"Life Energy"

I was reading some articles on the net about new technologies used for cell imaging, and techniques used to measure a cells vibrational frequencies (Read these two really interesting articles from MIT if you are interested in the subject: (3D cell imaging, vibrating cells).

Anyway, I stumbled upon a more theoretical question in physics, "Are we seeing energy changing into matter on Earth?"

Basically the answer is yes. Take a coin, flip it, measure its weight. The flipping coin has more weight than the resting coin. No matter has been "added", it is just heavier because of the higher energy.

I was about to look at other articles when I made the connection with something I was told some years ago.

Apparently (but I do not know if the experiment has been replicated) a physician measured the weight of patients before and right after they died. The results indicated that on average a human loses 21 grams the second it dies.

I was wondering if this loss of weight could be due to a loss of energy??? Nothing else changes at the instant of death, so could the change in mass be simply due to less energy? Could this be called "life" energy? (the energy that differentiates a living tissue from a dead one?)