The Manganese Effect

Here we are everybody...the last mineral! Okay, so not really. We are aware of other minerals that are important in our body, but we have no idea about their nutritional significance. And as we saw last week, it's hard to talk about a mineral health professionals know basically nothing about. 

Manganese is a little bit of a different story, though a big part of that is due to the fact that I have actually studied manganese in one of my chemistry classes and know exactly what it does. In fact, if you showed me a cell, I could point to exactly where the manganese operates. Not that that is something that I should put on a job application or anything, but I am pretty proud that I can do that.

Anyways, manganese functions as a cofactor for many enzymes in the body. Hopefully all of you remember what cofactors are, but since I almost didn't, I'll go ahead and assume that some of you maybe didn't either.

As I have described in earlier posts, enzymes speed up chemical reactions in the body. Without enzymes, some of the processes we take for granted would take days (or sometimes even years) to complete as opposed to the seconds (and even milliseconds) it takes in our bodies. Cofactors are kind of like keys that 'unlock' the enzyme for use. You know how sometimes doors have both a deadbolt and a lock on the doorknob? Imagine cofactors as the lock on the doorknob. You can turn the handle without it, but the door still won't open. The deadbolts, on the other hand, are the actual molecules the enzyme is altering. The door won't even budge if those molecules aren't there. 

Besides enzymes, manganese is also involved in the process of photosynthesis in plants. I know many of you are probably wondering why I am talking about plants when we, as a human race, are definitely not plants. But plants do something wonderful--they provide us with oxygen. And food. And fiber. And deliciousness. 

So, though photosynthesis doesn't have a direct effect on our nutritional health (you probably know some people that shudder at the thought of eating plants, but otherwise are completely healthy), it does have an immediate effect on other aspects of our health, like breathing...which is pretty important. 

Anyways, back to photosynthesis. Manganese has this great talent of donating electrons. And in the formation of oxygen and carbohydrates, which are the products of photosynthesis reactions, electrons are greatly needed to keep the process going. Manganese sits right below the photosynthesis reactions when they take place and gives electrons once they are used up by the process. 

I could go into more detail, but for your sanity, I won't. I have a test on this process tomorrow, so this post has doubled as a study session for me...

Regardless, test or not, manganese is extremely important to the ability of plants to make oxygen (which we breathe), and carbohydrates (which we eat). Because of manganese's abundance in plants, the best source of manganese would obviously be...plants. So those of you that eat your fruits and vegetables...congratulations! You not only get enough manganese, but all of the other yummy stuff plants provide. If you're more of a bread and grains person (myself included), whole wheat and whole grains also have quite a bit of manganese. 

And, to conclude, I have another funny story for all of you. We can call it "the nutritional funny of the week". 

So. On Monday's I go grocery shopping, and this week I decided I really wanted to have some roasted beets. When I get to the store, I am astounded at how big they are! And not the 'beet' part of the beet, but the beet greens that are sprouting off of them. Like these beets are probably 18 inches tall. And as a college kid sharing a fridge with four other people, there is not nearly enough space in the fridge to store these beets.

So what do I do? Keep them in my car, obviously. It has been raining a lot this week, and the weather is really chilly, so the car is a perfect temperature and humidity to store vegetables that need to be refrigerated. 

Anyways, I get up for work the next day later than I would have liked and am running late. I get into my car, keys in the ignition, and look over to find my precious beets sitting in the passenger seat, beet greens almost reaching the bottom of the headrest. I didn't have time to put them back into my apartment, so I just left them in the car and drove to work.

But here's the funny part. I have automatic seat belts (my car is about 30 years old or so). Therefore, when I turned on the car, the seat belt moved in front of the beets. And since you can't necessarily tell if a car has automatic seat belts unless you are in it, it looked as if I literally put a seat belt around my vegetables to make sure they were protected.

As my other coworkers showed up to work (I am usually scheduled as the first one there in the morning), they all came in laughing and saying "Um...Megan, you know you have vegetables in your passenger seat, right?" I would laugh and say yes.

As it got warmer in the day, I put the beets in the walk-in fridge at the restaurant to keep them cool. I had one coworker walk into the fridge, then immediately come out and say, "I don't even have to ask whose vegetables are in the walk-in, but I do have one question: why are your beets in the walk-in?" To which I answered with the story I am telling you now. 

So now all of you know. I am not only the Throne of Kale lady, but also the lady who is very protective of her overly-tall beets.