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Name: Stacey
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Question:
How does the kinds of food you eat effect the composition of gasses in the lung? That is, how would different foods alter the partial pressures of O2, N2, and CO2?


Replies:
The food you eat has nothing to do with the partial pressures of gasses in your lungs. Nitrogen gas doesn't dissolve in your blood at atmospheric pressure. Your body maintains strict homeostasis (whenever possible). If you were to eat food that would give you extra carbon for example, your body doesn't put that extra into your blood to be taken to the lungs, it is converted into other products for storage, ie. fat or raw materials for amino acids that will be converted to protein. Any extra hydrogen is taken out by the kidneys-this is why urine is usually slightly acidic.

Van Hoeck


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