Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, and Selenium

 Mighty Minerals & Food: Part-2

The average woman loses about 2 to 3 teaspoons of blood during each menstrual period, a loss of 1. Women whose periods are very heavy lose more blood and more iron. Because getting the iron you need from a diet providing fewer than 2,000 calories a day may be virtually impossible, you may develop a mild iron deficiency. Women who use an intrauterine device (IUD) may also be given a prescription for iron supplements because IUDs irritate the lining of the uterus and cause a small but significant loss of blood and iron The news about pregnancy is that women may not need extra calcium. This finding, released late in 1998, is so surprising that it probably pays to stay tuned for more. Animal studies suggest (but donft prove) that you may also need extra copper to protect nerve cells in the fetal brain. Nutritional supplements for pregnant women are specifically formulated to provide the extra nutrients they need.

Nursing mothers need extra calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, and selenium to protect their own bodies while producing nutritious breast milk. The same supplements that provide extra nutrients for pregnant women will meet a nursing motherfs needs. You think that was a hot flash?

At menopause, a womanfs production of estrogen drops precipitously, and her bones rapidly become less dense. As men age and their testosterone levels drop, theyfre also at risk of losing bone tissue, but the loss is less rapid and dramatic than a womanfs. Nutritionists once thought it impossible to reduce the age-related loss of bone density, believing that body ceased to absorb calcium after the mid-20s. Today, that is no longer the case. Regardless of gender, an increased consumption of calcium plus vitamin D appears to help. Not only does vitamin D increase the bodyfs absorption of calcium and protect bones. It may also protect the heart: In 2010, a team of researchers at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) announced that taking calcium supplements alone, without vitamin D, might increase the risk of heart attack Explaining the nature and functions of electrolytes.

The human body is mostly (50 to 70 percent) water. Exactly how much water your own human body contains depends on how much muscle and fat you have. Muscle tissue has more water than fat tissue, so, because the average male body has proportionately more muscle than the average female body, it also has more water. a young body has more water than an older one. You definitely wonft enjoy the experience, but if you have to, you can live without food for weeks at a time, obtaining subsistence levels of nutrients by digesting your own muscle and fat. Without it, youfll die in a matter of days. more quickly in a place warm enough to make you perspire and lose water more quickly. This chapter explains why water is so important and offers some pointers on how to keep your bodyfs water level level. Investigating the Many Ways, Your Body Uses Water, Water is a solvent.

Digest food, dissolving nutrients so that they can pass through the intestinal cell walls into your bloodstream, and move food along through your intestinal tract 2. Carry waste products out of your body 3. Provide a medium in which biochemical reactions, such as metabolism (digesting food, producing energy, and building tissue), occur 3. Send electrical messages between cells so that your muscles can move, your eyes can see, your brain can think, and so on 5. cooling your body with moisture (perspiration) that evaporates on your skin 6. Read More...