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Mineral deficiency is a lack of the dietary minerals, the micronutrients that are needed for an organism's proper health. [1] The cause may be a poor diet , impaired uptake of the minerals that are consumed, or a dysfunction in the organism's use of the mineral after it is absorbed.
In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element. Some "minerals" are essential for life, but most are not. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Minerals are one of the four groups of essential nutrients; the others are vitamins , essential fatty acids , and essential amino acids . [ 4 ]
The term "mineral" is archaic, since the intent is to describe simply the less common elements in the diet. Some are heavier than the four just mentioned – including several metals , which often occur as ions in the body.
In plants and animals, mineral absorption, also called mineral uptake is the way in which minerals enter the cellular material, typically following the same pathway as water. In plants, the entrance portal for mineral uptake is usually through the roots. Some mineral ions diffuse in-between the cells. In contrast to water, some minerals are ...
This is a list of minerals which have Wikipedia articles.. Minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various species.
A mineral lick (also known as a salt lick) is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals. Mineral licks can be naturally occurring or artificial (such as blocks of salt that farmers place in pastures for livestock to lick).
Phosphate minerals are minerals that contain the tetrahedrally coordinated phosphate (PO 3− 4) anion, sometimes with arsenate (AsO 3− 4) and vanadate (VO 3− 4) substitutions, along with chloride (Cl −), fluoride (F −), and hydroxide (OH −) anions, that also fit into the crystal structure.
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (/ ˌ æ n ɪ ˈ m eɪ l i ə / [4]).With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development.