Vitamin Supplements

Phosphorus

Another very important mineral upon which the body depends is phosphorus. This mineral plays a leading part in many of our vital processes.

It is present in every tissue and has much to do with the growth and functions of all the cells of the body. Phosphorus enters into a great many different chemical reactions, especially those involving enzymes, proteins, and carbohydrates.

Phosphorus is essential for all the muscles. Believe it or not, you could not lift an eyebrow without phosphorus! It is part of the nuclear structure of every cell. Phosphorus also helps to maintain the normal acid-base balance of the body.

In combination with calcium it forms a large part of the bony framework on which the rest of the body depends. It is essential in building sound, healthy teeth. Most of the phosphorus in the body is stored in the bones. Like calcium, it can be drawn upon for needs elsewhere.

Diets that are rich in calcium are usually adequate in phosphorus as well. Milk is probably the most abundant source. In milk, the phosphorus and calcium are in the right proportion to each other for optimum needs.

Other sources include eggs, meat, whole-grain cereals, legumes, and nuts. A well-chosen diet will always supply sufficient phosphorus for most needs. However, young children require more than the average adult to meet the needs for normal growth. Young mothers also need extra phosphorus. This can be easily supplied by using milk, dairy products, and green vegetables.

Why You Need Iron

Iron is extremely important to the human body. Without it, the blood would be useless. We do not have very much of this mineral in the body. But what we do have does amazing things for us. Most of the iron we have is combined with hemoglobin. This is the protein substance which gives color to the red blood cells. The iron is there for a very special purpose.

The red blood cells are extremely small. There are five million of them in a drop of blood no larger than the head of a pin! These tiny cells are shaped in the form of discs, somewhat like a plate. They are round on the edges and hollow in the middle. This particular shape provides a maximum of surface for the right exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. This is the only reason for the existence of the red cells.

Now try to take an imaginary journey on one of those tiny red blood cells as it passes through the lungs. That one cell contains two hundred and fifty million molecules of hemoglobin and a billion atoms of iron! It takes a hundredth part of a second for that little cell to pass through one of the capillaries of the lung. Yet in that exceedingly short time it is capable of picking up a billion molecules of oxygen and dropping a billion molecules of carbon dioxide. We have to keep breathing to supply those cells with oxygen.

It takes an enormous number of red cells to keep a person in good health—about thirty trillion of them. They are constantly on the move. Each cell traverses many thousands of miles of blood vessels during its very short lifetime. It is forever carrying oxygen to the tissues and bringing carbon dioxide away.

Red Cells Wear Out

As might be expected, these red blood cells become worn out from such constant buffeting about. Radioactive studies reveal that their life span is only about 120 days. They must then be destroyed, and new ones must take their places. To meet this need, your body has to make millions of new cells every minute. Each of these cells carries its own tiny portion of iron, which the body distributes with such exactness that each red cell has just enough for the work it has to do.

Everyone is familiar with the fact that iron rusts. When this happens, a molecule of iron attaches itself to a molecule of oxygen. This gas is always present in the air we breathe. In our lungs the iron in the hemoglobin comes directly in touch with the oxygen. It all happens with split-second exactness as the red blood cell passes through the lungs. From there the blood immediately rushes on to the heart and is pumped out to all parts of the body, carrying its load of oxygen.

Out in the tissues the hemoglobin just as readily gives up its load of oxygen and in turn picks up a similar load of carbon dioxide which the tissues no longer want. As Sir Charles Sherrington has aptly remarked, “Iron is a metal that plays fast and loose with oxygen.” This is what happens in the red cells of the blood. The hemoglobin actually rusts, or oxidizes, during that brief moment it is in the lungs. Out in the tissues it completely reverses the process, again returning to the lungs for more oxygen. This is what enables us to live and breathe.

Hemoglobin is a superb carrier of oxygen. In all of nature it has no equal. But conditions within the body must be just right for it to operate efficiently. Anything that interferes with the supply of fresh air is bound to have widespread effects throughout the whole body. It is easy to tell the difference when one goes up into the mountains to seven or eight thousand feet altitude.

To be efficient the red blood cells must have an adequate supply of iron. There is no place in the body where iron can be stored. It must be constantly supplied in the diet. Not that the body wastes iron, quite the reverse. When red blood cells are worn out, they are not discarded. They are taken apart, and the materials used over and over again. But there is always some loss of iron, such as from injuries or during menstruation.

Small bleeding ulcers are a common cause of blood loss that may not be noticed. The loss might be quite considerable if the bleeding continues over a long period of time. It is therefore important that this loss be replaced as quickly as possible, preferably through the diet.

The Results of Iron Deficiency

When the diet is deficient in iron, the patient suffers from anemia. This means thinning of the blood, a condition in which the red blood cells are greatly reduced in number, or else do not carry a sufficient quantity of hemoglobin. This interferes with the normal transmission of oxygen to the cells, as well as the elimination of carbon dioxide from the tissues of the body.

Anemia can arise from a number of different causes, one of the most common being a lack of sufficient iron in the diet. Sometimes there may be plenty of iron in the diet, but for different reasons it may not be absorbed. Conditions may not be favorable for this in the stomach or bowel. For instance, a lack of vitamin C in the diet may retard the absorption of iron, especially if there is also a deficiency of hydrochloric acid as well.

When there is insufficient iron in the diet, the blood count gradually drops down from the normal five million red cells to perhaps two million In very severe cases it may drop to below one million. Even with mild anemias, a person may feel tired and weak for no reason at all. His skin may appear pale, and he may suffer from headaches, nervousness, and shortness of breath. In the more severe cases the symptoms are much more marked.

The person with anemia should never attempt to treat himself. He should consult his doctor. His problem may be due to some deficiency. The treatment of anemia is not a hit-or-miss affair. It takes the skill of a competent physician to make the correct diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment in most cases.

Anemia arising from blood loss is more likely to affect women, due to the periodic menstrual flow, as well as the extra demands made upon the body during pregnancy and lactation. Men may also suffer from a chronic loss of blood because of hemorrhoids or various types of ulcers. But in either sex a diet low in iron will bring on anemia. This is sometimes seen in people who are finnicky and try to live on restricted diets.

What are the most abundant sources of iron? Eggs, apricots, raisins, potatoes, oatmeal, vegetable greens, whole cereals, lean meat, and liver. Milk does not have any large quantity of iron, but the iron it does contain is well absorbed by the body. It is surprising that there is so much anemia, inasmuch as iron is so plentiful in our foods. The difficulty comes from following a restricted diet or failing to eat sensible meals. A well-chosen diet will usually provide all the iron any person needs, provided he is able to absorb it.

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