All About Minerals - What do they do?

Earlier today I was in a Shoppers Drug Mart on Yonge Street in Toronto and I was buying vitamin pills because I was starting to run low.

The pills I purchased had higher dosages of various vitamins, which is a good thing because I lead a pretty active lifestyle. But it also had a long list of minerals in it too.

Now most people know what calcium does (stronger bones) and perhaps also knows what iron does (increases cardiovascular circulation), but a lot of the other minerals I can bet most people don't know what they do.

So as you can see below I've gone ahead and added little explanations for what the various minerals actually do for your body.

Calcium - Strong bones and teeth, nerve function, muscle contraction, blood clotting.

Chromium - Associated with insulin and is required for the release of energy from glucose (converting sugar into energy).

Copper - Necessary for the absorption and utilization of iron, supports formation of hemoglobin and several enzymes.

Iodine - Helps regulate growth, development and metabolic rate.

Iron - Red blood cells and muscle function, white blood cells and the immune system.

Magnesium - Converting energy from food, cell repair, building strong bones, teeth and muscles and regulating body temperature.

Manganese - Facilitates many cell processes.

Molybdenum - Facilitates many cell processes.

Potassium - Maintains fluid and electrolyte balance, cell integrity, muscle contractions and nerve impulse transmission

Selenium - Antioxidant. Works with vitamin E to protect body from oxidation

Sodium - Maintains fluid and electrolyte balance, supports muscle contraction and nerve impulse transmissions

Vanadium - Used for treating diabetes and anemia and is great for improving performance in weight training; and helps prevent cancer.

Zinc - Immune system, the breakdown of protein, fat and carbohydrate, important part of enzymes.

So as you can see they're all pretty important. Thus having a shortage of several minerals in your diet can be a problem for your health and will harm your efforts to lose fat / gain muscle. When in doubt, best to make sure you have enough of everything you need.