Air - Introduction

Air is the most important need of our bodies. We can only last a few minutes without it.

What is air? At the simplest level, here on planet earth, it is also known as the atmosphere and is a mixture of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), argon (1%), carbon dioxide (0.03%) and minute traces of neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen, xenon, and ozone.

The atmosphere protects earth's life forms from harmful radiation and cosmic debris. The ozone layer also protects the earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. “Holes” in the ozone layer, first detected above Antarctica and the Arctic in the 1980s, have caused considerable alarm about the consequences of air pollution.

Oxygen is the most important part of air for us, as our bodies need it to create energy. It is also a constituent of many acids and of hydroxides, carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils, alcohols, cellulose, and numerous other compounds such as the carbonates, chlorates, nitrates and nitrites, phosphates and phosphites, and sulphates and sulphites.

(NOTE: see our article about Home Air Purification)

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Note that the contents here are not presented from a medical practitioner, and that any and all health care planning should be made under the guidance of your own medical and health practitioners. The content within only presents an overview of the topics and does not replace medical advice from a professional physician.

Where I have listed the nutritional contents of foods, that information is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2005. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page.

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