What illnesses can interfere with mineral absorption

Iodine is essential to make thyroid hormones. These hormones control your metabolic rate the rate your body uses energy when it is resting. They also help your brain and body grow and develop. We only need a very small amount of iodine in our diet. Iodine is found naturally in foods such as:. Iodine can also be found in iodised salt. All bought breads except organic in Australia are fortified with iodised salt.

You are likely to be getting enough iodine through your diet. However, if you are deficient and need to take a supplement, be guided by your doctor. Too much iodine can be harmful, especially if you have an underlying thyroid disorder.

Iron is an important mineral that is involved in various bodily functions, including the transport of oxygen in the blood the provision of energy to cells. It also vital to help our immune system function effectively to fight infection. Iron deficiency is common and can affect adults and children. Around 1 in 8 people do not consume enough iron to meet their needs. Some factors such as certain foods and drinks can affect how much iron your body absorbs.

Also, some groups are more at risk of iron deficiency, such as babies and young children, teenage girls, women with heavy periods , vegans and vegetarians and people with chronic conditions. Zinc is an important mineral involved in various bodily functions — growth and development as well as immune function. Zinc is highest in protein-rich foods but may also be found in some plant foods. Dietary sources include:. Magnesium is important due to its many functions in the body — including maintaining bone health and using glucose for energy.

Potassium is important for the nerves, muscles and heart to work properly. It also helps lower blood pressure. Our bodies are designed for a high-potassium diet, not a high-salt diet.

Food processing tends to lower the potassium levels in many foods while increasing the sodium content. It is much better to eat unprocessed foods — such as fruit, vegetables and lean meats, eggs, fish and other healthy, everyday foods.

Be guided by your doctor, some people with kidney disease , or who are taking some medications, need to be careful not to get too much potassium in their diet.

A small amount of sodium is important for good health as it helps to maintain the correct volume of circulating blood and tissue fluids in the body. Most of us are consuming far more sodium than we need. In fact, many Australians are consuming almost double the amount required. Too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure hypertension and other health conditions. Salt is the main source of sodium in our diet. It is a chemical compound electrolyte made up of sodium and chloride. Many foods — wholegrains, meat and dairy products — naturally contain small amounts of sodium, while highly processed foods usually contain large amounts.

The fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K can be locked away in the liver and body fat, and stored for a long time. The water-soluble vitamins, including B-complex and vitamin C, are mostly only stored for a shorter period.

A vitamin deficiency takes weeks or months before it will affect your health. For instance, it would take months of no vitamin C before you developed scurvy. Vitamin and mineral supplements may be recommended in certain circumstances to correct vitamin and mineral deficiencies — such as folate for women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy. Others who may be at risk of a vitamin or mineral deficiency include:.

Remember, supplements are a short-term measure and should only be taken on advice from your doctor or a dietitian. An occasional lapse in good eating will not harm you, if your usual diet consists of a wide variety of fresh foods.

This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:. The size of a standard drink can vary according to the type of alcohol.

The Alexander technique stresses that movement should be economical and needs only the minimum amount of energy and effort. A common misconception is that anorexia nervosa only affects young women, but it affects males and females of all ages. Antioxidants scavenge free radicals from the body's cells, and prevent or reduce the damage caused by oxidation. Antipsychotic medications work by altering brain chemistry to help reduce psychotic symptoms like hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking.

Content on this website is provided for information purposes only. This makes the intestine less able to absorb nutrients.

SBS may be a birth defect, or it may be caused by surgery. Certain diseases may cause malabsorption. These include tropical sprue , a condition most common in the Caribbean, India, and other parts of Southeast Asia. This disease may be related to environmental factors, such as toxins in food , infection, or parasites. Symptoms of malabsorption syndrome are caused when unabsorbed nutrients pass through the digestive tract. Other symptoms are a result of a deficiency of that nutrient, which is caused by its poor absorption.

Malabsorption may affect people based on age or gender. For instance, women may stop menstruating , and children may not grow properly. Their weight or rate of weight gain may be significantly below that of other children of a similar age and gender.

Another sign of malabsorption in children is that they may avoid certain foods. Your doctor may suspect malabsorption syndrome if you have chronic diarrhea or nutrient deficiencies , or have lost a significant amount of weight despite eating a healthy diet. Certain tests are used to confirm the diagnosis. These tests may include:. Stool tests can measure fat in samples of stool, or feces.

These tests are the most reliable because fat is usually present in the stool of someone with malabsorption syndrome. These tests measure the level of specific nutrients in your blood, such as vitamin B , vitamin D , folate , iron , calcium , carotene, phosphorus , albumin , and protein. A lack of one of these nutrients may not necessarily mean you have malabsorption syndrome. Normal levels of these nutrients suggest that malabsorption is not the problem.

Breath tests can be used to test for lactose intolerance. Once inside the enterocyte, iron follows one of two major pathways. Which path is taken depends on a complex programming of the cell based on both dietary and systemic iron loads:. Iron in the form of heme, from ingestion of hemoglobin or myoglobin, is also readily absorbed. In this case, it appears that intact heme is take up by the small intestinal enterocyte by endocytosis.

Once inside the enterocyte, iron is liberated and essentially follows the same pathway for export as absorbed inorganic iron. Some heme may be transported intact into the circulation. There appear to be two processes responsible for copper absorption - a rapid, low capacity system and a slower, high capacity system, which may be similar to the two processes seen with calcium absorption.

Many of the molecular details of copper absorption remain to be elucidated. Inactivating mutations in the gene encoding an intracellular copper ATPase have been shown responsible for the failure of intestinal copper absorption in Menkes disease.

A number of dietary factors have been shown to influence copper absorption. The idea is that this ash affects the pH of various parts of your body, causing beneficial or negative effects. We express this within a range where acidic is less than 7, neutral is 7, and alkaline is greater than 7, known as the pH scale.

Human blood is always a pH of 7. Blood that is more alkaline indicates alkalosis, which can also be dangerous. Other areas of the body have larger safe pH ranges, but they still need to remain in these ranges.

For example, the skin typically has a pH between 4 and 7, but functions best when the pH is under 5 which is acidic. As you can imagine, with such stringent specifications of healthful pH, it would be disastrous if the food we ate could easily affect our pH levels. Your kidneys, liver, and lungs work to eliminate any compounds in your system that would affect pH. However, the pH of your urine can vary greatly depending on what you eat, since it is the process through which the body eliminates most of these waste products.

Because of this, some people monitor their urine pH and use the results to judge the accuracy of the alkaline ash diet, even though the results of urine pH are not indicative of anything else in the body.

Nevertheless, when it comes to your mouth, paying attention to pH is important. One good example is lemon juice, which is often touted as an alkalizing food. This means that consuming large quantities of lemon juice for its supposed alkalizing benefits can actually be potentially damaging to your teeth due to its acidity. Many of the foods that are considered alkaline typically vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc. This is why many people who start the alkaline diet might feel better, not because it is alkalizing their bodies, but because it encourages people to consume more nourishing foods and reduce the amount of processed food they consume.

However, in the long run this diet might be lacking in certain nutrients, such as essential fatty acids.