12 lines
979 B
Markdown
12 lines
979 B
Markdown
- Major minerals are essential mineral elements required in amounts of **100mg or more per day**
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# Trace Minerals
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- Trace minerals are essential mineral elements required in amounts that are **less than 100mg per day**
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- They still perform vital roles
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- Obtaining adequate amounts of them from food is difficult
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- **Iron** is the most important trace mineral
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- Iron has 4 major roles:
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1. **Oxygen transport** - Needed for production of hemoglobin (red blood cells), myoglobin (muscle cells), and cytochromes (most body cells)
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2. Cell division - Required by an enzyme needed for DNA production
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3. Immune system - Needed for production of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). Enables neutrophils (another type of white blood cell) to destroy bacteria
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4. Nervous system - Needed to help maintain the myelin sheath that covers parts of certain nerve cells, needed for the production of neurotransmitters (eg, dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine that regulate br) |