ABSTRACT
Transfer of nutritional elements goes primarily from soil to humans by means of plants, although it can also go, except for vegetarians, via a secondary step from the bodies of farm animals. Zinc, like iron, occurs in animal tissues in greater amounts than in cereals. Potassium, like sodium, plays an important role in animal physiology and is distributed abundantly in human diets with relatively uniform concentrations in most animal foods. Sodium chloride is widely used as a preservative and hence is found in most animal foods. As an essential element, copper is widely distributed in different kinds of animal foods, occurring at levels of between 0.00001 mg/100 g and 5.37 mg/100 g fresh weight. It should be emphasized that iron in animal food is considerably more bioavailable to man than that found in plant food. Molybdenum concentrations in animal foods range from 0.001 to 0.12 mg/100 g.
