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Dietary mineral

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Dietary minerals are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. The term "mineral" is archaic, since the intent of the definition is to describe ions (atoms), not chemical compounds or actual minerals.

Dietitians may recommend that dietary minerals are best supplied by ingesting specific foods rich with the element(s) of interest. Sometimes dietary minerals are ingested as part of dietary supplements, the most common being iodine in iodized salt.

The dietary focus on dietary minerals derives from an interest in supporting biochemical reactions with the required elemental components. Appropriate intake levels of certain chemical elements are thus required to maintain optimal health. According to nutritional experts, the requirements are met simply with a conventional balanced diet.

Essential dietary minerals

Some sources state that sixteen dietary minerals are required to support human biochemical processes by serving structural and functional roles as well as electrolytes: Sometimes a distinction is drawn between this category and micronutrients. Most of the dietary minerals are of relatively low atomic weight:

Periodic table highlighting dietary minerals

The following play important roles in biological processes:

Other elements

Many elements have been suggested as essential, but such claims have usually not been confirmed. Definitive evidence for efficacy comes from the characterization of a biomolecule containing the element with an identifiable and testable function. One problem with identifying efficacy is that some elements are innocuous at low concentrations and are pervasive, so proof of efficacy is lacking because deficiencies are difficult to reproduce.

• Relatively large quantities of sulfur are required, but there is no RDA, as the sulfur is obtained from and used for amino acids, and therefore should be adequate in any diet containing enough protein.

• Cobalt is required in the synthesis of vitamin B12, but because bacteria are required to synthesize the vitamin, it is usually considered part of vitamin B12 deficiency rather than its own mineral deficiency.

• There have been occasional studies asserting the essentiality of nickel, but it currently has no known RDA.

• Chromium is sometimes described as essential. It is implicated in sugar metabolism in humans, leading to a market for the supplement chromium picolinate, but definitive biochemical evidence for a physiological function is lacking.

• Fluoride has been described as conditionally essential, depending upon the importance placed upon the prevention of chronic disease.

• Arsenic, boron, bromine, cadmium, silicon, tungsten, and vanadium have established, albeit specialized, biochemical roles as structural or functional cofactors in other organisms. These elements appear not to be utilized by humans.

See also

Food portal

• Macronutrient
• Essential nutrient
• Micronutrient deficiency
• Health food
• Biochemic cell salts

External links

• Metals in Nutrition

References