Major Minerals, Trace Minerals, and Water Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing major minerals, trace minerals, ultratrace minerals, iron absorption, and water balance concepts from the lecture notes.

Essential Trace Minerals

Nutrients required in daily human amounts of less than $100\,\text{milligrams}$, which play vital roles such as serving as enzyme cofactors, and include chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc.

Ultratrace Minerals

Minerals that are not currently classified as essential nutrients but may have important roles in the body, including arsenic, boron, nickel, silicon, and vanadium.

Fluoride

A trace mineral that plays important health roles in hardening tooth enamel and preventing dental caries, though it is not classified as an essential nutrient.

Chromium

An essential trace mineral that may enhance the action of insulin in maintaining blood glucose levels.

Copper

An essential trace mineral that acts as a component of certain enzymes with critical roles in energy metabolism, iron transport and storage, and antioxidant function.

Iodine

An essential trace mineral that is a component of thyroid hormones helping to regulate energy metabolism, with iodized salt providing the majority of intake in the United States.

Heme Iron

The predominant form of iron in the human body, found exclusively in animal foods (such as lean beef steak and sliced turkey breast), which is absorbed better than nonheme iron.

Nonheme Iron

The form of iron found in both plant and animal foods that constitutes the majority of dietary iron consumed, but is less efficiently absorbed by the body.

Iron Excretion Exemption

The unique characteristic of iron distinguishing it from other trace minerals, as it is the only trace mineral that cannot be excreted in the urine or bile.

Iron-Deficiency Anemia

The number one nutritional disorder worldwide and in the United States, caused by insufficient dietary intake, blood loss, or impaired absorption.

Selenium

An essential trace mineral that functions as a cofactor in enzyme systems and serves as a structural component of certain human proteins.

Zinc

An essential trace mineral required for the function of more body proteins than any other mineral, essential for all body processes, and shown to slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration.

Essential Minerals

Inorganic elements making up about $4\%$ of total body weight that exist as charged ions, function in enzymes and hormones, and are not destroyed by heat, light, cooking, or digestion.

Bioavailability of Minerals

The proportion of a mineral that is absorbed and utilized by the body, which can be influenced by dietary factors such as the presence of specific vitamins.

DASH Diet

A dietary pattern designed primarily to help control and manage high blood pressure.

Potassium

The primary intracellular electrolyte in the human body.

Calcium Homeostasis

The physiological mechanism regulating blood calcium levels, keeping them steady using calcium stored in bone and raising levels in response to parathyroid hormone release.

Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH)

A hormone released by the pituitary gland when blood volume decreases, which prompts the kidneys to conserve water and concentrate urine.

Hyponatremia

A condition characterized by low blood sodium levels and increased blood volume, producing symptoms such as nausea and confusion.

Daily Water Requirements

Fluid needs determined by daily losses via urine, respiration, perspiration, and feces, essential for regulating body temperature.