Trace Mineral Nutrition
Trace minerals are the minerals you need in your diet in very small amounts. While seafood is a great source, minerals also are found in many other types of foods.
Nine trace minerals are known to be essential to humans. Although they are classified separately from the "major" minerals, trace minerals are by no means minor players in human nutrition. The four most well known trace minerals are iron, zinc, iodine and selenium. Along with copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum and fluoride, these minerals play various roles in the maintenance of good health and prevention of disease.
Iron
Most of the body's iron is found in the red blood cells, where its job is to carry oxygen from the lungs to every cell. The rest of your body's iron stores are used for metabolizing energy, making DNA and protecting cells from damage that can occur from natural chemical reactions in the body.
Foods that are high in iron include red meats, dark meat chicken, oysters, shrimp, tuna, enriched cereals and other grain products, legumes such as beans and lentils, cashews and tofu.
Zinc
Zinc helps facilitate growth and reproduction, plays an important role in immunity and helps regulate a variety of natural reactions in the body involving genes and hormones.
In the diet, zinc can be found in shellfish (especially oysters), red meats, dark meat poultry, dairy products, nuts and legumes.
Iodine
Iodine is essential to the synthesis of thyroid hormones, which in turn regulate several body processes including metabolism, cell growth and reproduction.
Iodine in the diet comes from seafood (including seaweed), milk, legumes, turkey and eggs.
Selenium
Selenium helps with protein production in the body, regulates hormones, assists in enzyme reactions that affect metabolism, growth and reproduction and helps other vitamins and minerals do their jobs as antioxidants to protect body cells from damage and destruction from natural and environmental causes.
Selenium is well distributed throughout the food supply, but the selenium content of plant foods varies greatly, depending on the selenium content of the soil in which they grow. Some of the best sources of selenium are fish and shellfish, whole wheat products, brown rice and nuts (especially Brazil nuts).
Other Trace Minerals
Copper helps the body use iron to make blood and, along with manganese and chromium, is necessary for energy metabolism. Molybdenum helps the body use other nutrients and get rid of the byproducts of metabolism. The only known need for fluoride is to protect teeth from decay.
These nutrients are found in whole grain products, nuts, seafood, meats, legumes, dairy products, fruits and vegetables. If you eat a balanced diet that includes a variety of foods, you will have no trouble getting enough of these trace minerals. Fluoride is also added to the water supply. All of these minerals are needed by the body in such small amounts that there's almost no chance of a dietary deficiency.
Supplements
Unless you are at risk of deficiency, individual mineral supplements are not recommended except on a doctor's advice because they can easily result in overload; at high levels, minerals can be toxic. If you feel you need minerals and are not getting enough in your diet, a multivitamin and mineral supplement with no more than 100% of the Daily Value (DV) for each nutrient should cover your needs. These types of multivitamin and mineral supplements also provide a healthy balance of nutrients that can aid in the absorption and use of trace minerals. For instance, they contain vitamin C, which helps move iron through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream.
Tags: body iron, growth reproduction, trace minerals, cells from, cells from damage