1.9: Essential Elements for Life (2024)

Classification of the Essential Elements

The approximate elemental composition of a healthy 70.0 kg (154 lb) adult human is listed in Table \(\PageIndex{1}\). Note that most living matter consists primarily of the so-called bulk elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur—the building blocks of the compounds that constitute our organs and muscles. These five elements also constitute the bulk of our diet; tens of grams per day are required for humans. Six other elements—sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, chlorine, and phosphorus—are often referred to as macrominerals because they provide essential ions in body fluids and form the major structural components of the body. In addition, phosphorus is a key constituent of both DNA and RNA: the genetic building blocks of living organisms. The six macrominerals are present in the body in somewhat smaller amounts than the bulk elements, so correspondingly lower levels are required in the diet. The remaining essential elements—called trace elements—are present in very small amounts, ranging from a few grams to a few milligrams in an adult human. Finally, measurable levels of some elements are found in humans but are not required for growth or good health. Examples are rubidium and strontium, whose chemistry is similar to that of the elements immediately above them in the periodic table (potassium and calcium, respectively, which are essential elements). Because the body’s mechanisms for extracting potassium and calcium from foods are not 100% selective, small amounts of rubidium and strontium, which have no known biological function, are absorbed.

The Trace Elements

Because it is difficult to detect low levels of some essential elements, the trace elements were relatively slow to be recognized as essential. Iron was the first. In the 17th century, anemia was proved to be caused by an iron deficiency and often was cured by supplementing the diet with extracts of rusty nails. It was not until the 19th century, however, that trace amounts of iodine were found to eliminate goiter (an enlarged thyroid gland). This is why common table salt is “iodized”: a small amount of iodine is added. Copper was shown to be essential for humans in 1928, and manganese, zinc, and cobalt soon after that. Molybdenum was not known to be an essential element until 1953, and the need for chromium, selenium, vanadium, fluorine, and silicon was demonstrated only in the last 50 years. It seems likely that in the future other elements, possibly including tin, will be found to be essential at very low levels.

Many compounds of trace elements, such as arsenic, selenium, and chromium, are toxic and can even cause cancer, yet these elements are identified as essential elements in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). In fact, there is some evidence that one bacterium has replaced phosphorus with arsenic, although the finding is controversial. This has opened up the possibility of a “shadow biosphere” on Earth in which life evolved from an as yet undetected common ancestor. How can elements toxic to life be essential? First, the toxicity of an element often depends on its chemical form—for example, only certain compounds of chromium are toxic, whereas others are used in mineral supplements. Second, as shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\), every element has three possible levels of dietary intake: deficient, optimum, and toxic in order of increasing concentration in the diet. Very low intake levels lead to symptoms of deficiency. Over some range of higher intake levels, an organism is able to maintain its tissue concentrations of the element at a level that optimizes biological functions. Finally, at some higher intake level, the normal regulatory mechanisms are overloaded, causing toxic symptoms to appear. Each element has its own characteristic curve. Both the width of the plateau and the specific concentration corresponding to the center of the plateau region differ by as much as several orders of magnitude for different elements. In the adult human, for example, the recommended daily dietary intake is 10–18 mg of iron, 2–3 mg of copper, and less than 0.1 mg of chromium and selenium.

Amplification

How can elements that are present in such minuscule amounts have such large effects on an organism’s health? Our knowledge of the pathways by which each of the known trace elements affects health is far from complete, but certain general features are clear. The trace elements participate in an amplification mechanism; that is, they are essential components of larger biological molecules that are capable of interacting with or regulating the levels of relatively large amounts of other molecules. For example, vitamin B₁₂ contains a single atom of cobalt, which is essential for its biological function. If the molecule whose level is controlled by the trace element can regulate the level of another molecule, and more and more molecules, then the potential exists for extreme amplification of small variations in the level of the trace element. One goal of modern chemical research is to elucidate in detail the roles of the essential elements. In subsequent chapters, we will introduce some results of this research to demonstrate the biological importance of many of the elements and their compounds.

Summary

About 19 of the approximately 115 known elements are essential for humans. An essential element is one whose absence results in abnormal biological function or development that is prevented by dietary supplementation with that element. Living organisms contain relatively large amounts of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur (these five elements are known as the bulk elements), along with sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, chlorine, and phosphorus (these six elements are known as macrominerals). The other essential elements are the trace elements, which are present in very small quantities. Dietary intakes of elements range from deficient to optimum to toxic with increasing quantities; the optimum levels differ greatly for the essential elements.