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Selenium, which is an essential element for animals and prokaryotes and is a beneficial element for many plants, is the least-common of all the elements essential to life. [3] [63] Selenium acts as the catalytic center of several antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase, [11] and plays a wide variety of other biological roles.
Human nutrition deals with the provision of essential nutrients in food that are necessary to support human life and good health. [1] Poor nutrition is a chronic problem often linked to poverty, food security , or a poor understanding of nutritional requirements. [ 2 ]
Essential nutrients for animals are the energy sources, some of the amino acids that are combined to create proteins, a subset of fatty acids, vitamins and certain minerals. Plants require more diverse minerals absorbed through roots, plus carbon dioxide and oxygen absorbed through leaves.
Some can produce nutrients internally by consuming basic elements, while some must consume other organisms to obtain pre-existing nutrients. All forms of life require carbon, energy, and water as well as various other molecules. Animals require complex nutrients such as carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, obtaining them by consuming other ...
Once growth and development are completed, vitamins remain essential nutrients for the healthy maintenance of the cells, tissues, and organs that make up a multicellular organism; they also enable a multicellular life form to efficiently use chemical energy provided by food it eats, and to help process the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats ...
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 five major minerals in the human body are calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. [2]
The sodium–potassium pump, a critical enzyme for regulating sodium and potassium levels in cells. Sodium ions (Na +) are necessary in small amounts for some types of plants, [1] but sodium as a nutrient is more generally needed in larger amounts [1] by animals, due to their use of it for generation of nerve impulses and for maintenance of electrolyte balance and fluid balance.
Micronutrients are essential elements required by organisms in small quantities to perform various biogeochemical processes and regulate physiological functions of cells and organs. [1] [2] By enabling these processes, micronutrients support the health of organisms throughout life. [3] [4] [5]