Mighty Minerals

 Mighty Minerals & Food: Part-1

When You May Need More than the RDA If your diet provides enough minerals to meet the RDAs, youfre in pretty good shape most of the time. But a restrictive diet, the circumstances of your reproductive life, and just plain getting older can increase your need for minerals.

American savvy and technology rode to the rescue in 1924 with the introduction of iodized salt. Then came refrigerated railroad cars and trucks to carry food from both coasts to every inland city and state. Together, modern salt and efficient shipment virtually eliminated goiter, the iodine deficiency disease, in this country. Youfre a man, Just as women lose iron during menstrual bleeding, men lose zinc at ejaculation. Men who are extremely active sexually may need extra zinc. The trouble is, no one has ever written down standards for what constitutes gextremely active. h Check this one out with your doctor.

The iron in iron supplements comes in several different forms, each one composed of elemental iron (the kind of iron your body actually uses) coupled with an organic acid that makes the iron easy to absorb. The iron compounds commonly found in iron supplements are Ferrous gluconate (iron plus a sugar derivative) Ferrous lactate (iron plus lactic acid, an acid formed in the fermentation of milk)Ferrous sulfate (iron plus a sulfuric acid derivative).
In your stomach, these compounds dissolve at different rates, yielding different amounts of elemental iron. So supplement labels list the compound and the amount of elemental iron it provides, like this: Ferrous gluconate 300 milligrams Elemental iron 34 milligrams This tells you that the supplement has 300 milligrams of the iron compound ferrous gluconate, which gives you 34 milligrams of usable elemental iron.

Youfre a strict vegetarian Vegetarians who pass up fish, meat, and poultry must get their iron either from fortified grain products such as breakfast cereals or commercial breads or naturally from foods such as seeds, nuts, blackstrap molasses, raisins, prune juice, potato skins, green leafy vegetables, tofu, miso, or brewerfs yeast. Because iron in plant foods is bound into compounds that are difficult for the human body to absorb, iron supplements are pretty much standard fare. vegetarians who avoid all foods from animals, including dairy products. have a similar problem getting the calcium they need Good food choices are soybean milk fortified with calcium, orange juice with added calcium, and tofu processed with calcium sulfate. You live inland, away from the ocean Now herefs a story of 20th-century nutritional success. Seafood and plants grown near or in the ocean are exposed to iodine-rich seawater. Freshwater fish, plants grown far from the sea, and the animals that feed on these fish and plants are not exposed to iodine. So people who live inland and get all their food from local gardens and farms cannot get the iodine they need from food. Caution: Interaction ahead Some minerals interact with other minerals or with medical drugs. For example, calcium binds tetracycline antibiotics into compounds your body canft break apart so that the antibiotic moves out of your digestive tract, unabsorbed Thatfs why your doctor warns you off milk and dairy products when youfre taking this medicine. For more about interactions between minerals and medicines. Read More...