MINERALS
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Minerals are very useful for healthy life, Deficiency of
Minerals can be danger for Health. The minerals (inorganic nutrients) that are
relevant to human nutrition include water, sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium,
phosphate, sulfate, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, iodine, selenium,
and molybdenum. Cobalt is a required mineral for human health, but it is
supplied by vitamin B 12. Cobalt appears to have no other function, aside from
being part of this vitamin. There is some evidence that chromium, boron, and
other inorganic elements play some part in human nutrition, but the evidence is
indirect and not yet convincing. Fluoride seems not to be required for human
life, but its presence in the diet contributes to long term dental health. Some
of the minerals do not occur as single atoms, but occur as molecules. These
include water, phosphate, sulfate, and selenite (a form of selenium). Sulfate
contains an atom of sulfur. We do not need to eat sulfate, since the body can
acquire all the sulfate it needs from protein.
Continued supply in the
diet is needed for growth, maintenance of body weight in adulthood, and for
reproduction. The amount of each mineral that is needed to support growth during
infancy and childhood, to maintain body weight and health, and to facilitate
pregnancy and lactation, are listed in a table called the Recommended Dietary
Allowances (RDA). This table was compiled by the Food and Nutrition Board, a
committee that serves the United States government. RDA indicate the daily
amounts that are expected to maintain health throughout most of the general
population. The actual levels of each inorganic nutrient required by any given
individual is likely to be less than that stated by the RDA. RDA values are
actually greater than the minimal requirement, as determined by studies on small
groups of healthy human subjects, in order to accomodate the variability
expected among the general population.
People are treated with minerals for
several reasons. The primary reason is to relieve a mineral deficiency, when a
deficiency has been detected. Chemical tests suitable for the detection of all
mineral deficiencies are available. The diagnosis of the deficiency is often
aided by tests that do not involve chemical reactions, such as the hematocrit
test for the red blood cell content in blood for iron deficiency, the visual
examination of the neck for iodine deficiency, or the examination of bones by
densitometry for calcium deficiency.
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