5

It takes 120 gallons of water for one egg.5

A jellyfish and a cucumber are each 95% water.5

70% of the human brain is water.5

80% of all illness in the developing world is water related.6

Up to 50% of water is lost through leaks in cities in the developing world.6

In Nairobi urban poor pay 10 times more for water than in New York.6

In some countries, less than half the population has access to clean water.7

$260 billion is the estimated annual economic loss from poor water and sanitation in developing
countries.7

40 billion hours are spent collecting water in Africa alone.7

The average cost for water supplied to a home in the U.S. is about $2.00 for 1,000 gallons, which
equals about 5 gallons for a penny.8

A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water.8

Water expands by 9% when it freezes.8

There is about the same amount of water on Earth now as there was millions of years ago.9

The length of the side of a cube which could hold the Earth’s estimated total volume of water in
km = 1150.10

Children in the first 6 months of life consume seven times as much water per pound as the
average American adult.11

Americans drink more than one billion glasses of tap water per day.11

The United States draws more than 40 billion gallons (151 million liters) of water from the Great
Lakes every day—half of which is used for electrical power production.12
85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet.13

Agriculture accounts for ~70% of global freshwater withdrawals (up to 90% in some fast-
growing economies).13

Various estimates indicate that, based on business as usual, ~3.5 planets Earth would be needed
to sustain a global population achieving the current lifestyle of the average European or North
American.13

Thirty-six states are anticipating water shortages by 2016.14

300 tons of water are required to manufacture 1 ton of steel.15

1 in 6 gallons of water leak from utility pipes before reaching customers in the US.15

American use 5.7 billion gallons per day from toilet flushes.15

Refilling a half-liter water bottle 1,740 times with tap water is the equivalent cost of a 99 cent
water bottle at a convenience store.15

It takes about 12 gallons per day to sustain a human (this figure takes into account all uses for
water, like drinking, sanitation and food production).16

Each day, we also lose a little more than a cup of water (237 ml) when we exhale it.17

By 2025, water withdrawals are predicted to increase by 50 percent in developing countries and
18 percent in developed countries.18

By 2025 half the world’s people will live in countries with high water stress.19

A water-efficient dishwasher uses as little as 4 gallons per cycle but hand washing dishes uses 20
gallons of water.20

The average family of four uses 180 gallons of water per day outdoors. It is estimated that over
50% is wasted from evaporation, wind, or overwatering.20

It takes more than twice the amount of water to produce coffee than it does tea.21

Chicken and goat are the least water intensive meats to consume.21

There have been 265 recorded incidences of water conflicts from 3000 BC to 2012.21

Hot water can freeze faster than cold water under some conditions (commonly known as the
Mpemba effect).22
If the entire world’s water were fit into a 4 liter jug, the fresh water available for us would equal
only about one tablespoon.23

Over 90% of the world’s supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica.23

Water regulates the Earth’s temperature.23

On average, 10 gallons per day of your water footprint (or 14% of your indoor use) is lost to
leaks.24

The average pool takes 22,000 gallons of water to fill.24

It takes about 70 gallons of water to fill a bathtub.25

Flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco, about 700 miles round-trip, could cost you more than
9,000 gallons of water.25

Water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population incr

. Dietary sources, supplementation, and physiological feedback mechanisms play crucial roles in
achieving and maintaining electrolyte balance and mineral homeostasis, thereby safeguarding human
health and well-being.