Minerals

Minerals
• Inorganic elements that are essential in human metabolism
• Usually extracted from the soil by plants
• Obtained by humans from plant foods or animals that have eaten plants
• Responsible for roughly 4% of body weight
• Could be classified as Major Minerals & Trace Elements
• They are not synthesized in the body.
• Minerals required by the body are obtained through
the food.
• Unlike carbohydrates, fats and proteins minerals do
not produce energy.
• Since most of the minerals are water soluble they are
easily absorbed and are excreted in urine and to a
lesser extent in feces.
• About 20-30 g of minerals are excreted per day.
• Based on the requirement minerals are divided into :

1. Bulk minerals (macro nutrients)

2. Trace minerals (micro nutrients).
1. Bulk minerals. Which are required in the diet in large amounts
i.e. greater than 100 mg per day.
• They represents 80% of body inorganic matter.

2. Trace (minerals) elements. Which are required in the diet in the

small amounts i.e.less than 100 mg/day.
 Minerals
• Major Minerals • Trace Elements
• calcium • iron
• phosphorus • manganese
• potassium • copper
• sulfur • iodine
• sodium • cobalt
• chlorine • zinc
• magnesium • fluorine
• selenium
• chromium
MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
1. Minerals are present in body tissues and body fluids.
2. Minerals are necessary for the maintenance of physiochemical
conditions like secretion of HCl in stomach, blood coagulation,
bone matrix, membrane potential, bioluminescence and
blood pressure which are essential for life.
3. Minerals are structural components of body soft tissues like
liver, muscle etc. For example phospholipids are components
of membrane structure.
4. Minerals participate in acid-base balance. Several minerals are
components of blood buffers.
8. Deficient intake of minerals leads to diseases. In
certain populations deficiency of calcium and iron are
common.
10. Conditions like malabsorption, gastroenteritis,
cholera, vomiting and diarrhoea produce mineral
deficiency.
12. Excess intake of some minerals leads to diseases.
Fluorosis, hemosiderosis and hypertension are
associated with excess intake of fluorine, iron and
sodium chloriderespectively.
5. Minerals are integral parts of several physiologically
important compounds like haemoglobin, hormones,
cytochromes, iron sulfur proteins, vitamins, enzymes,
bile salts, zinc finger proteins, phosphocreatine,
nucleic acids and several metabolites.
6. Minerals participates in transport of gases in the
body.
7. Minerals are required for several enzymatic
reactions.
13. Mineral metabolism is defective in some inherited diseases.

For example Wilson’s disease is due to defective copper

metabolism.

14. Minerals mediates hormone action.

15. Calcium, phosphorus and magnesium are components of

kidney stones, gall stones and pancreatic stones.

16. Minerals are involved in apoptosis.

17. Mineral deficiency is associated with diabetes and apoptosis.

18. Mineral act as chemo preventive agents of cancer.

 Major Minerals
• Calcium
• mostly in inorganic salts of bones and teeth
• needed for bone structure
• essential for nerve impulse conduction
• essential for muscle fiber contraction
• essential for blood coagulation
• increases permeability of cell membranes
• activates certain enzymes
• deficiencies lead to stunted growth, or fragile bones
or tetany
 Calcium Deficiencies -Rickets

weakness and deformity of the bones that occurs from

vitamin D deficiency or dietary deficiency of Ca and P
in a growing person or animal.
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 Calcium Deficiencies -Osteoporosis

progressive loss of bone density, thinning of bone tissue

and increased vulnerability to fractures in the elderly
people of both sexes.
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 Calcium and Osteoporosis
• Bone growth is greatest during “linear growth”
– Peaks out at around age 30

• Around age 40, bone

breakdown exceeds
formation.
• By age 65, some
women have lost 50%
of bone mass.

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 …cont
• Phosphorus
• mostly in inorganic salts of bones and teeth
• needed for structure of bones and teeth
• component in nearly all metabolic processes
• constituent of ATP, nucleic acids, many proteins,
enzymes, and some vitamins
• deficiency leads to stunted growth
 …cont

• Potassium
• Widely distributed
• Maintains intracellular osmotic pressure
• Promotes metabolism
• Required for muscle contraction and nerve impulse conduction
• deficiency leads to muscular weakness, cardiac abnormalities, and
edema
 …cont
• Sulfur
• Widely distributed
• Abundant in skin, nails, and
hair
• Component of certain amino
acids, thiamine,
• Sodium
• Widely distributed
• Maintains osmotic pressure of
extracellular fluids
• Regulates water movement in
and out of cells
• Required for nerve impulse
conduction and contraction of
muscle fibers
• deficiency leads to muscle
cramps and convulsions
 …cont
• Chlorine • Magnesium
• Most concentrated in • Abundant in bones
cerebrospinal fluid and gastric • Required in metabolic
juice
reactions for ATP
• Helps maintain osmotic
production
pressure of extracellular fluids
• Helps breakdown of ATP to
• Regulates pH
ADP
• Essential for formation of
hydrochloric acid • Deficiency leads to
• deficiency leads to muscle neuromuscular disturbances
cramps
 Trace Elements
• are essential minerals found in minute amounts

• each makes up less than 0.005% of body weight

 Basis of Deficiency state
Element Function Deficiency

Iron Essential component of hemoglobin as well as a Inadequate diet Hypochromic

number of iron-containing metalloenzymes microcytic
anemia
Zinc Component of enzymes, mobilizes vitamin A Inadequate diet Acrodermatitis
from the liver Growth
retardation in
children
Iodine Component of thyroid hormone Inadequate Goiter and
supply in food hypothyroidism,
and water cretinism
Selenium Antioxidant with vitamin E Inadequate -Myopathy
amounts in soil
and water Cardiomyopathy
Element Function Basis of Deficiency Deficiency state

Copper -Component of cytochrome C Inadequate Muscle weakness

oxidase supplementation in
-essential for hemoglobin artificial diet
synthesis, myelin formation

Fluoride Mechanism unknown Inadequate supply in Dental caries

soil and water
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