What are the main functions of minerals in human body?

In the body, some minerals are put together in orderly arrays in such structures as bones and teeth. Minerals are also found in the fluids of the body, which influences fluid balance and distribution.

Only 16 minerals are known to be essential in human nutrition. The minerals can be classified as macrominerals and trace elements. Normal function of the human body requires both large (macro) and micro (trace) quantities of minerals.

Minerals play an important role in maintaining the immune system of our body and any deficiency reduces the responsiveness of the system making human more prone to illness an infection. Infections increase the rate of metabolism within the body and thus the rate of tissue, breakdown, which creates need for extra nutrients.

There are three major minerals most abundant and most needed in the human body for survival, and they are calcium, magnesium, and potassium. All minerals play a vital role but are needed in lesser quantities.
What are the main functions of minerals in human body?

Fat distribution in human body

The term fat distribution refers to the relative amounts of fat in the primary compartments where dispose tissue and fat are stored in the body.

Fat is present, in a higher or lesser degree in almost every anatomical compartment, inside parenchymatous organs, muscle and breasts and it is stored mainly in the omentum (intra-abdominal fat); this is the so-called ‘central’ fat and it is the most involved in metabolism variations, increasing in obesity and reducing in the case of weight loss.

There are some anatomical districts where adipose fat are present and these structures devoted to produce more protection in the regions of attrition: around kidneys, inside joint, underneath the breasts, deep in face, inside the hand, and over the os pubis. This fat almost no influence on body silhouette and a few on face traits.

In terms of fat percentage, males reach peak values during early adolescence and then show a decrease throughout adolescent growth, probably due to a rapid accumulation in lean body mass, whereas females, after an initial decline, show a continuous increase in fat percentage throughout their eighteenth year.

With aging, body fat in men slowly increases from 18% in those 18 to 25 years of age to 36% in those 65 to 85 years old; in women, a gradual increase from 33% to 45% is found in similar age groups.

Distribution of body fat is important in evaluating the risk of disease. Excess body fat around the abdomen is associated with higher disease risk than is excess fat around hips and thighs.
Fat distribution in human body

What are the general roles of vitamins in human body?

Vitamins are essential to life. Nutritionally, they form a cohesive group of organic compounds that are required in the diet in small amounts for the maintenance of normal health and metabolic integrity.

Many vitamins are the precursors of coenzymes involved in energy metabolism and protein or nucleic acid synthesis.

Besides being cofactors for enzymes some vitamins such as fat soluble vitamins A and D have been shown to exhibit hormone-like functions.

Thus, vitamin A and its metabolites retinaldehyde and retinoic acids are involved in the growth, differentiation and maintenance of epithelial tissues as well as for reproduction.

Several vitamins are essential for normal immune functions: fat soluble vitamins A and E and water soluble vitamins B12 and C.

In general vitamins roles are as follows:
*Antioxidants
*Gene transcription elements
*H+/e- donors/acceptors
*Hormones
*Coenzymes
What are the general roles of vitamins in human body?

Role of Sodium in Human Body

The human body contains approximately 1.3 g of sodium. About a third is found in our bones. The rest is our body fluids. It ensures a proper fluid and electrolyte or pH balance in our body, together with chlorine and potassium.

Sodium in the form of sodium chloride is ingested directly though food and many food materials contain this material.

Sodium helps our body retaining the body’s water and pH. It enables our cell walls to draw in nutrients. It plays a role in nerve function and muscle contraction. Sodium works in close association with chlorine and potassium.

Sodium also plays a special role in controlling the heartbeat by helping in its origin and maintenance.

Food sources of sodium including salt, smoked, pickled or refined foods, crisps, condiments such as tomato sauce, bread and breakfast cereals.

Many dieticians say that adding any salt to our food means we’re having too much in our diet. High levels of sodium in the body are associated with high blood pressure and hypertension.

Salt tablets may be recommended for dehydration and low blood pressure. Any active sport participation leads to a considerable loss of water.

Sufficient quantities of water should therefore be consumed during and after exercising. Drinking at least eight glasses of water a day will also reduce cravings for sweet and savory things.

Daily requirement is about 3-5 g for a normal adult. It is absorbed nearly completely from diet in the intestinal tract. Normally kidney excretes the excess if the sodium and deregulate the sodium content in the body.

Sodium deficiency results in muscle cramps. Headache. Poor appetite and dehydration, but the main sign is fatigue.
Role of Sodium in Human Body

Water distribution in the body

Water distribution in the body
Water accounts for approximately 60% of the total body mass in a normal adult, making it the most abundant constituent of the human body. In terms of volume, the total body water in a man of average weight (79kg) is roughly 40L. Water provides the medium for the solubilization and passage if a multitude of nutrients, both organic and inorganic, from the blood to the cells and the return of metabolic products to the blood. It also serves as the medium in which the vast number of intracellular metabolic reactions takes place.

Total body water can theoretically be compartmentalized into two major reservoirs, the intracellular compartment, which includes all water enclosed within cell membranes. Of the 40L of total body water, the intracellular and extracellular compartments account for about 25L and 15L respectively. The anatomic extracellular water is functionally subdivided into plasma, which is cell free, intravascular water compartment, and the interstitial fluid (ISF), which directly bathes the extravascular cells provides the medium for the passages of nutrients and metabolic products reciprocally form the blood to those cells.

The fraction of total body weight that is water and the percentage of total body water that is extracellular or intracellular do not remain constant during growth. When express as percentage of body weight, total body water decreases during gestation and early childhood, reaching adult values by about three years of age. During this time the extracellular water (expressed as a percentage of body weight) decreases while the intracellular water increases.
Water distribution in the body