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Minerals

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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

Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements)
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)

Related Issues

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

Specifics

Chromium (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
Fluoride (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements)
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)

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
Fluoride 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

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MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

National Institutes of Health

The primary NIH organization for research on Minerals is the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements

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