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Did You Know?

. . . that nickel is a part of foods that are derived from plants? It's a Natural Nickel Fact

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Nickel Magazine, June, 2003 -- Nickel is found today in many foods and beverages that are derived from plants.

Since it is an integral part of vegetation, nickel is part of many animalsÂ’ diet, including ours. We are being advised to eat more fruit and vegetables in our diet. This means that we are being invited to eat more nickel. Having chocolate with your morning coffee, for example, will give you a good slug of nickel because nickel is in the chocolate and in the coffee.

Animals, including humans, maintain their balance of metals by excreting the excess. If nickel is coming in one end – it is also going out the other. There is nickel in dung and nickel in urine. Which means that there is nickel in manure, compost and other natural fertilisers. Nickel is in the soil and is organically cycled back into the soil.

SOURCE: Speech by Dr. Ivor Kirman at Nickel/Cobalt 2003 

Expert Dialogue:

Dr. R. J. P. Williams
Professor, Emeritus, Chemistry
Oxford University
U.K.

Listen to interview (10:20)
RealAudio (1.2 MB)

". . . Nickel was involved very, very early in life. That is to say, when life started, three and half billion years ago . . . the bacteria that lived then were living in an anaerobic world. There was no oxygen. Those bacteria did require nickel . . . nickel was a required element, possibily to get life started . . .  there are no organisms [today] . . . that do not require nickel."

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