Fara 5 March 2009 Food Pyramid, General Health, Nutritions 603 views No Comment/Trackback Print This Post  Email This Post

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Dietary minerals and its importance to health

The next but least on the of healthy eating plan pyramid chart is none other than minerals. Minerals are often off the list of mentioning when we talk about healthy dietary habits and plans. Nevertheless, minerals are important and should not be forgotten.

Minerals are indeed inorganic substances or elements occurring in nature, mined from the earth. In other words, it is neither plant nor animal. Although mineral only made up a small portion of the body’s living tissues and cells, they are essential for growth and normal functioning. Most minerals are needed in a very small quantities.

Basically, minerals can be divided into two groups, that is macro minerals and micro minerals (or trace minerals). As the term name suggest, micro minerals are minerals that are needed in large quantities by our body. That is likely about 100mg/day. Whereby micro minerals are the minerals needed in merely traces, minerals that occur only in small amounts. There are many – numerous elements that’s under the mineral category but few has proved to be crucial for humankind. Such minerals are like: -

• Those in green are macro minerals

• Those in brown are micro minerals

So, what are the main functions of minerals really?

Just like what is mentioned above, minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and fluorine are components of bones and teeth. It is nothing unusual upon hearing repeatedly on advertisements about how important is these minerals in building stronger and healthier bones and teeth. Adequate intake of minerals is also essential for maintaining skeletal tissue in adulthood. A person with insufficient minerals intake may suffer weak and fragile bones, or most of times even lead to diseases such as osteoporosis as they he or she aged. Meanwhile, potassium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron and many other minerals are also part of the structural components of soft tissue.

Minerals dissolved in body fluids are responsible for the transmission of nerve impulses and the contraction of muscles. Besides that, did you know that minerals too are needed as maintainer of water balance in the body? This is because maintenance of water balance depends highly on the concentration of minerals in body fluids. Minerals also play an important role in the buffer systems in body fluids that support to maintain a normal acid-base balance. Being an essential compound of many hormones, enzymes and other compound that regulates function just enhance the fact of how important minerals are to our body and should be taken as a considerable part of our healthy eating plan.

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