Difference Between Vitamins and Minerals
In order to carry out the physiological activities of the body normally, there are several organic as well as inorganic substances that are required as catalyst. These are vitamins, enzymes, minerals etc. These substances assist or initiate several important activities of the body and any alteration in their optimum quantity creates a lot of problem for any individual. For proper functioning of the immune system, blood clotting process and metabolic pathways vitamins and minerals are indispensable. In spite of the fact that both vitamins and minerals are equally important for any individual, there are a lot of differences between the two. Vitamins are organic substances while minerals are inorganic substances that have the same functions and have to similarly be made an important part of the daily diet of an individual as both of them get used up in due course of time.
The vitamins are classified into Fat soluble vitamins and Water soluble vitamins whereas as minerals are classified into macro and micro mineral substances. Vitamins are required for the purpose of development of Red Blood Cells, of maintenance of the normal vision, and also for the purpose of deriving energy from the food taken in by the individual. The fact that the vitamins are either water soluble of fat soluble contributes to the adapting capacity of the vitamins on the basis of the location in which they are present. Vitamin A, D, E and K are fat soluble vitamins while Vitamins B complex,C etc. are water soluble vitamins. Now, for the since for the proper functioning of the fat soluble vitamins, adequate amount of fatty acids is required, if a person has extremely less intake of fat in his/her diet, the concentration as well as functioning of such vitamins get affected. The fat soluble vitamins are produced inside the body only and remain stored in the tissues to be used when required. On the other hand, water soluble vitamins need to be taken in through food and proper diet due to the fact that they cannot be stored neither can they be produced inside the body. In cases of their deficiency in the body, several diseases can be caused that can lead to death or complete inability to perform certain activities.
Minerals are those substances that are either required in large quantities of very minutes quantities for the activities of the body to be carried out normally. They assist in the activities such as proper activities of body muscles, proper maintainance of the body pH, proper formation of the person’s bone as well as teeth, regulation of the blood clotting process etc. Out of the many minerals only 16 are found to be essential for a human body, both in large as well as minute/trace quantities, the most common among these being Magnesium, Copper, Sodium, Potassium, Iron, Boron, Iodine, Zinc etc. The minerals are not produced or stored inside the body. They have to be taken in through proper diet. The decrease or increase in the amount of these minerals causes disorders and not diseases, that may hamper certain activities of the body, but are not fatal. A brief idea about the major differences between the vitamins and minerals are given below.
Thus we see that both the vitamins as well as minerals are extremely important for the normal functioning of organs and undisturbed carrying out of the physiological activities of an individual. For this reason each one of us should have adequate amount of vitamins as well as minerals in our daily diet.