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MINERAL
WATER
Ranking next to water in
the quantity contained in the human body is mineral matter. This constituent,
which is also called
ash or mineral salts, forms the main
part of the body's framework, or skeleton. In the building and maintaining
of the body, mineral salts serve three purposes:
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To give rigidity and permanence
to the skeleton
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To form an essential element
of active tissue
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To provide the required alkalinity
or acidity for the digestive juices and other secretions.
The origin and distribution
of these mineral substances are of interest. Plants in their growth seize
from the earth the salts of minerals and combine them with other substances
that make up their living tissue. Then human beings, as well as other living
creatures, get their supply of these needed salts from the plants that
they take as food, this being the only form in which the salts can be thoroughly
assimilated. These salts are not affected by cooking unless some process
is used that removes such of them as are readily soluble in water. When
this occurs, the result is usually waste, as, for instance, where no use
is made of the water in which some vegetables are boiled. As is true of
water, mineral matter, even though it is found in large quantities in the
body, is usually disregarded when food is purchased. This is due to the
fact that this important nutritive material appears in some form in nearly
all foods and therefore does not necessitate the housewife's stopping to
question its presence. |
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