Mineral Absorption: How Nutrients Enter Your Cells

Dietary minerals are inorganic substances that must be supplied by the diet, and are obtained from food. Once the food is ingested, minerals enter the cells of a person's body through either facilitated or active transport.

Minerals in the Body

• Once they have been ingested, minerals become dissolved in body fluids. In this form, they are called "salts." Because of their ionic composition these salts can have a positive or a negative electrical charge, which requires that they enter a cell through facilitated or active transport.

Facilitated Transport

• Facilitated transport occurs when minerals move from one side of a cell's membrane to the other through molecules that act as channels. The structure of these channels determines which minerals can pass through them.

Active Transport

• The active transport of minerals into a cell is different from facilitated transport in that it requires energy. The energy is needed to power the ion pumps in the cell's membrane, which move minerals into a cell at the same time as they move another molecule out of the cell.