What are minerals, why are they so important and how do they work? The main function of minerals is to assist enzymes in building , breaking down, and changing nutrients in your body, enzymes will help you get your everyday energy from your food. Minerals will also help regulate hormones. Your body needs these for [...]
The importance of Magnesium: As the importance of calcium has been increased, and where are having an increase in calcium reinforced foods, beverages, and supplements there is a small problem you might find, and that is that Calcium needs Magnesium in order to properly be absorbed by the body. Magnesium helps produce more than 300 different enzymes, [...]
What are minerals, why are they so important and how do they work?
The main function of minerals is to assist enzymes in building , breaking down, and changing nutrients in your body, enzymes will help you get your everyday energy from your food. Minerals will also help regulate hormones. Your body needs these for everyday growth, health and metabolism functions, such as producing the antioxidant compounds in our bodies
Just like vitamins these are acquired through every day meals.
Essential minerals are also know as Macro Minerals and are the minerals you need everyday, they are critical ingredients to our health, and are found large abundance in our diet and of course in our body.
Macro minerals are:
Calcium is one of the heavy weight minerals in our bone structure and formation. It is the most abundant mineral in our body and makes up about 2% of our total body weight. A women between 19 and 50 should be taking at least 1000mg of calcium a day to help keep bones strong and fit, bones act a reserve for these minerals from where the rest of the body can acquire resources when needed. Calcium is also need to help in muscle contraction and blood clotting in our cardiovascular system. Most of the calcium is stored in our bones, about 98% of it, and 1% in our teeth with the rest circulating through our blood. Calcium also helps control your digestion through the various hormones and enzymes it helps produce.
Calcium rich foods include almonds, baked beans, blackstrap molasses, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, buttermilk, cheddar cheese, collard greens, cottage cheese, dandelion greens, edam cheese, kale, milk, mustard greens, okra, parmesan cheese, peas, ratabagas, rhubarb, salmon, sardines, sesame seeds, spinach, swiss cheese, tofu, turnip greens, white beans and yogurt
Calcium may be beneficial for the following ailments: Anemia, Diabetes, Hemophilia, Pernicious anemia, Backache, Fracture, Osteomalacia, Osteoporosis, Rickets, Colitis, Diarrhea, Dizziness, Epilepsy, Finger tremors, Insomnia, Irritability, Mental illness, Nervousness, Parkinson’s Disease, Meniere’s Syndrome, Cataracts, Headache, Arteriosclerosis, Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, High LDL levels, Cancer of the large intestine, Celiac Disease, Constipation, Hemorrhoids, Worms, Arthritis, Rheumatism, Nephritis, Muscle cramps, Allergies, Common cold, Tuberculosis, Tetany, Nail problems, Acne, Bee and Spider bites, Sunburn, Stomach ulcers, Brittle teeth, Cavities, Pyorrhea, Tooth and Gum disorders, Aging Fever, Overweight, Obesity, and Toxicity.
Magensium is fundamental for muscle relaxation, it plays an important part in neuromuscular contractions helping avoid problems such as asthma, and the good functioning of muscles including those of the heart. Magensium accounts for about 0.05% of our body’s total weight, and is essential part of our metabolic process helping activate important enzymes which are necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates and amino acids.
Magnesium rich foods include white beans, red beans, black-eyed beans, soybeans, lima beans, tofu, lentils, buckwheat, cornmeal, wheat, beet greens, swiss chard, collards, spinach and turnip greens. Next highest include millet, oatmeal, brown rice, rye, almonds, cashews, brussels sprouts, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, peas, potato, sweet potatoes, avocado, banana, black berries, dates, mango, and milk. Most of the other vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and fruits contain small amounts of magnesium.
The importance of Magnesium:
As the importance of calcium has been increased, and where are having an increase in calcium reinforced foods, beverages, and supplements there is a small problem you might find, and that is that Calcium needs Magnesium in order to properly be absorbed by the body.
Magnesium helps produce more than 300 different enzymes, helps our muscles relax, keeps blood pressure at normal levels and a good heart beat, helps along with calcium to keep our bones and teeth strong. And finally magnesium protects our kidneys.
Most of the magnesium is stored in our bones, teeth and muscles containing about 25 grams in total, but the amount of magnesium found in our blood is key to keeping lots of our body functions in harmony.
Magnesium recommended daily intake increases with age, and is still considered low by many researches, I will be posting tables of RDI for each mineral in further posts, but the recommend new daily intake is 500 mg for adults, which is said can be very effective in helping you keep a normal blood pressure and prevent heart disease.
Magnesium can be beneficial for the following ailments: Arteriosclerosis, Atherosclerois, High cholesterol level, Diabetes, Hypertension. High LDL cholesterol, Fracture, Rickets, Colitis, Diarrhea, Depression, Epilepsy, Mental illness, Multiple Sclerosis, Nervousness, Neuritis, Neuromuscular Disorders, Noise Sensitivity, Parkinson’s Disease, Osteoporosis, Tantrums, Hand Tremors, Coronary thrombosis, Ischemic heart disease, Obesity, Celiac Disease, Arthritis, Kidney Stones, Oxalate stones, Leg cramps, Muscle weakness, Muscular excitability, Neuromuscular disorders, Weakness, Psoriasis, Decay, Vomiting, Alcoholism, Backache, Convulsions, Delirium, Epilepsy, Kwashiorkor, Overweight, PMS and Polio.
Is the second most abundant mineral in our body and is found in every cell, its used mainly to make your teeth and bones as well as metabolic processes. Phosphorus works in conjuction with Calcium to help your bones and teeth, and plays part in almost every chemical reaction in our body. It is fundamental in helping us produce energy by its utilization of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It also forms an essential part of nucleoproteins, which are responsible for cell division and reproduction. It also helps prevent accumulation of too much acid or alkali in our blood, maintain healthy nerves and efficient mental activity.
A good thing about Phosphorus is that it is present in practically every food you eat, so its almost impossible to be deficient in it. The recommended daily intake for Phosphorus is made from the rule of thumb that you should need as much phosphorus as you do calcium.
Phosphorus rich foods include all bran cereal, almonds, beef, brazil nuts, cashew nuts, cheese, chicken, dried fruit, egg
garlic, halibut fish, hard potatoes, herring, kidneys, legumes, lentils, liver, meat, milk, peanuts, poultry, roe, salmon, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, turkey, wheat bran, wheat germ, whole wheat bread and yogurt.
Phosphorus may be beneficial for the following ailments: Fractures, Osteomalacia, Osteoporosis, Rickets, Stunted growth, Colitis, Mental illness, Mental stress, Arteriosclerosis, Atherosclerosis, Arthritis, Stone arthritic conditions, Leg cramps, Tooth and gum disorders, Alcoholism, Backache, Cancer prevention, Pregnancy and Stress.
Importance of Minerals Potassium and health – Part 3
Riboflavin is needed by your cells to make energy, it works in conjuction with other vitamins from the B group and as part of coenzyme named Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide, these coenzymes are called flavins.
Flavins are needed for the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It works mostly with the other B vitamins, specially close with niacin and pyridoxine, which cant do their jobs without riboflavin. Riboflavin helps you make healthy red blood cells, helps your inmune system by keeping the mucous membranes that line your respiratory and digestive systems in good shape. It helps create antibodies to fight germs, it can also help your memory, as some tests on older people with high levels of riboflavin have shown that they obtain better results.
Riboflavin deficiency, does not cause any particular disease. But it can cause inflammation of the membranes of the eyes, the mouth, the skin, and the gastrointestinal tract. It can also cause sensitivity to light, and cracks on the side of the mouth.
The RDA for Riboflavin is just under 2 mg a day.
It can be found in good quantities in whole grains, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, almonds, soybeans and dairy products.
Ultraviolet light and other forms of irradiation including visible light will destroy riboflavin, so remember not to leave your fruit out in the sun to dry or use glass bottles for your milk, as there will be no riboflavin left there.
Athletes, Diabetics, Pregnant and breatfeeding women and elderly people should take additional riboflavin supplements, as they will normally be needing more in the case of the first or not absorbing enough through their daily diet.
These can be taken easily with B vitamin complex supplements, that include the RDA for all of these, or in as in riboflavin capsules. The only side effect produces by riboflavin is the turning of your urine to bright yellow.
Thiamin or Vitamin B1 was first discovered in Japan in the early 1900s, it was the first water soluble vitamin, and second vitamin after Vitamin A. It was first synthesized in 1936.
Why you need thiamin (Vitamin B1)
Thiamin is considered a team player within the group of B vitamins, it is not one of the stars of the group, and you dont often hear too much about it. But as an important member of the group Thiamin plays a key role in the metabolism of energy in all cells. Thiamin helps transform energy by converting pyruvate to acetyl-coenzyme A, this is a fundamental step in production of cellar energy from carbohydrates, and without thiamin you cant make the enzyme, and without the enzyme the whole process stops leaving you without energy.
Vitamin is also needed to power your barin and nervous system. Our brain needs glucose, (type of sugar made from carbohydrates we eat). Thiamin helps our brain and nervous system with the absorb scion of glucose, keeping us energetic and responsive, without it we start to loose memory, feel depressed, tired or apathetic.
Thiamin is also important for our muscles, keeping them elastic, which is very important for a good heart beat.
The RDA for vitamin B1, thiamin is very low being only 1.5 mg for men between 15-50 and 1.1 for women in the same age. With a fairly normal diet it is hard to be deficient in thiamin, but there is an exception to this: Alcohol abuse.
Thiamin deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies of all in our modern world due to alcoholism. The reason for this starts with the diet. Alcoholics tend to have inadequate food intakes, receiving poor vitamin intakes. Alcohol also impairs the absorption of thiamin, wile ingrains excretion of thiamin.
Tannins in tea and coffee can oxidize thiamin, reducing the availability of thiamin in the diet, as well as eating a lot of raw fish and shellfish which destroy thiamin.
Eating your vitamin b1
Thiamin can be found in lots of different foods, specially whole grains, only highly refined foods lack thiamin. Borwn rice and bagels are a good source of thiamin, as well as pork products and other healthy foods like soy milk, acorn squash, pistachio nuts, fortified foods, green peas, watermelon, oranges, raisings,asparagus, cauliflower, potatoes and oatmeal. so as you can see even someone just eating burgers should get enough thiamin a day.