Are you made
of the same
stuff as
the earth
What’s In Me?
H ave you ever wondered what the earth is made of?
Do you suppose you are made of the same stuff as the earth?
Clue:
Do you think we can figure it out?
Where should we begin?
Good private investigators know
How about beginning our investigation with YOU!
that they have to keep all of their
Well, we know the earth is made up of a complex interaction of
information organized if they are
to solve the case. So, get a file
folder and label it your Case File.
As you gather Case Notes and
Case Illustrations, place those in
air, water, soil, and life. Right? We also know that you consist of a
complex system of skin, muscle, bone, and blood. Now, you might
ask, what are air, water, soil, and life made of?
That is a tricky question. Just as tricky as
questions about what makes up your skin,
your Case Files as well...
muscles, bones, and blood. So, let’s start
there. What makes up the human body?
Here are examples of four major parts of
the human body:
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* Skin: a thick layer made of tough, fibrous connective tissue.
The tissue is filled with blood, nerves, sweat glands, and
oil glands.
Fact:
* Muscles: specialized tissues that help you move. The tissues
are filled with blood and nerves.
Allan Pinkerton is known as the
father of private investigation.
* Bones: formed by connective tissue to provide support and
The company logo for the
form to create the skeleton of your body. Bones store minerals
Pinkerton Agency was the
and supply calcium and phosphorous to the blood.
“all-seeing eye.” Many believe
* Blood: liquid tissue that carries organic and inorganic nutrients
and oxygen to the cells in the body and carries carbon dioxide
this is where the term “private
eye” came from!
and other wastes away from the cells of the body.
What do all four of these have in common? They are all made up
of _________________ , which are a bunch of cells working together!
Excellent! We’re done. Right?
Wrong!
Now we might ask “What are tissues made of?” Well, tissues are
“built” using the inorganic and organic nutrients carried by
the blood. You probably know inorganic and organic nutrients by
their common name – food. The food you eat contains organic
nutrients, like carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. It also contains
inorganic nutrients, like water, minerals, and vitamins. What is your
favorite food? _________________ Do you think you could eat just
your favorite food every day and stay healthy?_________________
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) may
not agree with you! As a matter of fact, the USDA has established
rules and guidelines for the nutrient amounts a person should eat
Private Whys? <3
each day to live a healthy life. The amount and type of nutrients
a person needs changes with the age and sex of the person. The
Clue:
United States government provides a list with the amount of
vitamins and minerals you need to consume each day. This list
Food provides the raw materials
is called the Recommended Daily Allowance, or RDA. You need
for growth and maintenance,
this amount daily because your body uses the vitamins and
and it supplies the fuel for
minerals throughout the day to keep your tissues functioning
energy. By this definition, water,
minerals, and vitamins can be
considered food.
and you healthy. So the vitamins and minerals need to be replaced
every day.
Do you know your recommended daily amounts of minerals?
Let’s use our problem-solving skills and find out!
The RDA and Me!
Age
Groups
RDA of
Calcium
Chromium
Copper
Iron
Magnesium
Zinc
0–6
Months
210 mg
.0002 mg
.2 mg
.27 mg
30 mg
2 mg
7 – 12
Months
270 mg
.0055 mg
.22 mg
11 mg
75 mg
3 mg
1–3
Years
500 mg
.011 mg
.34 mg
7 mg
80 mg
3 mg
4–8
Years
800 mg
.015 mg
.44 mg
10 mg
130 mg
3 mg
9 – 13
Years
Male
Female
1300 mg
1300 mg
.025 mg
.021 mg
.7 mg
.7 mg
8 mg
8 mg
240 mg
240 mg
8 mg
8 mg
14 – 18
Years
Male
Female
1300 mg
1300 mg
.035 mg
.024 mg
.89 mg
.89 mg
11 mg
15 mg
410 mg
360 mg
11 mg
9 mg
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In recent years, RDA information has been revised and is now
included as part of the Dietary Reference Intakes or DRI. Using
the RDA information provided from the previous page, how much
Case File:
of each of the six minerals should your body have used in the first
four years of your life?
Congratulations! On this page,
you have discovered your first
1. The RDA is always presented as a daily amount. How many
days are in a year? _________________
2. The RDA divides the first year of an infant’s life into 0 to 6
months and 7 to 12 months. To find out how many days are in
piece of evidence. When you
have completed the questions,
place this evidence in your
Case File.
each of these time periods, divide the number of days in a
year by two. _________________
3. Multiply the answer in #2 by the RDA in the 0 – 6 month row
for calcium. _________________ Multiply the answer in #2 by
the RDA in the 7 – 12 month row for calcium. _________________
4. Add the two answers in #3 together. _________________ This is
the amount of calcium you should have ingested and used in
your first year of life.
5. How many milligrams of calcium do you need each day
from the age of one to three? _________________ x 365 days per
Fact:
year = _________________ . Multiply your total by three to get
Most foods, even candy bars,
the amount for three years. _________________
have “Nutrition Facts” on their
6. Add the total from #4 to the final total in #5 to get the amount
packaging. The “Nutrition Facts”
of calcium you should have ingested and used by your fourth
list for each food names the
birthday. _________________
specific vitamins and minerals
7. There are 453,600 milligrams in a pound. Divide the milligram
contained in that food.
amount by 453,600 to find the amount of calcium in pounds
that you should have ingested in your first four years of life.
_________________
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Now that you know how much calcium you should
have ingested during your first four years,
do you think you could find the first 4 year
amounts of any of the other minerals for the
same age range? Give it a try!
Minerals in Milligrams
Chromium
Copper
Fact:
Iron
Magnesium
Did you know that the mineral
Zinc
zinc, found in humans, is also
found in fireworks? Zinc powder
Minerals in Pounds
gives off an intense white light
Chromium
that burns brilliantly in air. So
Copper
zinc helps human bodies heal
Iron
Magnesium
and helps make fireworks both
Zinc
bright and beautiful!
In 2002, the Mineral Information Institute (www.mii.org) in
Golden, Colorado, published an interesting diagram. It shows the
amount of minerals, metals, and fuels a person will need in his or
her lifetime!
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