Chapter 8

Question 1

Made mostly of calcium and phosphorous forming the structure of bones and so provide the architecture of the skeleton.

Answer 1

Crystals

Question 2

Naturally occurring, inorganic, homogeneous substances; chemical elements. Critical to living tissue.

Answer 2

Minerals

Question 3

When you run a magnet through a pile of calcium and phosphorous, you pick up this. As part of hemoglobin, these atoms are able to attach to oxygen and make it available at the sited inside the cells where metabolic work is taking place.

Answer 3

Iron

Question 4

If you then extract all the other minerals from the pile, leaving on this and iodine, you’ll want to close the windows first. A slight breeze would blow these remaining bits of dust away. Yet this in the dust enables iron to hold and release oxygen.

Answer 4

copper

Question 5

The critical mineral in the thyroid hormones.

Answer 5

iodine

Question 6

Essential mineral nutrients required in the adult diet in amounts greater than 100 milligrams per day. Also called macrominerals. Include: Calcium, Phosphorous, Potassium, Sulfur, Sodium, Chloride, and Magnesium. Doesn’t mean these are more important than trace minerals. These are just simply present in larger quantities in the body and are needed in greater amounts in the diet.

Answer 6

major minerals

Question 7

Essential mineral nutrients required in the adult diet in amounts less than 100 milligrams per day. Also called microminerals. Include: Iron, Zinc, Copper, Iodine, Manganese, and Selenium, Fluoride, and Chromium.

Answer 7

trace minerals

Question 8

Major and trace minerals all perform critical functions– some apart of these, which help distribute the body’s water; others form the bones and teeth, which lend structure to the body; and still others are cofactors which act, much as the vitamin coenzymes do, to enable enzymes to do their jobs.

Answer 8

salts

Question 9

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans committee names four minerals as shortfall nutrients—most people’s intakes are too low:

Answer 9

• Potassium
• Calcium
• Iodine (for pregnant women)
• Iron (for pregnant women, breastfed infants, adolescents, and women before menopause)

Question 10

Of the shortfall minerals, what 2 are also named as nutrients of public health concern because of their underconsumption has been convincingly linked with chronic diseases?

Answer 10

• Calcium and potassium

Question 11

What mineral stands out as being overconsumed by most people?

Answer 11

-Sodium

Question 12

Most indispensable nutrient of all. Body needs it each day more than any other nutrient. Can only survive a few days without this. In less than a day, a lack of this compromises the body’s chemistry and metabolism. Some is incorporated into the chemical structures of compounds that form cells, tissues, and organs of the body. Participates actively in many chemical reactions. Makes up about 60% of an adults body weight– that’s almost 80 pounds of water in a 130-pound person.

Answer 12

Water

Question 13

What parts of the body contains a great deal of water?

Answer 13

• Soft tissues
• Brain and muscles (75-80%)
• Bones (25%)

Question 14

What holds water molecules within them, water that is locked in and not ready available for any other use?

Answer 14

Proteins

Question 15

What are the reasons water is indespensable?

Answer 15

• Transport nutrients throughout the body
• Serves as the solvent for minerals, vitamins, amino acids, glucose, and other small molecules
• Participates in many chemical reactions
• Cleanses tissues and blood of wastes
• Acts as a lubricant, cushion, and shock absorber for spinal cord and around joints and organs
• Regulate body temperature

Question 16

A substance that dissolves another and holds it in solution.

Answer 16

solvent

Question 17

Water is a cleansing agent. Small molecules, such as the nitrogen wastes generated during protein metabolism, dissolve in the watery blood and then are removed before they build up to toxic concentrations. What organ filter these wastes from the blood and excrete them, mixed with water, as urine.

Answer 17

Kidneys

Question 18

When the kidneys become diseased, as can happen in diabetes and other disorders, toxins can build to life-threatening levels. This is when what must b employed; the person’s blood is routed, a little at a time, through a machine that removes the wastes the returns the cleansed blood to the body. In other words, a medical treatment for failing kidneys in which a person’s blood is circulated through a machine that filters out toxins and wastes and returns cleansed blood to the body. More properly called hemodialysis, meaning “dialysis of the blood.”

Answer 18

Kidney dialysis

Question 19

What is the major organ through which water is lost from the body? Lesser amounts are lost by way of exhaled breath and the feces.

Answer 19

Skin

Question 20

Because the body loses some water every day, a person must consume at least the same amount to avoid life-threatening losses—that is, to maintain this. The balance between water intake and water excretion, which keeps the body’s water content constant.

Answer 20

water balance

Question 21

Water imbalances include:(2)

Answer 21

• dehydration
• water intoxication

Question 22

Loss of water. The symptoms progress rapidly, from thirst to weakness to exhaustion and delirium, and end in death.

Answer 22

Dehydration

Question 23

A dangerous dilution of the body’s fluids resulting from excessive ingestion of plain water. Symptoms are headache, muscular weakness, mental confusion, seizures, and coma; fatalities can occur.

Answer 23

water intoxication

Question 24

What 2 things govern water intake?

Answer 24

Thirst and satiety

Question 25

Learn:
Thirst and satiety govern water intake. When the blood is too concentrated (having lost water but not salt and other dissolved substances), the molecules and particles in the blood attract water out of the salivary glands, and the mouth becomes dry. Water is also drawn from the body’s cells, causing them to collapse a little. Blood becomes more concentrated and blood pressure falls.

Question 26

The brain center that responds to low cellular fluid, concentrated blood particles, and low blood pressure by initiating nerve impulses to the brain that register as “thirst.” Also, this signals the pituitary gland o release a hormone that directs the kidneys to shift water back into the bloodstream from the fluid destined to become urine. (This is why, if you haven’t drunk enough water, your urine has a darker hue; with proper hydration, urine ranges in color from very pale yellow to deep amber.)

Answer 26

Hypothalamus

Question 27

Respond to the sodium concentration in the blood pacing through them by secreting regulatory substances of their own. The net result is that the more water the body needs, the less it excretes.

Answer 27

Kidneys

Question 28

Process of Dehydration:

Answer 28

1.) Thirst, signals that the body has already lost some fluid and the need to drink is immediate. But suppose a thirsty person is unable to obtain fluid or, as in many elderly people, fails to recognize the thirst message. Instead of “wasting” precious water in sweat, the dehydrated body diverts most of its water into..
2.) The blood vessels to maintain the life-supporting blood pressure. Meanwhile, body heat builds up because sweating has ceased, creating the possibility of serious consequences in hot weather.

Question 29

A word about caffeine: people who drink caffeinated beverages lose a little more fluid than when they drink water because caffeine acts as this. A compound, usually a medication, causing increased urinary water excretion; a “water pill.” The DRI committee concludes, however, that the mild effect of moderate caffeine intake does not lead to dehydration or keep people from meeting their fluid needs. Caffeinated beverages can therefore contribute to daily water intakes.

Answer 29

diuretic

Question 30

These conditions increase a person’s need for fluids:

Answer 30

• Alcohol consumption
• Cold weather and heated environment
• Dietary fiber
• Disease that disturb water balance (diabetes and kidney disease)
• Forced air environments - high altitudes (airplanes and sealed buildings)
• Increased protein, salt, or sugar intake
• Ketosis
• Medications (diuretics)
• Physical activity
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding
• Prolonged diarrhea, vomiting, or fever
• very young or old age

Question 31

Foods that are high in water contents: (2)

Answer 31

• broccoli and steak

Question 32

Drinks that are high in water contents:

Answer 32

• water
• Diet soft drinks
• Seltzer (unflavored)
• plain tea
  -fat-free milk
• 100% fruit and vegetable juices

Question 33

A small percentage of the day’s fluid is generated in the tissues themselves as energy-yielding nutrients release this as a product of chemical reactions. Water generated in the tissues during the chemical breakdown of the energy-yielding nutrients in foods.

Answer 33

metabolic water

Question 34

The cells cannot regulate the amount of water directly by pumping it in and out because water slips across membranes freely. The cells can, however, pump minerals across their membranes. The major minerals form these that dissolve in the body fluids; the cells direct where these go, and this determines where the fluids flow because water follows salt.

Answer 34

salts

Question 35

When minerals (or other) salts dissolve in water, they separate into single, electrically charged particles known as these. Electrically charged particles, such as sodium (positively charged) or chloride (negatively charged). (Common table salt, for example, is sodium chloride, or NaCl, and in water it separates to form a sodium ion, Na+, and a chloride ion,
Cl-.)

Answer 35

ions

Question 36

Unlike pure water, which conducts electricity poorly, ions dissolved in water carry electrical current; for this reason, these electrically charged ions are called these. Compounds that partly dissociate in water to form ions, such as the potassium ion (K+) and the chloride ion (Cl-). When dissolved particles, such as these, are present in unequal concentrations on either side of a water-permeable membrane, water flows toward the more concentrated side to equalize the concentrations.

Answer 36

electrolytes

Question 37

Job of these is to regulate water movement by pumping mineral across their membranes; water follows the minerals. Think of this as a sack made of water-permeable membrane. The sack is filled with watery fluid suspended in a dilute solution of salts and other dissolved particles. Water flows freely between the fluids inside and outside this but generally moves from the more dilute solution toward the more concentrated one.

Answer 37

Cells

Question 38

To control the flow of water, the body must spend energy moving its electrolytes from one compartment to another. Transport proteins form the pumps that move mineral ions across cell membranes. The result is this. It is the maintenance of the proper amounts and kinds of fluids and minerals in each compartment of the body. If this maintenance balance is disturbed, severe illness can develop quickly because fluid can shift rapidly from one compartment to another. For example, in vomiting or diarrhea, the loss of water from the digestive tract pulls fluid from between the cells in every part of the body. Fluid then leaves the cell interiors to restore balance. Meanwhile, the kidneys detect the water loss and attempt to retrieve water from the pool destined for excretion. To do this, they raise the sodium concentration outside the cells, and this pulls still more water out of them, resulting in this, a medical emergency. Water and Minerals lost in vomiting or diarrhea ultimately come from all the body’s cells. This loss disrupts the heartbeat and threatens life. It is a cause of death among those with eating disorders.

Answer 38

fluid and electrolyte balance

Question 39

The minerals help manage this other balancing act. Equilibrium between acid and base concentrations to maintain a proper pH in the body fluids. The pH of the body fluids. n pure water, a small percentage of water molecules (H2O) exists as positive (H+) and negative (OH-) ions, but they exist in equilibrium—the positive charges exactly equal the negatives. When dissolved in watery body fluids, some of the major minerals give rise to acids (H, or hydrogen, ions) and others to bases (OH ions). Excess H ions in a solution make it an acid; they lower the pH. Excess OH ions in a solution make it a base; they raise the pH. Maintenance of body fluids at a nearly constant pH is critical to life. Even slight changes in pH drastically change the structure and chemical functions of most biologically important molecules. The body’s proteins and some of its mineral salts help prevent changes in this of its fluids by serving as buffers (molecules that can help to keep the pH of a solution from changing by gathering or releasing H ions.) The kidneys help control the pH balance by excreting more or less acid (H ions). The lungs also help by excreting more or less carbon dioxide. (Dissolved in the blood, carbon dioxide forms an acid, carbonic acid.) This tight control of this balance permits all other life processes to continue.

Answer 39

Acid-Base Balance

Question 40

The most abundant mineral in the body. Critical to body functioning, but many adults, adolescents, and even some children do not consume enough of this in foods to meet the DRI for this major mineral. 99% of this in the body is stored in the bones and teeth.
Foods that include this are: sardines (with bones), milk, tofu, yogurt, cheddar cheese, turnip greens, waffle

Answer 40

Calcium

Question 41

Nearly all (99 percent) of the body’s calcium is stored in the bones and teeth, where it plays two important roles:

Answer 41

• It is an integral part of bone structure
• The skeleton serves as a bank that can release calcium to the body fluids if even the slightest drop in blood calcium concentration occurs.

Many people think that once deposited in bone, calcium stays there forever—that once a bone is built, it is inert, like a rock. Not so. The minerals of bones are in constant flux, with formation and dissolution taking place every minute of the day and night. Almost the entire adult human skeleton is remodeled every 10 years. In addition, bone cells release hormones that work with other organs to help regulate several body functions. The skeleton truly is a living body organ.

Question 42

What 2 major minerals are essential to bone formation?

Answer 42

-Calcium and phosphorous

Question 43

Calcium and phosphorus are both essential to bone formation: calcium phosphate salts crystallize on a rubbery foundation material composed of the protein collagen. These resulting crystals invade the collagen and gradually lend more and more rigidity to a youngster’s maturing bones until they are able to support the weight they will have to carry. If you could remove all of the minerals from bones, thereby eliminating these crystals, the remaining protein structures (mostly the protein collagen) would be so flexible that you could tie them in a knot. Teeth are formed in a similar way: these crystals form on a collagen matrix to create the dentin that gives strength to the teeth. The turnover of minerals in teeth is not as rapid as in bone, but some withdrawals and deposits do take place throughout life.

Answer 43

hydroxyapatite crystals

Question 44

The fluids that bathe and fill the cells contain the remaining 1 percent of the body’s calcium, a tiny amount that is vital to life. It plays these major roles:

Answer 44

• Regulates the transport of ions across cell membranes and is particularly important in nerve transmission.
• Helps maintain normal blood pressure.
• Plays an essential role in the clotting of blood.
• Is essential for muscle contraction and therefore for the heartbeat.
• Activates cellular enzymes that regulate many processes.

Because of its importance, blood calcium concentration is tightly controlled.

Question 45

The key to bone health lies in the body’s calcium balance, directed by a system of hormones and vitamin D. Cells need continuous access to calcium, so the body maintains a constant calcium concentration in the blood. The body is sensitive to an increased need for calcium but sends no signals to the conscious brain to indicate a calcium need. Instead, three organ systems quietly respond:

Answer 45

The intestines increase their absorption of calcium.

The kidneys prevent calcium loss in the urine.

The bones release more calcium into the blood.

The skeleton serves as a bank from which the blood can borrow and return calcium as needed. Thus, a person can go for years with an inadequate calcium intake and still maintain normal blood calcium—but at the expense of bone density. It follows that a normal result on a laboratory test for blood calcium does not signify an adequate body calcium status. Bone density must be tested directly.

Question 46

Calcium Absorption:
When the body needs more calcium, the intestinal lining can substantially increase its absorption. The result is obvious in the case of a pregnant woman, who doubles her absorption. Similarly, breastfed infants absorb about 60 percent of the calcium in breast milk. Children in puberty absorb almost 35 percent of the calcium they consume.

The body also absorbs and retains more calcium when habitual intakes are low. Deprived of the mineral for years, an adult may double the calcium absorbed; conversely, when supplied for years with abundant calcium, the same person may absorb only about one-third the normal amount. Despite these adjustments, increases in calcium absorption cannot fully compensate for reduced intakes. A person who suddenly cuts back on calcium is likely to lose calcium from the bones.

Bone Loss:
Some bone loss seems an inevitable consequence of aging. Sometime around age 30, the skeleton no longer adds significantly to bone density. After about age 40, regardless of calcium intake, bones begin to lose density. Those who regularly meet calcium, protein, and other nutrient needs and who perform bone-strengthening physical activity may slow down the loss. Table 8–6 lists nutrients that are critical to bone health and that work as a team to support it.

Question 47

Key bone vitamins:
Key bone minerals:
Key energy nutrient for bones:

Answer 47

• A, D, K, C
• Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium
• Protein

Question 48

A person who reaches adulthood with insufficient calcium stores is likely to develop the fragile bones of this. A reduction of the bone mass of older people in which the bones become porous and fragile

Answer 48

Osteoporosis (osteo means “bones”; poros means “porous”); also known as adult bone loss.

Question 49

Osteoporosis along with its forerunner, this, constitutes a major health problem for many older people. It’s a condition of low bone mass that often progresses to osteoporosis.

Answer 49

osteopenia

Question 50

To protect against bone loss, attention to calcium intakes during early life is crucial. Too few calcium-rich foods during the growing years may prevent a person from achieving this. The highest bone density attained by an individual; developed during the first three decades of life.

Answer 50

peak bone mass

Question 51

Typical U.S. diets often fall short of meeting calcium needs, and more than half of people in these groups take in too little:

Answer 51

Adolescent boys and girls

Women older than 50 years

Both men and women older than 70 years

Question 52

Second most abundant mineral in the body. More than 80% of this in the body is found combined with calcium in the crystals of the bones and teeth. The rest is everywhere. Critical for buffers (maintaining acid-base balance), part of DNA and RNA of every cell and thus is essential for growth and renewal of tissues. Carries, stores, and release energy during metabolism of energy nutrients. Act as cofactors, assisting many enzymes in extracting the energy from nutrients. Forms part of the molecules of the phospholipids that are the principal components of cell membranes. Present in some proteins. Consumption of this mineral is easily met by any diet, deficiencies are unlikely, and most US meets these minerals needs. Foods include: animal protein, anything with a lot of protein…cottage cheese, milk, navy beans, salmon, sirloin steak, sunflower seeds. Additives, such as modified starches used in gravies, prepared meals, creamy desserts, and other processed foods, and phosphates added to colas also contribute to this mineral in a diet. Excess of this though in the blood, is associated with indicators of heart and kidney disease.

Answer 52

Phosphorous

Question 53

Support functioning of immune system. Major mineral by virtue of its dietary requirement, but only about 1 ounce is present in the body of a 130-pound person, over half of it in the bones. Most of the rest is in the muscles, heart, liver, and other soft tissues, with only 1 percent in the body fluids. The body can tap the supply of this mineral in the bones to maintain a constant blood level whenever dietary intake falls too low. The kidneys can also act to conserve this. Serves as a cofactor for hundreds of enzymes, is needed for the release and use of energy from the energy-yielding nutrients. Is a necessary part of the cellular protein-making machinery. Is critical to normal nerve transmission, muscle contraction, and heart function. Eat the following: spinach, black beans, soy milk, bran cereal, sunflower seeds, yogurt

Answer 53

Magnesium

Question 54

Magnesium and calcium work together for proper functioning of:

Answer 54

MUSCLES:
Calcium: promotes contraction
Magnesium: helps relax the muscles afterward.
TEETH:
Magnesium: resist tooth decay by holding calcium in took enamel

Question 55

Magnesium Deficiency:
U.S. magnesium intakes generally fall below recommendations, and chronically low intakes are associated with diabetes, heart failure, hypertension, inflammation, and stroke. The Dietary Guidelines list magnesium among the shortfall nutrients for the U.S. population.

An acute magnesium deficiency may occur with alcoholism, prolonged diarrhea or vomiting, or severe malnutrition. It may also occur among people who take diuretics or other medications that cause excessive magnesium loss in the urine. Its symptoms include a low blood calcium level, muscle cramps, and seizures. Magnesium deficiency also impairs brain functioning and may cause hallucinations that can be mistaken for mental illness or drunkenness.

Question 56

Magnesium Toxicity
Accidental poisonings may occur in children with access to medicine chests and in older people who take too many magnesium-containing laxatives, antacids, and other medications. The symptoms can include diarrhea, acid–base imbalance, and dehydration.

Question 57

What forms of food are best magnesium sources? What foods are needed to be less consumed?

Answer 57

Magnesium is easily washed and peeled away from foods during processing, so LIGHTLY PROCESSED or UNPROCESSED foods are the best sources.

Reduce CHEESE

Question 58

The positive ion in the compound sodium chloride (table salt) and makes up 40 percent of its weight: a gram of salt contains 400 milligrams of this mineral. A major regulator of the body’s fluid and electrolyte balance system because it is the chief ion used to maintain the volume of fluid outside cells. Helps maintain acid-base balance and is essential to muscle contraction and nerve transmission. About 30 to 40 percent of this in the body is stored in association with the bones, where the body can draw on it to replenish the blood concentration.

Answer 58

Sodium

Question 59

Sodium Deficiency:
A deficiency of sodium would be harmful, but no known human diet lacks sodium. Most foods include more salt than is needed, and the body absorbs it freely. The kidneys filter the surplus out of the blood into the urine. They can also sensitively conserve sodium. In the rare event of a deficiency, they can return to the bloodstream the exact amount needed. Small sodium losses occur in sweat, but the amount of sodium excreted in a day equals the amount ingested that day.

Overly strict use of low-sodium diets can deplete the body of needed sodium, as can vomiting, diarrhea, or extremely heavy sweating. If blood sodium drops, body water is lost, and both water and sodium must be replenished to avert an emergency.

Intense activities, such as endurance events performed over several days or in hot, humid conditions, can cause sodium losses that reach dangerous levels. Athletes in such events can lose so much sodium in sweat and drink so much plain water that they overwhelm the body’s corrective actions and develop hyponatremia—the dangerous condition of having too little sodium in the blood.

Question 60

An abnormally low concentration of sodium in the blood. Athletes in such events can lose so much sodium in sweat and drink so much plain water that they overwhelm the body’s corrective actions and develop this.

Answer 60

hyponatremia

Question 61

How are Salt and “Water Weight” Related?
Blood sodium levels are well controlled. If blood sodium begins to rise, as it will after a person eats salted foods, a series of events trigger thirst and ensure that the person will drink water until the sodium-to-water ratio is restored. Then the kidneys excrete the extra water along with the extra sodium.

Dieters sometimes think that eating too much salt or drinking too much water will make them gain weight, but they do not gain fat, of course. They gain water, but a healthy body excretes this excess water immediately. Excess salt is excreted as soon as enough water is drunk to carry the salt out of the body. From this perspective, then, the way to keep body salt (and “water weight”) under control is to control salt intake and drink more, not less, water.

Question 62

The DRI set a CDRR (Disease Risk Reduction) for what mineral?

Answer 62

DRI: less than 2,300 mg a day
CDRR: Sodium (2,300 mg a day)

Question 63

How are Salt Intake and Hypertension Related?
Over time, a high-salt diet can damage and stiffen the linings of arteries, making hypertension likely. As chronic sodium intakes increase, blood pressure rises in a stepwise fashion—the higher the intake, the higher the pressure. Excess salt may also damage and enlarge the heart muscle, increasing its workload along with the risk of heart problems.

Too much salt can also aggravate kidney problems, and healthy kidneys play critical roles in regulating blood pressure. Once hypertension sets in, a sharp increase in the risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes occurs; meanwhile, kidney disease and hypertension snowball, each worsening the other. When blood pressure is brought down, heart and kidney problems often improve.

Genetic differences influence how readily people’s blood pressure responds to sodium intakes. These relationships are complex, but genes controlling the kidneys’ handling of sodium may be involved.

Question 64

To reduce this source, a sprinkle of a salt-free herb blend or this potassium-based substitute or even a squeeze of lemon juice can boost the salty flavor that people seek.

Answer 64

salt substitute

Question 65

A dietary pattern proven to help people to reduce their sodium intake and control blood pressure is this. This pattern calls for greatly increased intakes of POTASSIUM-rich fruits and vegetables, adequate amounts of nuts, fish, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products, while restricting intakes of processed foods, red meat, saturated fats, and sweets.
Remember that the recommendation is to limit SODIUM, not to eliminate it. Foods eaten without salt may seem less tasty at first, but with repetition, taste buds adjust, and the delicious natural flavors of unsalted foods and spices become the preferred tastes. It also limits sodium and red meat, and includes abundant fruit, legumes, and vegetables that provide a variety of fibers, phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals, each of which may influence blood pressure.

Answer 65

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)

Question 66

Outside the body’s cells, sodium is the principle positively charged ion. Inside the cells, this mineral takes the role of the principal positively charged ion. All intact living cells contain this mineral. Plays major role in maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance and cell integrity. During nerve impulse transmission and muscle contraction, this mineral and sodium briefly trade places across the cell membrane. The cell then quickly pumps them back into place. Controlling this mineral distribution is a high priority for the body because it affects many critical functions, including maintaining a steady heartbeat. Foods: bananas, spinach, cantaloupe, and almonds, orange juice, butternut squash, lima beans, wild salmon, whole baked potato, avocado

Answer 66

Potassium

Question 67

Potassium Deficiency:
Dehydration leads to a loss of potassium from inside cells, dangerous partly because of potassium’s role in maintaining regular heartbeats. Sudden deaths that occur with fasting, eating disorders, severe diarrhea, or severe malnutrition in children may be due to heart failure caused by potassium loss. Adults are warned not to take diuretics (water pills) that cause potassium loss or to give them to children except under a physician’s supervision. Physicians prescribing diuretics advise clients to eat potassium-rich foods to compensate for the losses.

Potassium Toxicity:
Potassium from foods is safe, but potassium injected into a vein can stop the heart. Potassium overdoses from supplements normally are not life-threatening because the kidneys excrete small excesses and large doses trigger vomiting to expel the substance. A person with a weak heart or kidneys, however, should not go through this trauma, and a baby may not be able to withstand it. Several infants have died when well-meaning parents overdosed them with potassium supplements.

Question 68

A major mineral that forms a deadly green gas. In the body, this plays important roles as the major negative ion. In the fluids outside the cells, it accompanies sodium and helps maintain the crucial fluid balances (acid-base and electrolyte balances). This as an ion plays a special role as part of hydrochloric acid, which maintains the strong acidity of the stomach necessary to digest protein. The principal food source of this is salt, both added and naturally occurring in foods, and no known diet lacks this mineral.

Answer 68

Chloride

Question 69

Is the oxidized form of sulfur as it exists in food and water. The body requires this mineral for synthesis of many important sulfur-containing compounds. Sulfur-containing amino acids play an important role in helping strands of protein assume their functional shapes. Skin, hair, and nails contain some of the body’s more rigid proteins, which have high sulfur contents. There is no recommended intake for this mineral, and deficiencies are unknown. Too much of this mineral in drinking water, either naturally occurring or from contamination, causes diarrhea and may damage the colon.

Answer 69

Sulfate

Question 70

Trace mineral but is indispensable to life. Once absorbed, this form of mineral that does the body’s work is the ionic form, iodide. This mineral must be available for thyroxine to be synthesized. Seafood is dependable food source, vegetables grown in iodine-rich soil, iodized salt, bakery products, milk. Little iodine is given from sea salt surprisingly.

Answer 70

Iodine

Question 71

A cofactor that works with the hormone thyroxine, made by the thyroid gland.

Answer 71

Iodide

Question 72

Regulates the body’s metabolic rate, temperature, reproduction, growth, heart functioning, and more.

Answer 72

Thyroxine

Question 73

What is the world’s major source of iodine?

Answer 73

ocean

Question 74

Iodine Deficiency:
The ocean is the world’s major source of iodine. In coastal areas, kelp, seafood, water, and even iodine-containing sea mist are dependable iodine sources. In many inland areas of the world, however, misery caused by iodine deficiency is all too common. In iodine deficiency, the cells of the thyroid gland enlarge in an attempt to trap as many particles of iodine as possible. Sometimes the gland enlarges to the point of making a visible lump in the neck, a goiter. People with iodine deficiency this severe may feel cold, may become sluggish and forgetful, and may gain weight. Iodine deficiency takes its toll on many people of the world, including hundreds of millions of school-aged children. This is a huge number but one that reflects significant improvement over past decades, thanks to programs that provide iodized salt to iodine-deficient areas.

Question 75

Enlargement of the thyroid gland due to an iodine deficiency.

Answer 75

goiter

Question 76

Iodine deficiency during pregnancy causes fetal death, reduced infant survival, and extreme and irreversible intellectual disabilities and physical stunting in infants, known as this. It constitutes one of the world’s most common and preventable causes of intellectual disabilities. Much of this misery can be averted if the woman’s deficiency is detected and treated within the first 6 months of pregnancy, but if treatment comes too late or not at all, the child’s IQ and other developmental indicators are likely to be substantially below normal. Children with even a mild iodine deficiency typically have goiters and may perform poorly in school; treatment with iodine relieves the deficiency.

Answer 76

cretinism

Question 77

What three minerals are deadly poison in large amounts?

Answer 77

• chlorine
• fluorine
• iodine

Question 78

Every living cell, whether plant or animal, contains this trace mineral. Most of this in the body is a component of two proteins: hemoglobin in red blood cells and myoglobin in muscle cells. This in hemoglobin in the red blood cells carries oxygen from the lungs to tissues throughout the body. This in myoglobin holds and stores oxygen in the muscles for their use. All the body’s cells need oxygen to combine with the carbon and hydrogen atoms released from energy nutrients during their metabolism. This generates carbon dioxide and water, which exit the cells; thus, body tissues constantly need fresh oxygen to keep the cells cleansed and functioning. As cells use up their oxygen, this (in hemoglobin) shuttles fresh oxygen into the tissues from the lungs. In addition to this major task, this mineral is part of dozens of enzymes, particularly those involved in energy metabolism. This mineral is also needed to make new cells, amino acids, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Bone marrow uses large quantities of this to make new red blood cells, which live only for about 4 months. When they die, the spleen and liver break them down, salvage their iron for recycling, and send it back to the bone marrow to be reused.

Answer 78

Iron

Question 79

Once in the body, iron is difficult to excrete:

Answer 79

The body does lose iron from the digestive tract, in nail and hair trimmings, and in shed skin cells—but only in tiny amounts. Bleeding, however, can cause significant iron loss from the body.

Special measures are needed to manage iron in the body. Left free, iron is a powerful oxidant that can increase oxidative stress and inflammation known to damage body tissues. To guard against iron’s renegade nature, its absorption is tightly regulated, and once absorbed, special proteins are needed to transport and store the body’s iron supply.

Question 80

In most well-fed people, only about 10 to 15 percent of iron in the diet is absorbed. However, if the body’s iron supply is diminished or if the need for iron increases (say, during pregnancy), absorption can increase several-fold. The reverse is also true: absorption declines when dietary iron is abundant. This hormone, secreted by the liver, is an important regulator of blood iron. This hormone reduces iron absorption from the small intestine and also reduces iron release from body stores, thereby keeping the blood iron concentration from rising too high. When the body needs more iron, the liver curbs this hormone output, allowing greater absorption of iron from food in the intestine and greater release of stored iron into the blood.

Answer 80

hepcidin

Question 81

Iron occurs in two forms in foods:

Answer 81

• heme
• nonheme iron

Question 82

The iron-containing part of hemoglobin and myoglobin in meat, poultry, and fish.

Answer 82

heme

Question 83

In plants and also in meats. Dietary iron not associated with hemoglobin. The form affects absorption.

Answer 83

nonheme iron

Question 84

Meat, fish, and poultry also contain a peptide factor, sometimes called this, that promotes the absorption of nonheme iron from other foods.

Answer 84

MFP factor

Question 85

Greatly improves absorption of nonheme iron, tripling iron absorption from foods eaten in the same meal. The bit of this vitamin in dried fruit, strawberries, or watermelon helps absorb the nonheme iron in these foods. This including heme form of iron, meat, fish, and poultry (MFP) factor, enhance iron absorption.

Answer 85

Vitamin C

Question 86

In summary, these dietary factors hinder iron absorption:

Answer 86

• Nonheme form of iron
• Tea and coffee
• Calcium and phosphorus
• Phytates, tannins, and fiber

Question 87

Compounds in tea (especially black tea) and coffee that bind iron, the calcium and phosphorous in milk. Also denature proteins. Inhibit iron absorption along with phytates and iron overload.

Answer 87

Tannins

Question 88

Compounds present in plant foods (particularly whole grains) that bind iron and may prevent its absorption. Accompany fiber in lightly processed legumes and whole grain cereals.

Answer 88

phytates

Question 89

Ordinary black tea excels at reducing iron absorption—clinical dietitians advise people with this to drink it with their meals. For those who need more iron, the opposite advice applies—drink tea between meals, not with food. Thus, the amount of iron absorbed from a regular meal depends partly on the interaction between promoters and inhibitors.

Answer 89

iron overload

Question 90

If absorption cannot compensate for losses or low dietary intakes, then iron stores are used up, and this sets in.

Answer 90

iron deficiency

Question 91

Not one in the same with iron deficiency, though they often occur together. a form of anemia caused by a lack of iron and characterized by red blood cell shrinkage and color loss. Accompanying symptoms are weakness, apathy, headaches, pallor, intolerance to cold, and inability to pay attention. The blood’s lower concentration of its red pigment hemoglobin also explains the pale appearance of fair-skinned iron-deficient people and the paleness of the normally pink tongue and eyelid linings of those with darker skin.

Answer 91

iron-deficiency anemia

Question 92

“Too little blood.” A body severely deprived of iron becomes unable to make enough hemoglobin to fill new blood cells, and this results. Iron deficiency develops in stages, and the distinction between iron deficiency and this is a matter of degree. The condition of inadequate or impaired red blood cells; a reduced number or volume of red blood cells along with too little hemoglobin in the blood. The red blood cells may be immature and therefore too large or too small to function properly. Mental symptoms of this include, apathy, behavioral disturbances, clumsiness, hyperactivity, irritability, lack of appetite, learning disorders, lowered IQ, reduced physical work capacity, repetitive hand and foot movements, shortened attention span.

Answer 92

anemia

Question 93

Particularly those living in poverty (women and children). A craving and intentional consumption of nonfood substances. Include ice, chalk, starch, clay, soil. These items contribute no iron to the body, and clay, soil, or starch can form a glaze over the intestinal surface that reduces nutrient absorption, including iron absorption. Often resolves with treatment of iron deficiency.

Answer 93

pica

Question 94

Who is most susceptible to iron deficiency?

Answer 94

Women of childbearing age, pregnancy, infants, and toddlers, and adolescents, and obesity.

Question 95

Iron and Toxicity:
Iron is toxic in large amounts. Once absorbed inside the body, iron is difficult to excrete. A healthy body defends against excess iron by controlling its entry: the intestinal cells trap some of the iron and hold it within their boundaries. When they are shed, these cells carry out of the intestinal tract the excess iron that they collected during their brief lives.

In people with a genetic failure of systems that normally prevent iron overload, excess iron builds up in the tissues. Early symptoms include fatigue, mental depression, or abdominal pain; untreated, the condition can damage the liver, joints, or heart. Infections are also likely because excess iron can harm the immune system and bacteria thrive on iron-rich blood. People with the condition must monitor and limit their iron intakes and forgo supplemental iron.

Iron-containing supplements can easily cause accidental poisonings in young children. As few as five ordinary iron tablets have proved fatal in young children. Keep iron-containing supplements out of children’s reach.

Question 96

Feeling fatigued, weak, and apathetic does not necessarily mean that you need iron or other supplements. Three actions are called for:

Answer 96

Take an honest look at your diet.

Get some exercise.

If fatigue persists for more than a week or two after making simple changes, consult a physician for a diagnosis.

Question 97

Trace mineral, occurs in a very small quantity in the human body, but it occurs in every organ and tissue. It acts as a cofactor for more than 2,700 enzymes to: - Protect cell structures against damage from oxidation. - Synthesize parts of the cells’ genetic material. - Synthesize the heme of hemoglobin.

Also assists the pancreas with its digestive and insulin functions and helps metabolize carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Besides helping enzymes to function, these minerals containing proteins associate with DNA and help regulate protein synthesis and cell division, functions critical to normal growth before and after birth. Also needed to produce the active form of vitamin A in visual pigments. Even mild deficiency of this can impair night vision. This mineral also affects behavior, learning, and mood. Assists in proper immune functioning. Is essential to wound healing, sperm production, taste and smell perception, normal metabolic rate, nerve and brain functioning, bone growth, normal development in children, and many other functions.

Answer 97

Zinc

Question 98

Problem: Too Little Zinc:
Zinc deficiency in human beings was first observed a half-century ago in children and adolescent boys in the Middle East who failed to grow and develop normally. Their native diets were typically low in animal protein and high in whole grains and beans; consequently, the diets were low in zinc and high in fiber and phytates, which bind zinc as well as iron. Furthermore, their bread was not leavened (“lightened” by yeast cells, which digest some carbohydrate components of the dough and leave behind bubbles of gas that make the bread rise.) (In leavened bread, yeast breaks down phytates as the bread rises.) Since that time, zinc deficiency has been identified as a substantial contributor to illness and death throughout the developing world.
Marginal declines in zinc status also cause widespread problems in pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood. Zinc deficiency alters digestive function profoundly and causes diarrhea, which accelerates the body’s losses, not only of zinc but of all nutrients. It drastically impairs the immune response, making infections likely. Infections of the intestinal tract then worsen the malnutrition and further increase susceptibility to infections—a classic cycle of malnutrition and disease. Zinc therapy often quickly reduces diarrhea and prevents death in malnourished children, but it can fail to restore healthy weight and height if the child returns to the nutrient-poor diet after treatment.

Although zinc deficiencies are not common in developed countries, they do occur among some groups, including pregnant women, young children, the elderly, and the poor. When pediatricians or other health workers note poor growth accompanied by poor appetite in children, they should think zinc.

Question 99

Problem: Too Much Zinc:
High doses of zinc inhibit iron absorption from the digestive tract. A blood protein that carries iron from the digestive tract to tissues also carries some zinc. If this protein is burdened with excess zinc, little or no room is left for iron to be picked up from the intestine. The opposite is also true: too much iron inhibits zinc absorption. Zinc from cold-relief lozenges and throat spray products appear to shorten the duration of a cold, but they can upset the stomach and they contribute supplemental zinc to the body.

Question 100

Trace mineral, works as a cofactor for many enzymes that, in concert with vitamin E, limits the formation of free radicals and prevents oxidative harm to cells and tissues. In addition, these mineral-containing enzymes are needed to assist the iodine-containing thyroid hormones that regulate metabolism. This of blood correlates with lower risks of developing certain cancers leading to speculation that a greater intake of this mineral from supplements might further oppose these cancers, but clinical trials refutes this idea. Toxicity brings on symptoms such as hair loss and brittle nails; diarrhea and fatigue; and bone, joint, and nerve abnormalities.

Answer 100

Selenium

Question 101

Trace mineral, is present in virtually all soils, water supplies, plants, and animals. It is valued in the diet because of its ability to inhibit the development of dental caries in children and adults. In developing bones and teeth, this mineral replaces the hydroxy portion of hydroxyapatite, forming fluorapatite (a crystal of bones and teeth, formed when fluoride displaces the “hydroxy” portion of hydroxyapatite. Fluorapatite resists being dissolved back into body fluid). During development, fluorapatite enlarges calcium crystals in bones and teeth, improving their resistance to demineralization. This mineral’s primary role is prevention of dental caries throughout life. Once teeth have erupted through the gums, this, particularly when applied to tooth surfaces, promotes the remineralization of early lesions of the enamel that might otherwise progress to form caries. Also, acts directly on the bacteria of plaque, suppressing their metabolism and reducing the amount of tooth-destroying acid they produce. Tooth decay is a common deficiency. Toxicity: Too much can damage the teeth and bones, causing fluorosis.

Answer 101

Fluoride

Question 102

Too much fluoride can damage the teeth and bones, causing this. Discoloration of the teeth due to ingestion of too much fluoride during tooth development. In mild cases, the teeth develop small white flecks; in severe cases, the enamel becomes pitted and permanently stained. Occurs only during tooth development and it is permanent, making its prevention during the first 3 years of life a high priority. In bones it makes them thick but weak and prone to fracture in later life. To limit fluoride ingestion, children should use just a pea-sized squeeze of toothpaste, and should be taught not to swallow it.

Answer 102

Fluorosis

Question 103

Sources of Fluoride:

Answer 103

Drinking water is the usual source of fluoride. More than 70 percent of the U.S. population has access to public water supplies with an optimal fluoride concentration. Fluoride is rarely present in bottled waters unless it was added at the source, as in bottled municipal tap water. Fluoride supplements should be used only on the advice of a physician.

Question 104

Essential trace mineral that acts as a cofactor for enzymes that mediate carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. This in foods is safe and essential to health. This as industrial is a toxic contaminant, a known carcinogen that damages the DNA. Helps regulate blood glucose by enhancing the activity of the hormone insulin, improving cellular uptake of glucose, and other actions. When this mineral is lacking, a diabetes-like condition can develop with elevated blood glucose and impaired glucose tolerance, insulin response, and glucagon response. Research results are mixed as to whether these as supplements might improve glucose or insulin responses in diabetes. Supplements cannot reduce body fat or improve muscle strength more than diet and exercise alone.

Answer 104

Chromium

Question 105

Trace mineral, plays vital roles as a cofactor for many enzymes. Among their tasks, these enzymes assist in the absorption and use of iron, and in synthesis of proteins such as hemoglobin and collagen. Another of these enzymes helps to control damage from free-radical activity in the tissues.

Answer 105

Copper

Question 106

Trace mineral, functions as part of several metal-containing enzymes, some of which are giant proteins.

Answer 106

Molybdenum

Question 107

Trace mineral, works with dozens of different enzymes that facilitate body processes and is widespread among whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, and nuts.

Answer 107

Manganese

Question 108

The weblike structure composed of calcium-containing crystals inside a bone’s solid outer shell. It provides strength and acts like a calcium storage bank. The lacy crystals of this bone are tapped to raise blood calcium when the supply from the day’s diet runs short, and are redeposited when dietary calcium is plentiful. Generously supplied with blood vessels, readily gives up its minerals at the necessary rate whenever blood calcium needs replenishing. Loss of this bone begins to be significant for men and women around age 30.

Answer 108

Trabecular bone

Question 109

The ivorylike outer bone layer that forms a shell surrounding trabecular bone and that comprises the shaft of a long bone. Forms a sturdy outer wall. The calcium of this bone fluctuates less. Calcium can be withdrawn but more slowly.

Answer 109

Cortical bone

Question 110

As bone loss continues, bone density declines. Soon, osteoporosis sets in, and bones become so fragile that the body’s weight can overburden the spine. Vertebrae may suddenly disintegrate and crush down, painfully pinching major nerves. Or they may compress into wedges, forming what is insensitively called this, the bent posture of many older men and women as they “grow shorter.”
Wrists may break as trabecula-rich bone ends weaken, and teeth may loosen or fall out as the trabecular bone of the jaw recedes. As the cortical bone shell weakens as well, one or both hips may break.

Answer 110

“dowager’s hump”

Question 111

A strong genetic component contributes to osteoporosis, bone density, and increased risk of fractures. Genes exert influence over:

Answer 111

The activities of bone-forming cells and bone-dismantling cells;

The cellular mechanisms that make collagen, a structural bone protein;

The body’s mechanisms for absorbing and employing vitamin D; and

Many other contributors to bone metabolism.

Genes set a tendency for strong or weak bones, but diet and other lifestyle choices influence the final outcome, and anyone with risk factors for osteoporosis should take actions to prevent it.

Gender: men have greater bone density with help of testosterone than women at maturity, and women often lose more bone mainly in menopause

Weight Loss: underweight or losing weight doubling risk of hip fractures. People with severe obesity may undergo surgery to help them lose weight, but such surgeries also cause loss of bone density and make bone fractures likely to occur.