Minerals: Their Functions and Sources (2024)

FAQs

What are the functions of minerals and sources? ›

Minerals are vital components of our food. They fulfil a wide variety of functions, such as building materials for our bones, influencing muscle and nerve function, and regulating the body's water balance [1]. They are also components of hormones and enzymes and other biologically active compounds.

Minerals, in nutritional science, refer to chemical elements that play important roles in the human body. Well-known dietary sources of minerals include foods such as nuts, milk, eggs, green vegetables, legumes, and shellfish. There are four major functions served by minerals: Maintaining strong bones and teeth.

The major minerals, which are used and stored in large quantities in the body, are calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and sulfur. The trace minerals are just as vital to our health as the major minerals, but we don't need large amounts.

Minerals are those elements on the earth and in foods that our bodies need to develop and function normally. Those essential for health include calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, chromium, copper, fluoride, molybdenum, manganese, and selenium.

Minerals help maintain acid-base balance, to keep the body pH neutral. Minerals help regulate body processes, such as in enzyme systems. Minerals function in nerve impulse transmission and muscle contraction. Minerals help release energy from food.

Minerals are responsible for maintaining electrolyte balance, strengthening teeth and bones, boost energy levels, muscle contractions, trigger immunity, and supports the nervous system and thyroid functions. They also convert food into energy and repair cellular damage.

Some of these include bone density and formation, the synthesis of hormones, immune function, the creation of blood and how the heart functions (Kumar et al., 2021).

Vitamins and minerals are a form of nutrient (called micronutrients) that are needed in small amounts. Although micronutrients don't give us energy, they are involved in the metabolic processes that enable us to get energy from carbohydrates, protein and fat, which are also known as macronutrients.

Is gold a mineral yes or no? ›

Gold is considered both an element and a mineral because it is often found as a native (pure) metal in nature. Uses of gold include: Jewelry.

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body, making up 1.5 to 2% of the total body weight. Approximately 1,200 g of calcium are present in the body of an adult human; more than 99% of that amount is found in bones.

Minerals are found in foods like cereals, bread, meat, fish, milk, dairy, nuts, fruit and vegetables. We need more of some minerals than others. For example, we need more calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium chloride and potassium than we do iron, zinc, iodine, selenium and copper.

Critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements are essential components in many of today's rapidly growing clean energy technologies – from wind turbines and electricity networks to electric vehicles.

A number of minerals are essential for health, including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, sulfur, cobalt, copper, fluoride, manganese, and selenium.

Mineral-rich foods include nuts, seeds, shellfish, cruciferous vegetables, eggs, beans, and cocoa. Minerals are elements that are found in the earth and food and essential to life. For example, minerals are needed for heart and brain function, as well as the production of hormones and enzymes (1).

Vitamins and minerals are essential for bodily functions such as helping to fight infection, wound healing, making our bones strong and regulating hormones.

Minerals are responsible for maintaining electrolyte balance, strengthening teeth and bones, boost energy levels, muscle contractions, trigger immunity, and supports the nervous system and thyroid functions. They also convert food into energy and repair cellular damage.