1. Nutrition and Wellness
Minerals
Nutrition and Wellness

2. What are Minerals? Minerals make up about 4-5% of our body weight.
Make up body structure (bones and teeth)
Make substances your body needs
Often minerals team with vitamins in chemical reactions.
Vitamin C boost Iron absorption.
Major or Trace Minerals

3. Major Minerals
Phosphorus
Calcium
Sodium
Chloride
Potassium

4. Major Minerals
Minerals
Major mineral: (macromineral = minerals needed in relatively large amounts)
Calcium
Phosphorus
Electrolytes
Sodium
Chloride
Potassium

5. Calcium Helps Calcium is essential for keeping bones strong.
Minerals
Helps
Regulate blood clotting
Nerve activity
Other body processes
Calcium is essential for keeping bones strong.
If you don’t get enough you are at risk for osteoporosis:
makes bones weak and fragile.
Build up your bone strength now to help you later.

6. Phosphorus Works with calcium to build strong bones and teeth. Helps
Minerals
Works with calcium to build strong bones and teeth.
Helps
Release energy from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
Build body cells and tissues
Protein foods are rich in phosphorus, so deficiencies are commonly unknown.

7. Electrolytes: Sodium, Chloride, Potassium
Minerals
Sodium, Chloride, and Potassium form chemical particles called electrolytes.
Electrolytes are in all body fluids.
Sodium: helps with muscle and nerve action and helps regulate blood pressure.
Chloride: helps transmit nerve signals.
Potassium: helps maintain a steady heartbeat and helps with muscle and nerve action.
Some foods naturally contain sodium – however it is added to many foods during processing.

8. Food Sources of Major Minerals
Calcium
Dairy products
Dry beans, peas, and lentils
Dark leafy green vegetables
*Calcium fortified orange juice and soy milk.
Phosphorus
Meat
Poultry
Fish
Eggs
Nuts
Dry beans and peas
Nuts and seeds
Electrolyte
(Sodium, Chloride, Potassium)
Sodium: Table salt and processed foods
Chloride: Table Salt
Potassium: Fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, dry beans and peas, dairy products.

9. Trace Minerals
Iron
Iodine
Fluoride

10. Trace Minerals
Minerals
Trace Minerals: (microminerals = minerals needed in relatively small amounts)
Excess amounts can be harmful.

11. Iron
Minerals
Is essential for making hemoglobin --- the substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen to all body cells.
If you do not get enough…
Your body may not be able to carry enough oxygen to your cells.
Iron deficiency anemia: tired, weak, short of breath, and pale.
Pica: unusual appetite for ice, clay, or other non food items.
Usually goes away once deficiency is noticed.

12. Iodine Stored in the thyroid gland.
Minerals
Stored in the thyroid gland.
Too much or too little can cause thyroid problems.
Without enough: a lump called a goiter can form on front of neck.
Infants can be born with mental retardation if a woman is iron deficient during pregnancy.

13. Fluoride Prevents tooth decay and strengthens bones.
Foods contain little fluoride --- communities will often add the mineral to drinking water when it doesn’t occur naturally.
Toothpaste often has added fluoride.

14. Food Sources of Trace Minerals
Iron
Meat
Fish and shellfish
Egg yolks
Dark green, leafy vegetables
Dry beans and peas
Enriched and whole-grain products
Dried fruit
Iodine
Saltwater fish
Iodized salt
Fluoride
Water supplies (in many communities)
Can also be added to Bottled Water