Dr. Smita Mehta, MD

What are these 16 components of the human body? Well, 4 are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. We pay attention to them in our diet by classifying our food into carbs, protein, and fat.

We also pay attention to the calories in our diet.

However, it’s not often we pay attention to the remaining 12 items in our list of 16. Of these 12, we need 5 in large quantities, and almost daily:

– calcium and phosphorus, which are available in dairy products, for example

– sodium, freely available in salt

– potassium, obtained from fresh fruit, and

– magnesium, which we can get from green leafy vegetables and nuts like almonds

Why do we need them often and in large quantities? It’s because the body runs on electricity, so to speak. Not only does it run n electricity, it generates this power, too! It uses these 5 minerals in chemical reactions to generate electric currents.

How, you ask? It takes electrons away from some minerals, and adds them to others, creating positive and negative charges in each, and so creating a potential for current to flow.

The remaining 7 minerals generally act as catalysts for these chemical reactions, speeding them up.

It’s fascinating to look at our diet in terms of the minerals we’re consuming. If we don’t get enough, we’re like a car that doesn’t get gas, or oil, or brake fluid, and yet is expected to run without any problems!