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Summary

Minerals are important for your body to stay healthy. Your body uses minerals for many different jobs, including keeping your bones, muscles, heart, and brain working properly. Minerals are also important for making enzymes and hormones.

There are two kinds of minerals: macrominerals and trace minerals. You need larger amounts of macrominerals. They include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur. You only need small amounts of trace minerals. They include iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride and selenium.

Most people get the amount of minerals they need by eating a wide variety of foods. In some cases, your doctor may recommend a mineral supplement. People who have certain health problems or take some medicines may need to get less of one of the minerals. For example, people with chronic kidney disease need to limit foods that are high in potassium.

Start Here

• Minerals: What They Do, where to Get Them (Texas Heart Institute) Also in Spanish
• Overview of Minerals (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish
• Trace Elements: What They Do and Where to Get Them (Texas Heart Institute) Also in Spanish
• Vitamins and Minerals: How to Get What You Need (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Disorders of Metal Absorption (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)

Specifics

• Chromium (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
• Iodine (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
• Magnesium (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
• Manganese (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
• Selenium (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
• Zinc (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Minerals (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Secretome Release During In Vitro Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation...
• Article: Changes in local mineral homeostasis facilitate the formation of benign and...
• Article: Effects of fourteen essential minerals and vitamins on acute and chronic...
• Minerals -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Definitions of Health Terms: Minerals (National Library of Medicine)

Find an Expert

• Find a Nutrition Expert (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)
• Food and Drug Administration
• Food and Nutrition Information Center
• National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements

Children

• Minerals (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Vitamins and Minerals (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Chloride in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Chromium in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Copper in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Iodine in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Magnesium in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Phosphorus in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Selenium in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Zinc in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish