All substances on Earth make cycles called biochemical cycles. Usually, two cycles are distinguished in the cycle of nutrients - geological (or large) and small (also called biotic), which is caused by the constant circulation of substances between soil, microorganisms, plant and animal life.
The long cycle is long, in the hundreds of thousands or millions of years. Rocks are destroyed and weathered over time. Then, carried by water currents, they settle on the bottom of the oceans. Part of them with sediments and organisms extracted by man from the sea, are returned to land. In addition, geotectonic changes in the earth's crust (such as raising the bottom of the sea or lowering the continents) also return matter to land. After this, the cycle of nutrients is repeated again.
The biotic cycle or the cycle of nutrients is the level of wildlife. Water, carbon, soil nutrients are actively involved in life processes as an organic substance for building plants and animals. When these organisms die, their waste products with the help of simpler organisms - reducers or reducing agents, decompose into inorganic compounds and elements. And again, everything repeats itself: biogenic elements are used by plants as food - this is how the biochemical cycle called the cycle of biogenic elements takes place.
Biogenic elements are a set of chemical elements that make up living organisms and are necessary for their normal life and chemical processes. It should be noted that the content of living matter in the biosphere is estimated at 100 billion tons. Changes that occur in the upper layers of the earth's crust affect living organisms, so their chemical composition is determined by the environment.
Chemistry of nutrients.
In a living organism, almost all biogenic elements found in sea water and the earth's crust are found. All atmospheric oxygen is biogenic.
In living organisms, oxygen plays a significant role, as well as hydrogen, calcium, magnesium, carbon, sodium, and iron. Of the elements, 70% is oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen. Phosphorus, calcium, potassium, sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon have a lower migration ability than other elements that make up living organisms.
The ways in which they enter the living organism are diverse. But the chemistry of nutrients is such that “biogenic migration of atoms” (biogeochemical theory) takes place along a chain: soil and water, and then food and humans — almost all elements are involved in this process. From the external environment, they penetrate into the living organism to a greater or lesser extent and provide the necessary biological concentration of elements for the normal processes of life.
Biologically significant or biogenic elements are subdivided into macroelements and microelements. The content of the former in living organisms is more than 0.01%, while the latter is less than 0.001%.
The macronutrients that make up the flesh of living organisms come from the outside into the human body; the recommended dose of their consumption is more than 200 mg. In the human body, as a rule, macronutrients come from food. Trace elements, despite their small quantity, are necessary for a living organism, as they take part in biochemical processes.
For good health, it is necessary to maintain the constancy of the internal environment of the body by the qualitative and quantitative content of chemicals at the physiological level. For this, the lifestyle should be healthy, and nutrition should be as varied and complete as possible.