Minerals and the Human Body
As we have previously learned, minerals are essential. They must be obtained through our diet on a daily basis in order for us to maintain proper nutritional balance. Like vitamins, minerals contain no energy (calories), but act as co-factors in energy production. The minerals that we consume in our diet come from the soil. Plants, and secondly the animals that eat them, take in the minerals from the soil. The mineral composition of the soil will determine the mineral status of the food we eat. Because minerals are stored in the body, they can become toxic if extremely large quantities are consumed. Such situations are very rare because massive amounts must be taken in over long periods of time.
Dietary minerals can be broken down into two categories, the macro-minerals and the trace minerals (or trace elements). By definition, macro-minerals make up more than 0.01 percent of total body weight while trace minerals make up less than 0.01 percent of total body weight. Macro-elements also include oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen since we do ingest them in different ways such as breathing air or drinking water and as a part of many foods. However, since these elements can be obtained in addition to diet, we will not include them in our discussion as nutritional minerals.