TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE        –         –         –         –         –         –         –         i

CERTIFICATION –         –         –         –         –         –         –         ii

DEDICATION      –         –         –         –         –         –         –         iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS       –         –         –         –         –         iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS –         –         –         –         –         –         v

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION       

1.0     Background Information –         –         –         –         –         –         1

CHAPTER TWO: MINERAL ELEMENTS

2.0 Overview of Mineral Elements – –         –         –         –         5

2.1     Essential Mineral Elements        –         –         –         –         –         7

2.2     Recommended Dietary Intake   –         –         –         –         –         8

2.3     Importance of Mineral Elements          –         –         –         –         9

2.4     Methods of Analysis for the Minerals  –         –         –         –         12

2.5     Factors Affecting the Concentration and Availability of

the Mineral Elements       –         –         –         –         –         –         14

2.6     Inter-Relationship and Interferences

Among the Mineral Elements    –         –         –         –         –         17

CHAPTER THREE: THE IMPORTANCE OF MINERAL ELEMENTS TO PLANTS AND ANIMALS

3.1     Calcium (Ca)         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         23

3.1.2  Phosphorus (P)      –         –         –         –         –         –         –         26

3.1.3  Sodium (Na)          –         –         –         –         –         –         –         29

3.1.4  Potassium (K)        –         –         –         –         –         –         –         31

3.1.5  Magnesium (Mg)   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         33

3.2     Cobalt (Co)  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         35

3.2.1  Copper (Cu) –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         37

3.2.2  Manganese (Mn)   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         40

3.2.3  Iron (Fe)      –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         43

3.2.4  Zinc (Zn)     –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         44

CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1     Summary     –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         46

4.2     Conclusion –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         47

            References

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0     Background of the Study

Minerals are inorganic substances, present in all body tissues and fluids and their presence is necessary for the maintenance of certain physicochemical processes which are essential to life. Minerals are chemical constituents used by the body in many ways. Although they yield no energy, they have important roles to play in many activities in the body (Malhotra, 1998).

Every form of living matter requires these inorganic elements or minerals for their normal life processes. Minerals may be broadly classified as macro (major) and micro (trace) elements. The third category is the ultra trace elements (Eruvbetine, 2003).

The macro-minerals include calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride, while the micro-elements include iron, copper, cobalt, iodine, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, fluoride, chromium, selenium and sulfur (Ozcan, 2003).

The macro-minerals are required in amounts greater than 100 mg/dl and the micro-minerals are required in amounts less than 100 mg/dl (Murray et al., 2000). The ultra trace elements include boron, silicon, arsenic and nickel which have been found in animals and are believed to be essential for these animals. Evidence for requirements and essentiality of others like cadmium, lead, tin, lithium and vanadium is weak (Albion, 1996).

The mineral elements are separate entities from the other essential nutrients like proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins. Animal husbandry had demonstrated the need for minerals in the diet (Hegsted et al., 1976). In this century, biological assay methods clarified the significance and importance of mineral elements for human and animal nutrition and modern analytical techniques led to the detection of trace elements as essential nutrients and this is still an active area of current research. Micronutrient deficiencies are a major public health problem in many developing countries, with infants and pregnant women especially at risk (Batra et al., 2002).

Infants deserve extra concern because they need adequate micronutrients to maintain normal growth and development (Rush, 2000). The micronutrient deficiencies which are of greatest public health significance are iron deficiency, causing varying degrees of impairment in cognitive performance, lowered work capacity, lowered immunity to infections, pregnancy complications e.g. babies with low birth weight, poor learning capacity and reduced psychomotor skills. Medical reports show that very severe anaemia is a direct cause of maternal and child mortality (Chakravarty et al., 2000).

There have been suggestions that more than anything else, lack of adequate information about the composition of varied feed resources in some regions have been the major drawback to their utilization, rather than real shortage. For instance, there is very limited information on the mineral elements in some plants used as human food and animal feeds consumed in Nigeria, especially the newly introduced varieties of diets and the lesser known legumes (Hay et al., 1985).

Some of the earlier information on mineral elements was based on analysis employing less sensitive methods, which may not be reliable. The aim of this review is to re-visit the provision of information on the importance of mineral elements to humans, animals and plants and also to emphasize on the need for their levels to be ascertained in water and commonly consumed plant foods using modern analytical techniques. This will assist greatly in providing relevant information on the importance of minerals to health and this would subsequently assist in prevention and management of mineral-associated deficiency diseases. Data on mineral contents of human foods and animal feeds are essential for formulation of feeding regimes and food processing techniques (Aletor et al., 1994).