TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page    –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         i

Certification           –         –         –         –         –         –         –         ii

Dedication   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         iii

Acknowledgements         –         –         –         –         –         –         iv

Table of contents   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         v

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION        –         –         –         1

1.1     Definition of Terms         –         –         –         –         –         –         4

CHAPTER TWO : MACRO AND MICRO-MINERALS

2.1     Types of Minerals  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         6

2.1.1  Macro-Minerals     –         –         –         –         –         –         –         6

2.1.2  Trace Minerals       –         –         –         –         –         –         –         6

2.2     Classification of Minerals          –         –         –         –         –         7

2.2.1  Chemical Composition    –         –         –         –         –         –         7

2.2.2  Mineral Properties –         –         –         –         –         –         –         8

2.2.3  Crystal System and silicate Structures           –         –         –         8

2.3     The Uses of Minerals       –         –         –         –         –         –         9

CHAPTER THREE: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN HUMAN NUTRITION

3.1     The Role of Phosphorus, Magnesium and Iron in

Human Nutrition   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         10

3.1.1  Phosphorus  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         10

3.1.2  Magnesium  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         11

3.1.3  Iron   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         12

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1     Conclusion  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         14

4.2     Recommendations –         –         –         –         –         –         –         15

              References

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Minerals are inorganic substances, present in all body tissues and fluids and their presence is necessary for the maintenance of certain physiochemical processes which are essential to life. Minerals are chemical constituents used by the body in many ways. Although the yield no energy, they have important roles to play in many activities in the body (Malhotra, 1998; Eruvbetine, 2003).

Every form of living matter requires these inorganic elements or minerals for their normal life processes (Hays and Swenson, 1985; Ozcan, 2003). Minerals are classified as macro (major) or micro (trace) elements. The macro minerals include calcium, phosphorus, sodium and chloride, while the micro-element include iron, copper, cobalt, potassium, magnesium, iodine, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, fluoride, chromium, selenium and sulphur (Eruvbetine, 2003). The macro minerals are required in amount greater than 100 mg/dl and the micro-nutrients are required in amounts less than 100 mg/dl (Murray et al., 2000).

The mineral elements are separate entities from the other essential nutrients like proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins. Animals 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. Micro nutrients deficiencies are a major public health problem in many developing countries witn infants and pregnant women especially at risk (Batra and Seth, 2002).

Infants deserve extra concern because they need adequate micro nutrients to maintain normal growth and development (Rush, 2000). The micro-nutrient deficiencies which are of greatest public health significances are iron deficiency, causing varying degrees of impairment in cognitive performance, lowered work capacity, lowered immunity to infecting, pregnancy complications e.g babies with low birth weight, poor learning capacity and reduced psychomotor skills (Batra and Seth, 2002). Medical reports show that every severe anaemia is a direct cause of maternal and child mortality (Chakravorty and Ghosh, 2002). 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 draw back to their utilization rather than real shortage (Aletor and Omodara, 1994). 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. The aim of this review is to re-visit the provision of information on the importance of mineral elements humans, animals and plants and also to emphasize on the need for their levels to be ascertained in water and commonly consumed plants 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.

1.1     Definition of Terms

Mineral elements: They are those elements on the earth and in foods that our bodies needs to develop and function normally. Minerals is also a natural substance with distinctive chemical and physical properties, composition, and atomic structure.

In chemistry, mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic solid with a definite chemical composition and a crystalline structure.

Mineralogy: This is the science that deals with minerals, their crystallography, properties, classification, and the ways of distinguishing them. In simple term, it means the scientific study of minerals.

Antioxidants: Antioxidants are man-made or natural substances that may prevent or delay some types of cell damage e.g. selenium and manganese.

Dietary Supplements: A dietary supplement is a product you take to supplement your diet. It contains one or more dietary ingredient (including vitamins; minerals; herbs or other botanicals; amino acids; and other substances).

Daily Value (DV): The percent daily value (% DV) shows how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a total daily diet. The %DV can help you determine if a serving of food is high or low in a nutrient.