The Role of Minerals in Health

Practice vocabulary flashcards covering the roles, classifications, sources, and deficiency disorders of major and trace minerals based on Dr. Ana Carla Cepeda's lecture.

Essential Minerals

Dietary minerals that the human body cannot live without, many of which are required to activate enzymes performing critical bodily functions.

Major Minerals

A classification of essential minerals that are utilized and stored in large amounts in the body; includes calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and sulfur.

Trace Minerals

A classification of essential minerals required by the body in small quantities; includes chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc.

Sodium

An essential mineral requiring a minimum of $500\,\text{mg}$ daily to conduct nerve impulses, contract and relax muscles, and maintain fluid and mineral balance.

Chloride

The major anion of extracellular fluids that maintains fluid and electrolyte balance, regulates pH, stimulates stomach acid production, and aids the cellular exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Hyperchloremia

An excess concentration of chloride in the blood, often triggered by severe dehydration, resulting in muscle weakness, high blood pressure, and fatigue.

Table Salt

Salt extracted from underground deposits containing approximately $40\%$ sodium and $60\%$ chloride that is heavily processed to remove impurities and trace minerals.

Sea Salt

Salt produced by evaporating ocean or sea water, composed primarily of sodium chloride with variable trace minerals such as potassium, zinc, and iron, and potential oceanic impurities like lead.

Himalayan Pink Salt

Unrefined, large-crystal salt harvested from mines in Pakistan whose distinctive color is derived from iron oxide, containing trace amounts of iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

Potassium

The principal intracellular cation and electrolyte that regulates cellular fluid levels, maintains a regular heartbeat, aids muscle contraction, and promotes sodium excretion to lower blood pressure.

Acid-Ash Hypothesis

A hypothesis stating that high, long-term intake of protein and cereal grains produces low-grade metabolic acidosis via sulfate and phosphate content when counterbalancing potassium-rich foods are deficient.

Calcium

A major mineral necessary for building bones and teeth, activating enzymes, regulating blood pressure, muscle contraction, nerve signal transmission, and blood clotting.

Magnesium

A major mineral critical for hundreds of metabolic processes including protein synthesis and energy production, whose deficiency is linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

Iron

A trace mineral essential for synthesizing hemoglobin and myoglobin, activating enzymes, and manufacturing amino acids, collagen, neurotransmitters, and hormones.

Chromium

A trace mineral that helps maintain normal blood sugar levels and enables cells to extract energy from blood glucose.

Iodine

A trace mineral converted to iodide in the gastrointestinal tract and incorporated into thyroid hormones that control basal metabolic rate, body temperature, reproduction, and growth.

Goiter

An abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland in the neck caused by dietary iodine deficiency.

Zinc

A trace mineral essential for blood clotting, DNA and protein synthesis, wound healing, cell division, and immune function.

Manganese

A trace mineral that assists in bone formation and the metabolism of amino acids, cholesterol, and carbohydrates, with an AI of $1.8\,\text{mg/day}$ for women and $2.3\,\text{mg/day}$ for men.

Fluorapatite

A strong, decay-resistant mineral compound formed in teeth when fluoride replaces hydroxyl ions in hydroxyapatite crystals during mineralization.

Fluorosis

A condition characterized by mottling, discoloration, and pitting of the teeth resulting from excessive fluoride consumption during early childhood tooth development.

Molybdenum

A trace mineral that activates specific enzymes responsible for breaking down toxins and preventing the accumulation of harmful sulfites.