Vitamin D, Calcium Insufficiency, and Health
An inadequate supply of vitamin D and calcium has negative effects on bone health at all ages, inasmuch as it causes rickets in infants, retards acquisition of an adequate bone mass during skeletal development in adolescents, and is finally responsible for accelerated bone loss in adulthood in both women and men, leading to the development of osteoporosis. Importantly, there is also evidence from epidemiological studies, clinical intervention trials as well as from studies with animal models of human diseases that a compromised vitamin D status and inadequate calcium nutrition are predisposing conditions for a great number of other diseases, including various types of cancer, chronic infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, as well as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (Table 1 omitted ; for details, [1-3]
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Macrominerals
Minerals are central to human nutrition and many are involved in uncountable biological functions. Minerals constitute only about four percent of the body's weight but their importance should not be overlooked, and it was the observance of minerals in the composition of the body's tissues and fluids that clued us in to their importance in human nutrition.
Certain minerals are found in greater abundance in the body and these minerals are referred to as macrominerals.
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Minerals and Sports Performance
Minerals are essential for a wide variety of metabolic and physiologic processes in the human body. Some of the physiologic roles of minerals important to athletes are their involvement in: muscle contraction, normal hearth rhythm, nerve impulse conduction, oxygen transport, oxidative phosphorylation, enzyme activation, immune functions, antioxidant activity, bone health, and acid-base balance of the blood. The two major classes of minerals are the macrominerals and the trace elements. The scope of this article will focus on the ergogenic theory and the efficacy of such mineral supplementation.
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