Minerals Flashcards
What are minerals?
Minerals are essential nutrients that your body needs but can’t produce. Minerals are inorganic elements that come from the soil and water. Plants absorb them and animals eat them.
What is calcium?
Calcium is a mineral that helps make up bones and teeth, as well as keep them strong. Bones and teeth contain 99% of the body’s calcium.
When the diet lacks calcium, the body steals the calcium it needs from bones and teeth. This is a zero sum game that leaves bones and teeth fragile and prone to damage
Where to get calcium?
From kale, broccoli or primarily dairy
What is calcium carbonate
It’s poorly absorbed (we only absorb 20% of it) but it has the highest concentration of calcium (40%) it’s the most common.
It’s best to be taken with a meal cuz it requires the production of stomach acid to be absorbed. Preferably with a low iron meal
What is calcium citrate
It’s well absorbed and don’t have to be taken with meals . It does have less percentage of calcium in the product(elemental calcium) than calcium carbonate
Calcium phosphate
Comes from cows milk. It’s least likely to cause constipation, but it has a small % of elemental calcium per tablet, so u gotta take a lot of pills.
What is magnesium
It’s a mineral found in green, leafy vegetables, nuts and beans. Most magnesium (60%) is in our bones, the other 40% is all over. Every cell in our body contains it.
50% of Americans and Europeans don’t get enough magnesium in their diet
FDA recommendation is 400 MG daily
Who is likely to be magnesium deficient ?
People with alcohol issues
Older people
People with kidney disease
People who are on antibiotics for cancer and diabetes
Magnesium benefits
Helps with relaxing muscles and helps with leg cramps and other cramps
Helps calm your nervous system, cuz it helps regulate neurotransmitters (and those send messages throughout your brain and nervous system)
Helps convert food into energy
It’s important for bone formation. It helps assimilate calcium into the bones.
Plays a key role in activating vitamin D in the kidneys
Without taking magnesium a high intake of calcium can increase the risk of artieries calcifying and cardiovascular disease, plus kidney stones.
So try and not take one without the other
It’s good for insulin function
Warnings someone may be magnesium deficient
Chronic headaches or migraines
Muscle cramps or spasms
Eye twitches
Magnesium and anxiety depression benefit
Magnesium deficiencies causes an up regulation of the HPA axis, which lead to anxiety like behavior in mice. The HPA axis is responsible for helping to produce cortisol(which is a stress hormone)
And in increase in cortisol leads to increased feelings of anxiety and stress.
As part of the hordaland health study, researchers found this to be true too. It was also confirmed that magnesium deficiency was associated with reduced serotonin levels
What is zinc?
Zinc is needed for the body’s defensive immune system to properly work.
During pregnancy, and infancy the body needs zinc to grow properly
Sources of zinc
Animal proteins
Beef
Pork
Lamb
Fruit/veggies tend to be low in zinc. Therefore, low protein and vegetarian diets are usually low in zinc
Symptoms of zinc deficiency
Frequent infections Loss of hair Poor appetite Slow growth Humans that take a while to heal Bad sense of taste and smell
What is iron?
Iron is a mineral that is needed to make some of our blood cells.
