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In the Pohl's Heechee saga there were CHON food machines that essentially were food synthesized from those main 4 elements and traces of others. But not all the

In the Pohl's Heechee saga there were CHON food machines that essentially were food synthesized from those main 4 elements and traces of others. But not all the other elements come from thin air, some come from soil, and your nutrition may be lacking something essential, even if they doesn't contributes a lot on total weight.

kragen 2y ago
yeah, that's basically what these companies are building. i guess i left calcium, magnesium, chlorine, selenium, and sodium out of my list of essential trace elements; any others?
- gmuslera 2y ago
  Phosphor, potassium,calcium, sodium, magnesium and sulphur are needed in not so trace quantities. Iron, zinc, copper, iodine, selenium, manganese, fluoride, chromium and molybdenum require less amounts, but are still important for a lot of processes. Cobalt is part of the vitamin B12, so not optional neither. And probably several more that I'm not counting here. And besides having the elements, how they are arranged is important too, as with the vitamin B12 example, or being in a way that can be assimilated correctly. Its not an one-size-fits-all protein or whatever that solves nutrition. Could prevent a calories deficit, and give some proteins/aminoacids, but that is not the whole story.
  - kragen 2y ago
    yeah, so, what i was saying is that food in general almost entirely air. checking out the corrected fullmetal alchemist recipe in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body#Elements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body#... we see 65% oxygen, 18.5% carbon, 9.5% hydrogen, 2.6% nitrogen, adding up to 95.6%. those all get into food from air more or less directly of course, the humans mostly aren't cannibals, but their food composition is similar to that of their bodies the next element is calcium, 1.3%, which is mostly in bones, which are not food (the humans don't eat the bones when they eat meat) and which have a very long half-life. the recommended daily intake of calcium is about 1 gram per day, under 0.1% of the food. then we have phosphorus (not phosphor!) at 0.6%; sulfur at 0.3%; potassium, sodium, and chlorine at about 0.2% each; and magnesium at 0.05%. your entire cobalamin content is measured in milligrams, and cobalt is about 4% of cobalamin, so your entire body content of cobalt is down in the micrograms so about 97% of your food is made of air, and the other 3% is made of rocks and soil you are entirely correct that it's a very important 3% fluorine isn't required at all, not even for plants. chromium isn't known to be, but might be. nickel might be too. boron is essential to plants but probably not animals. thanks for the reminders about zinc, copper, and iodine! and i didn't realize it, but you're right, manganese and molybdenum are essential to humans!

kragen 2y ago

yeah, that's basically what these companies are building. i guess i left calcium, magnesium, chlorine, selenium, and sodium out of my list of essential trace elements; any others?

gmuslera 2y ago
Phosphor, potassium,calcium, sodium, magnesium and sulphur are needed in not so trace quantities. Iron, zinc, copper, iodine, selenium, manganese, fluoride, chromium and molybdenum require less amounts, but are still important for a lot of processes. Cobalt is part of the vitamin B12, so not optional neither. And probably several more that I'm not counting here. And besides having the elements, how they are arranged is important too, as with the vitamin B12 example, or being in a way that can be assimilated correctly. Its not an one-size-fits-all protein or whatever that solves nutrition. Could prevent a calories deficit, and give some proteins/aminoacids, but that is not the whole story.
- kragen 2y ago
  yeah, so, what i was saying is that food in general almost entirely air. checking out the corrected fullmetal alchemist recipe in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body#Elements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body#... we see 65% oxygen, 18.5% carbon, 9.5% hydrogen, 2.6% nitrogen, adding up to 95.6%. those all get into food from air more or less directly of course, the humans mostly aren't cannibals, but their food composition is similar to that of their bodies the next element is calcium, 1.3%, which is mostly in bones, which are not food (the humans don't eat the bones when they eat meat) and which have a very long half-life. the recommended daily intake of calcium is about 1 gram per day, under 0.1% of the food. then we have phosphorus (not phosphor!) at 0.6%; sulfur at 0.3%; potassium, sodium, and chlorine at about 0.2% each; and magnesium at 0.05%. your entire cobalamin content is measured in milligrams, and cobalt is about 4% of cobalamin, so your entire body content of cobalt is down in the micrograms so about 97% of your food is made of air, and the other 3% is made of rocks and soil you are entirely correct that it's a very important 3% fluorine isn't required at all, not even for plants. chromium isn't known to be, but might be. nickel might be too. boron is essential to plants but probably not animals. thanks for the reminders about zinc, copper, and iodine! and i didn't realize it, but you're right, manganese and molybdenum are essential to humans!