In some organisms 90% of their weight comes from the water that is in the organism. Human babies and kids have the most water (about 78%) which drops to 60-65% when they become adults. Adult women generally have less water than men do.
Human bodies and water
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| Source - ec.gc.ca |
Every part of the human body is predominantly made up of freshwater.
Our physical body simply would not exist if freshwater did not exist.
We also would not exist for very long if we could not replenish the water lost by the human body. Continued availability of freshwater is absolutely necessary for humans and other life-forms to continue to exist.
But what keeps all this water together in the human body?
Hyaluronan
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| Source - vitanetonline.com |
The "glue" keeping all this water in our bodies is a carbohydrate called Hyaluronan.
The average 154 lb. person has roughly 15 grams of hyaluronan occurring naturally and distributed over all parts of the human body.
Its consistent function in the human body is to bind with water and hold the water for use in individual cells of the human body.
Hyaluronan has a half-life of about 3-days in all organs of the body except in the skin where it's half-life is just about a day. As Hyaluronan decays more supplies are biologically synthesized in specialized areas of the human body,
Commercial Applications
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| Source - bueatyinthebag.com |
Hyaluronan can be synthetically created and is the predominant ingredient in skin care products. As human skin ages, it looses its ability to hold large amounts of hyaluronan i.e. the skin is no longer as hydrated as young skin and shows wrinkles and feels drier when touched.
Now that we can commercially produce hyaluronan, can we use its water-loving (hydrophilic) properties to extract water vapor from the air we breathe?
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