as I was told from early education that the air we currently breathe in contains 21% oxygen and 77-ish% of nitrogen and the rest are other particles.
So I have a dumb question on what the body uses nitrogen we breathe in for?
In: 387
Our bodies cannot use nitrogen directly.
Oxygen is combined with compounds such as carbohydrates to make CO2, water, and other waste products and give up energy. Nitrogen cannot be used for this purpose because nitrogen combining with other substances does not generally generate energy.
Our bodies do need nitrogen, but they need it in compounds, mostly proteins and amino acids. Instead of using the nitrogen in the air to make these compounds, we get them from eating plants, which make them, and animals, which convert them from plants to make up their own bodies.
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