So What Are Minerals Exactly?

At one time or the other we have all probably asked what are minerals?

What you need to know is that without minerals all our vitamins are actually quite worthless.

The human body is unable to process vitamins without the help of some minerals – they are like a catalyst! Minerals are basically inorganic compounds, which are essential to your body for the structure  of both hard and soft tissue, such as your teeth, your bones,  your muscles as well as blood and even nerve cells.So we definitely need minerals – that’s a given!

Minerals are Essential!

Therefore it’s easy to realize that minerals are essential for the overall physical and mental welfare of our bodies. They are in fact catalysts, which help us with several very important body reactions such as message transmission through the nervous system, muscle contractions and the production of our hormones just to name a few.

But can our bodies actually produce their own minerals or not? Well as you might have guessed the answer is no. Unlike some of the vitamins we need the human body cannot make minerals. All the minerals we need have to be provided to our bodies through our diet or by using dietary supplements.

There are two main types of minerals you should consider:

The best way to look as this is to consider that on the one hand there are the main important elements or macro minerals, consisting of calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and iodine. And on the other have you have the trace minerals or micro minerals, as they can be called, like copper, manganese, fluorine, cobalt and zinc.

The minerals we need are only required in very small quantities and you should know that usually a normal well-balanced and therefore healthy diet will mean you meet all the mineral requirements of your body. However it is true to say that some people may indeed need to take some sort of mineral supplements to meet their own particular bodies’ needs. This is because every body is different slightly and there each requirememnet can vary by individual.

Which are the Important Minerals and Where do we Get Them?

A very important mineral is Calcium as it is required for the formation and maintenance of healthy bones in our bodies. Just about 90% of our calcium is contained in both our bones and our teeth. And from where it is easily reabsorbed by our blood and other tissues. I think we all probably know that the primary source of calcium for humans is milk or milk products. A pint a day and all that!

Many of us will know that the mineral Iron is essential in the process for the formation of hemoglobin in our blood, which is the pigment in red blood cells for transporting oxygen around our bodies – essential for human life! It is often found that women can be deficient in iron and as a result they sometimes have to resort to taking iron supplements on a regular basis. Iron minerals can be found in many leafy green garden vegetables.

Another important mineral is Sodium, which is found in many natural foods and unfortunately it can also be found in a lot of the cooked foods, which we buy, in the form of added salt. Not something we really need in this case as excessive sodium in our bodies can cause harmful effects such as edema and water retention.

Magnesium is a mineral that aids human bone growth and also helps a great deal in the function of our nerves and our muscles. It also contributes greatly to the regulation of a normal heart rhythm – something that we all want!. This mineral also helps to maintain the electrical circuitry in our nervous system and in muscle cells. It is extremely important for a normal and healthy metabolism. It can be found very easily in a wide variety of different foods.

The mineral Phosphorous is also extremely important as it helps us release energy from carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. In addition it will combine with the calcium in our bones and our teeth and it too can be found in milk.

The last to be mentioned is Iodine, which is another important mineral that if deficient in the body can lead to goiter, a swelling of a gland that is located in your lower neck. Note though that salt is often fortified with iodine. There are many other minerals that are also important and if you really want to know more then you should make a point of doing some additional research. Minerals are very important to the human body and understanding what they do is half the battle of having a healthier life.

So there you have it – a quick rundown on the important minerals that all our bodies need and why we need them!

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