Importance Of Minerals For Your Body

Unknown to most people, minerals play an essential part of your body's nutritional requirements in order to maintain normal bodily function and health. A properly balanced diet is one that will provide a fair share of mineral nutrients to meet the body's requirements.

Most people however remain unaware of this important part of having a healthy body. Others are unsure on just what these nutrients do in the body or even the benefits that they provide. We seek to answer this question in this article along with identifying various mineral-forms and their individual benefits to the human body.

Minerals are generally thought of as the basic makeup of matter and also they are seen to play a vital role in the creation and synthesis of new cells in the body. This means they are an essential ingredient which when combined with other compounds in the body promote development, repair and healing. Each mineral will have a set role to be played in these bodily processes.

To fully grasp how they work, it's important to first develop an understanding of how the body operates. Over a 24 hour period, the human body will manufacture in excess of 200 billion blood cells and every 3 months there is a total replacement of the human blood supply[1]. Depending on the person there is total skin regeneration every 30 to 90 days and a similar occurrence is seen with the bones where they will gradually destroy and rebuild themselves all within 3 months[2]. As is obvious, all the above activities are heavily nutrient intensive and a fair amount of vitamin-mineral combination is necessary to ensure constant stability and health as these activities occur,

Minerals have multi-functional duties in bodily development. They are abundant in organs, cells, tissue and the entire body in general. They manifest as trace or essential-minerals with the main essential ones being iron (fe), phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, potassium and sodium[3]. The trace ones are only seen in very small quantities. They are chromium, iodine, copper boron cobalt, zinc among others. We look at their functions below;

• Calcium - Essential for bone manufacture and repair. This includes teeth and all bones in the body. Also promotes nervous system development[4].
• Chromium - Highly increases the efficiency of insulin in metabolism[5].
• Copper - works in tandem with vitamin c and other minerals to promote wound healing and the formation of blood cells[6].
• Iodine - Plays a major role in goiter prevention and is necessary for the thyroid gland to work effectively[7].
• Iron- most important blood compound as it is the main oxygen carrier in blood.
• Magnesium - An intermediate in usage of carbs, fats and proteins[8].
• Manganese - it assists calcium in sex hormone production and skeleton development[9].
• Molybdenum - is vital in transportation of iron from liver to the body[10].
• Potassium - helps in heart, kidney muscle and nervous system maintenance[11].
• Selenium - promotes tissue and artery elasticity.Zinc- is vital for complete wound healing[12].

For decades the mineral content in a large part of America's farming area has been seriously deficient these vital trace elements. This issue, as it regards to personal health, has been known since 1936. The United States senate in 1936, 74th Congress, 2nd Session warned of major mineral depletion due to "modern" farming methods[13]. The Senate Report was based on a study conducted by Dr. Charles Northern[14]. It was further supported by research completed at Yale, Rutgers, John Hopkins, Columbia and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Northern demonstrated "that countless human ills stem from the fact that impoverished soil of America no longer provides plant foods with mineral elements essential to human nourishment and health."

As is obvious above these are nutrients that we can't afford to do without so if your diet doesn't provide enough, you can get these essential minerals by taking supplements.

1. http://www.bloodservices.ca/centreapps/internet/uw_v502_mainengine.nsf/
   page/E_The+Amazing+Red+Blood+Cell?OpenDocument
2. http://www.agedefyingbody.com/RegenerationSchedule.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_mineral
4. http://www.ehow.com/how_5682948_eat-healthy-heal-broken-bones.html
5. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ans/psychology/health_psychology/
   chromiumpicolinate.htm
6. http://www.ehow.com/facts_5283023_vitamins-should-taken-together.html
7. Rao PS, Lakshmy R. Role of goitrogens in iodine deficiency disorders & brain development. Indian J Med Res. 1995 Nov;102:223-6.
8. http://www.chiro.org/nutrition/magnesium.shtml
9. http://www.tldp.com/issue/180/Clinical%20Effects%20of%20Mn.html
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdenum
11. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100209123812.htm
12. Mateo,G., Acien, A., Barriuso, R., Guallar, E., Selenium and coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 84, No. 4, 762-773, October 2006
13. http://www.senatedocument264.com/
14. http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=19990303122846
    
    
    

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