Health and Fitness

Copper is a trace mineral that is found in all living organisms from bacteria to humans and it is an essential element. It plays a variety of important roles in the body, including assisting in the formation of hemoglobin, aiding in iron metabolism, contributing to the activity of many enzymes in the build up and [...]

Phosphorus is an essential mineral found in every cell of the body. It is required for normal function and 85% of the mineral is found in the bones. Efficient absorption and availability in food makes it less important major mineral in diet planning. Approximately 70% of dietary intake is absorbed and most of it takes [...]

Chloride is an essential mineral widely distributed throughout the body as an anion form of chlorine-a very poisonous gas. It forms an important negative ion for the extracellular fluid and its negative charge balances the positive charges of sodium ions to bring about electrolyte balance. Chloride helps to maintain pressure that allows fluids to enter [...]

The mineral Iron is found in every living cell. There is a total content of 5g in the body or about 50 mg/kg of body weight. This mineral exists in the body in combination with protein and its importance for health has been recognized for centuries. Its major function is to form hemoglobin (it gives [...]

Sodium is a positive ionic mineral (cation) in the extracellular fluid and a key factor in fluid retention. Together with potassium contribute in the regulation of fluid volume in the intracellular and extracellular cell compartments. As both minerals shift across the cell membranes create electrical potential charges that allows for nerve impulses and muscle contraction. [...]

Potassium (K) is an essential mineral mostly found in the intracellular fluid. It constitutes 5 percent of the total mineral content in the body. Like sodium is a primary electrolyte in body fluids. Both functions to regulate fluid distribution on either side of the cell wall keep heartbeat normal and nerve-impulse transmission. Potassium balance in [...]

Zinc is an essential trace mineral found in the body in larger amounts than any other trace mineral, 1.8 grams, except iron, 5 grams. It has been recognized as essential to humans in 1960s when deficiency cases were first recognized. The mineral is absorbed throughout the small intestine mostly in the jejunum and absorption is [...]

Magnesium is an essential mineral that accounts only for 0.05 percent of the body’s total weight. Approximately 70 percent of the mineral is located in the bones and the rest in soft tissues such as muscles and in body fluids. Magnesium, like calcium is a cation (divalent). It is heavily involved in many metabolic processes [...]

Calcium is the most abundant of all the minerals in the human body. While every cell need calcium 99% of calcium is used in the structure of bones and teeth. It represents more than 40% of all the minerals in the body or the equivalent of 1.2kg. For proper function calcium needs the presence of [...]

Mineral nutrients are non-carbon nutrients or inorganic. These nutrients are present either as cations ( positively charged) or anions (negatively charged). Cations are derivable from metallic elements, including calcium, potassium, magnesium,iron, copper, cobalt, chromium, manganese, molybdenum (molybdate), zinc, sodium and selenium (selenate).

Nonmetal elements give anions: chlorine ( [...]