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Body fluids, bodily fluids, or biofluids are liquids within the human body. In lean healthy adult men, the total body water is about 60% of the total body weight; it is usually slightly lower in women. The exact percentage of fluid relative to body weight is inversely proportional to the percentage of body fat. A lean 70 kg man, for example, has about 42 liters of water in his body.
The total body of water is divided into fluid compartments, between the intracellular fluid compartment and the extracellular fluid compartment in a two-to-one ratio: 28 liters are inside cells and 14 liters are outside cells.
The ECF compartment is divided into the interstitial fluid volume – the fluid outside both the cells and the blood vessels – and the intravascular volume – the fluid inside the blood vessels – in a three-to-one ratio: the interstitial fluid volume is about 12 liters, the vascular volume is about 4 liters.
The interstitial fluid compartment is divided into the lymphatic fluid compartment – about 2/3, or 8 liters, and the transcellular fluid compartment.