Minerals

(The importance of minerals contained in the feed)

Minerals as well as vitamins, nutritional components are not synthesized by the body thus must be obtained from food.

They are found in animal and vegetable bodies dissolved in ionic form, in the form of crystals or associated molecules.

Perform several functions: structural, such as calcium, fluorine and phosphorus in the formation of bones and teeth; potassium and sodium in the regulation of nerve impulses, muscle contraction magnesium, enzyme activity and also on the composition of the chlorophyll molecule in plants; iron in hemoglobin composition, copper melanínica substance in the skin, and the balance of chlorine body fluids.

Minerals are grouped into two categories: macro minerals and trace minerals or macronutrients or micronutrients, depending on the amount / concentration required by the body.

Macrominerals (at a concentration equal to or greater than 100mg per day) → calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chlorine, magnesium and sulfur.
Trace elements (needed in small amounts) → iron, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, iodine, molybdenum, selenium, chromium and fluorine.

Of course, the foods containing the mineral salts in small concentrations conducive to the balanced intake. However, the industrial processing of foodstuffs just extracting these and other substances, nutritionally impoverishing our daily menu.

The overused and lack of organic food and some minerals can cause the onset of diseases, such as anemia, iron deficiency, tooth decay, fluoride deficiency, goiter, absence of iodine, muscle fatigue, lack of potassium, hypertension, by excess sodium.


Krukemberghe Fonseca
Graduated in Biology
Team Brazil School

Source: www.brasilescola.com