Calcium comes in many forms, and is a whitish substance which is a primary ingredient in things such as chalk, ivory, pearls, and bones. It is known as the fifth most common element in the earth's crust and is a primary mineral in the human body.....

Vitamins And Minerals

By: Matthew Hick

It's so hard. It's on your mind a lot, you want to lose weight. Argh, it's so hard.

When trying to decrease your weight, you usually think of what you should take out of your diet, but you don't have to decrease when it comes to fiber. If you simply add more fiber to your diet, you'll end up eating less because when fiber comes into contact with water, the stomach starts to swell and that's when you start to feel the fu....

Vitamins are different from the macro-molecular nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) that we take in from our diets on a daily basis. Vitamin molecules are much smaller in size and are required by our bodies in very small amounts. We obtain most of our required levels of vitamins from a well balanced diet and significant diseases related to true vitamin deficiencies are rare in our society.

What are minerals? Minerals are chemicals needed in small amounts by the body to perform various functions. The body cannot make them itself so we must get these minerals from the foods we eat. Why do we need them? Without minerals we would not be able to perform certain vital functions in the body. We need varying amounts of these minerals in order to maintain body functions and good health. Examples of common minerals we use are:

Minerals are considered necessary to the nutrition and function of the human body. They are iron, calcium, phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, sodium, magnesium, iodine, copper, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. Collectively they make up 4% to 5% of the body weight. There is enough lime (calcium) in an adult to whitewash a good size basement; enough phosphorus (2 pds) to keep a man in matches for a month; enough iron to make a large nail....

How do we know if we need to take a vitamin or mineral supplement? With all the conflicting information now available, it's more important than ever to sort the reliable information from the questionable. Despite the beliefs of those who take a handful of supplements every morning, there are relatively few supplements that are essential to good health, says Joan Pleuss, RD, MS, CDE, CD.

Apart from the Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen that makes up most of our bulk, our bodies contain many minerals, some in quantity and some that can only be measured in fractions of a part per million. A hundred years ago only ten of these minerals were regarded as 'essential' to life. By 1950 more, including Copper, Manganese, Zinc and Cobalt, were added to the list. Today more than half of the 78 minerals are known....