Summary of Chapter 9 – Water and the Minerals



Summary of Chapter 9 – Water and the Minerals

Water makes up about 60 percent of the body’s weight. Water helps transport nutrients and waste products throughout the body, participates in metabolic reactions, acts as a solvent, assists in maintaining blood pressure and body temperature, acts as a lubricant and cushion around joints, and serves as a shock absorber. To maintain water balance, intake from liquids, foods, and metabolism must equal losses from kidneys, skin, lungs, and feces. Electrolytes help maintain the appropriate distribution of body fluids and help to maintain acid-base balance as well.

All of the major minerals influence the body’s fluid balance, but sodium, chloride, and potassium are most noted for this role. Excess sodium in the diet contributes to high blood pressure. Most of the body’s calcium is in the bones, where it provides a rigid structure and a reservoir of calcium for the blood.

The body requires trace minerals in tiny amounts, and they function in similar ways—assisting enzymes all over the body. Eating a diet that consists of a variety of foods is the best way to ensure an adequate intake of these important nutrients. Many dietary factors, including the trace minerals themselves, affect the absorption and availability of these nutrients.

|Mineral Name |Chief Functions |Deficiency Symptoms |Toxicity Symptoms |Significant Sources |

|Sodium |With chloride and potassium |Muscle cramps, mental |Hypertension |Salt, soy sauce, processed |

| |(electrolytes), maintains |apathy, loss of appetite | |foods |

| |cells’ normal fluid balance | | | |

| |and acid-base balance in the| | | |

| |body. Also critical to nerve| | | |

| |impulse transmission. | | | |

|Chloride |Part of the hydrochloric |Growth failure in children; |Normally harmless (the gas |Salt, soy sauce; moderate |

| |acid found in the stomach |muscle cramps, mental |chlorine is a poison but |quantities in whole, |

| |and necessary for proper |apathy, loss of appetite; |evaporates from water); can |unprocessed foods, large |

| |digestion. |can cause death (uncommon). |cause vomiting. |amounts in processed foods |

|Potassium |Facilitates reactions, |Deficiency accompanies |Causes muscular weakness; |All whole foods: meats, |

| |including the making of |dehydration; causes muscular|triggers vomiting; if given |milk, fruits, vegetables, |

| |protein; the maintenance of |weakness, paralysis, and |into a vein, can stop the |grains, legumes |

| |fluid and electrolyte |confusion; can cause death. |heart. | |

| |balance; the support of cell| | | |

| |integrity; the transmission | | | |

| |of nerve impulses; and the | | | |

| |contraction of muscles, | | | |

| |including the heart. | | | |

|Calcium |The principal mineral of |Stunted growth in children; |Constipation; increased risk|Milk and milk products, |

| |bones and teeth. Also acts |adult bone loss |of urinary stone formation |oysters, small fish (with |

| |in normal muscle contraction|(osteoporosis) |and kidney dysfunction; |bones), tofu (bean curd), |

| |and relaxation, nerve | |interference with absorption|greens, legumes |

| |functioning, blood clotting,| |of other minerals. | |

| |blood pressure, and immune | | | |

| |defenses. | | | |

|Phosphorus |Important in cells’ genetic |Phosphorus deficiency |Excess phosphorus may cause |All animal tissues |

| |material, in cell membranes |unknown |calcium excretion. | |

| |as phospholipids, in energy | | | |

| |transfer, and in buffering | | | |

| |systems. | | | |

|Magnesium |Another factor involved in |Weakness; confusion; if |Large doses taken in the |Nuts, legumes, whole grains,|

| |bone mineralization, the |extreme, convulsions, |form of the laxative Epsom |dark green vegetables, |

| |building of protein, enzyme |bizarre movements |salts cause diarrhea. |seafoods, chocolate, cocoa |

| |action, normal muscular |(especially of eyes and | | |

| |contraction, transmission of|face), hallucinations, and | | |

| |nerve impulses, and |difficulty in swallowing. In| | |

| |maintenance of teeth. |children, growth failure. | | |

|Sulfur |A component of certain amino|None known; protein |Would occur only if sulfur |All protein-containing foods|

| |acids; part of the vitamins |deficiency would occur |amino acids were eaten in | |

| |biotin and thiamin and the |first. |excess; this (in animals) | |

| |hormone insulin; combines | |depresses growth. | |

| |with toxic substances to | | | |

| |form harmless compounds; | | | |

| |stabilizes protein shape by | | | |

| |forming sulfur-sulfur | | | |

| |bridges. | | | |

|Mineral Name |Chief Functions |Deficiency Symptoms |Toxicity Symptoms |Significant Sources |

|Iron |Part of the protein |Anemia: weakness, pallor, |Iron overload: infections, |Red meats, fish, poultry, |

| |hemoglobin, which carries |headaches, reduced work |liver injury, possible |shellfish, eggs, legumes, |

| |oxygen in the blood; part of|productivity, inability to |increased risk of heart |dried fruits |

| |the protein myoglobin in |concentrate, impaired |attack, acidosis, bloody | |

| |muscles, which makes oxygen |cognitive function |stools, shock | |

| |available for muscle |(children), lowered cold | | |

| |contraction; necessary for |tolerance | | |

| |the utilization of energy. | | | |

|Zinc |Part of the hormone insulin |Growth failure in children, |Fever, nausea, vomiting, |Protein-containing foods: |

| |and many enzymes; involved |sexual retardation, loss of |diarrhea, muscle |meats, fish, shellfish, |

| |in making genetic material |taste, poor wound healing, |incoordination, dizziness, |poultry, grains, vegetables |

| |and proteins, immune |eye lesions leading to |anemia, accelerated | |

| |reactions, transport of |impaired dark adaptation |atherosclerosis, kidney | |

| |vitamin A, taste perception,| |failure | |

| |wound healing, the making of| | | |

| |sperm, and normal fetal | | | |

| |development. | | | |

|Selenium |Assists a group of enzymes |Predisposition to heart |Nausea, abdominal pain, nail|Seafoods, organ meats, other|

| |that break down reactive |disease characterized by |and hair changes, nerve |meats, whole grains and |

| |chemicals that harm cells. |cardiac tissue becoming |damage |vegetables depending on soil|

| | |fibrous (uncommon) | |content |

|Iodine |A component of two thyroid |Goiter, cretinism |Depressed thyroid activity; |Iodized salt; seafood; |

| |hormones, which help to | |goiter-like thyroid |bread; plants grown in most |

| |regulate growth, | |enlargement |parts of the country and |

| |development, and metabolic | | |animals fed those plants. |

| |rate. | | | |

|Copper |Necessary for the absorption|Anemia, bone abnormalities |Vomiting, diarrhea, liver |Organ meats, seafood, nuts, |

| |and use of iron in the |(rare in human beings) |damage |seeds, whole grains, |

| |formation of hemoglobin; | | |drinking water |

| |part of several enzymes. | | | |

|Manganese |Facilitator, with enzymes, |(In experimental animals): |Nervous system disorders |Widely distributed in foods |

| |of many cell processes. |poor growth, nervous system | | |

| | |disorders, reproductive | | |

| | |abnormalities | | |

|Fluoride |An element involved in the |Susceptibility to tooth |Fluorosis (discoloration of |Drinking water (if fluoride |

| |formation of bones and |decay |teeth), nausea, diarrhea, |containing or fluoridated), |

| |teeth; helps to make teeth | |chest pain, itching, |tea, seafood |

| |resistant to decay. | |vomiting | |

|Chromium |Associated with insulin and |Diabetes-like condition |None reported |Meat, unrefined foods |

| |required for the release of |marked by an inability to | | |

| |energy from glucose. |use glucose normally | | |

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