What are minerals?
Minerals are nutrients that have many important roles in the body. They help to build and maintain healthy teeth and bones, carry nerve signals to and from the brain, and keep your immune system healthy. Some minerals are essential to health. Essential minerals include calcium, sodium, and iron.
Essential minerals are sometimes divided into major minerals and trace minerals. Trace minerals are needed in smaller amounts than major minerals.
A balanced diet usually gives you all of the essential minerals you need.
What minerals are important for health?
Some minerals are essential to your health. Essential minerals are sometimes divided into major minerals (macrominerals) and trace minerals (microminerals). Trace minerals are needed in smaller amounts than major minerals.
Essential minerals
Mineral | What it does | Where it's found |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium | Needed for proper fluid balance, nerve transmission, and muscle contraction. | Table salt, soy sauce; large amounts in processed foods; small amounts in milk, breads, vegetables, and unprocessed meats. |
| Calcium | Important for healthy bones and teeth; helps muscles relax and contract; important for nerve functioning, blood clotting, blood pressure. | Milk and milk products; canned fish with bones (salmon, sardines); fortified tofu and fortified soy milk; greens (broccoli, mustard greens); legumes. |
| Chloride | Needed for proper fluid balance, stomach acid. | Table salt, soy sauce; large amounts in processed foods; small amounts in milk, meats, breads, and vegetables. |
| Magnesium | Found in bones; needed for making protein, muscle contraction, nerve transmission, immune system health. | Nuts and seeds, legumes, leafy green vegetables, seafood, chocolate, artichokes, "hard" drinking water. |
| Phosphorus | Important for healthy bones and teeth; found in every cell; part of the system that maintains acid-base balance. | Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, milk. |
| Potassium | Needed for proper fluid balance, nerve transmission, and muscle contraction. | Meats, milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes. |
| Sulfur | Found in protein molecules. | Occurs in foods as part of protein: meats, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, legumes, nuts. |
Mineral | What it does | Where it's found |
|---|---|---|
| Iron | Part of a molecule (hemoglobin) found in red blood cells that carries oxygen in the body; needed for energy metabolism. | Organ meats, red meats, fish, poultry, shellfish (especially clams), egg yolks, legumes, dried fruits, dark leafy greens, iron-enriched breads and cereals, and fortified cereals. |
| Zinc | Part of many enzymes; needed for making protein and genetic material; has a function in taste perception, wound healing, normal fetal development, production of sperm, normal growth and sexual maturation, immune system health. | Meats, fish, poultry, leavened whole grains, vegetables. |
| Chromium | Works closely with insulin to regulate blood sugar (glucose) levels. | Liver, brewer's yeast, whole grains, nuts, cheeses. |
| Copper | Part of many enzymes; needed for iron metabolism. | Legumes, nuts and seeds, whole grains, organ meats, drinking water. |
| Fluoride | Involved in formation of bones and teeth; helps prevent tooth decay. | Drinking water (either fluoridated or naturally containing fluoride), fish, and most teas. |
| Iodine | Found in thyroid hormone, which helps regulate growth, development, and metabolism. | Seafood, foods grown in iodine-rich soil, iodized salt, bread, dairy products. |
| Manganese | Part of many enzymes. | Widespread in foods, especially plant foods. |
| Molybdenum | Part of some enzymes. | Legumes, breads and grains, leafy greens, leafy green vegetables, milk, liver. |
| Selenium | Antioxidant. | Meats, seafood, grains. |
Other trace minerals known to be essential in tiny amounts include nickel, silicon, vanadium, and cobalt.
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