Mineral ultratrace elements

The essential mineral nutrients are classified either as principal elements or as trace and ultratrace elements. The distinction between these groups is the relative amounts ia the dietary requirement (see Table 1). 

Minerals The main mineral constituents in milk are calcium and chlorine, magnesium chloride, phosphate, and citrate. Minerals in milk are mainly present as soluble salts or in colloidal form associated with caseins. Their concentrations may vary enormously. Thus, the minerals present in milk can be classified according to their concentration level as major and minor elements, with small quantitative contributions from trace and ultratrace elements. The total content of minerals in mammalian milks should correspond to the growth requirements of each biological species. Accordingly, the mineral total content in cow milk is four times higher than in human milk. 

Source Reprinted with permission from F.H. Nielsen, The Ultratrace Elements, in Trace Minerals in Foods, K.T. Smith, ed., p. 385, 1988, by courtesy of Marcel Dekker, Inc. 

Nielsen, F.H. 1988. The ultratrace elements. In Trace minerals in foods, ed. K.T. Smith. New York Marcel Dekker. 

Some of the more recent publications about trace elements, trace minerals, or ultratrace elements or minerals, also described as micronutrients, include Micronutrients in Health and Disease Prevention, edited by Adrianne Bendich and C.E. Butterworth Trace Elements in Nutrition of Children, edited by Ranjit Kumar Chandra and Trace Elements, Micronutrients and Free Radicals, edited by Ivor E. Dreosti. The latter reference raises the important question of the undesirable health effects of the chemical agents called free radicals, and their control or eradication by such vitamins as E, C, and beta-carotene. There is a history of the health effects of trace elements going back to Henry A. Schroeder, who in the early 1970s wrote Trace Elements and Man Some Positive and Negative Aspects and also The Poisons Around Us Toxic Metals in Food, Air, and Water. Even further back there was Karl... 

First, it is interesting to note that a deficiency or excess of one element does not directly induce a particular symptom in cultivated or wild plants. In this respect, it is necessary to examine the macro, trace and ultratrace element transfer from the different polluted and unpolluted soils into the plant. Indicator plants must be easy to identify, grown worldwide, and indicate the mineral transfer to the food chain. On cultivated soils in many parts of the world, these conditions are met by wheat Triticum sativum), rye Secale cereale), and red clover Trifolium pratense sativum) of the field and meadow varieties (TrifoUum pratense spontaneum). The green plants were harvested when the rye was in blossom, the wheat shooting, the field red clover in bud, and the meadow red clover in blossom. 

The magmatic and sedimentary rocks contain highly different amounts of macro, trace and ultratrace elements, which after weathering of the rocks become components of the soil and of the soil waters. During weathering, the elements are released from the primary minerals and usually also fixed by organic matter. Thus, most of the macro, trace and ultratrace element contents are controlled by conditions of soil formation and the initial contents in the parent rocks. 

Anke M, Arnhold W, Muller R and Angelow L (2001a) Nutrients, macro, trace and ultratrace elements in the food chain of mouflons and their mineral status. Second Part Trace Elements. In Nahlik A and Uloth W, eds. Third International Symposium on Mouflon. pp. 243-261, Lover Print, Sopron Hungary. 

Three groups of essential mineral elements can be distinguished (Table 3.1). For convention and historical reasons, the elements are divided into macro, trace, and ultratrace elements. The animals requirement for macro elements is > 100 mg kg of food DM (dry matter), while that for trace and ultratrace... 

Factors which are important for the lowering of human health risks due to mineral deficiency and intoxication are the normative requirements of the macro, trace and ultratrace elements, recommendations for their intake, their apparent absorption and excretion rates, their interactions, tolerance limits for chemicals in food and water, and occupational health standards. 

Nielsen FH (1996) How should dietary guidance be given for mineral elements with beneficial actions or suspected of being essential RDA Workshop New Approaches, Endpoints and Paradigms for RDAs of Mineral Elements. Dietary Guidance for Ultratrace Elements. American Institute of Nutrition, 2377S-2385S. 

Trace elements, microelements elements required in very small quantities by living organisms. They act catalytically, or are components of catalytic systems. A elear distinction between T. e. and other mineral nutrients is not always possible, e.g. in the case of iron. A further classification into T. e. and ultratrace elements is sometimes used. 

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