By: Romina Tollerutti MD

What are Minerals: Function, Benefits, and Best Sources.

How to talk about Vitamins without including an article about Minerals. Both are essential for our overall health. Let’s explore what minerals are, their function, the benefits, and where to get them.

What are minerals?

They are inorganic elements in soil and water, absorbed by plants or consumed by animals.
Your body uses minerals for different jobs like keeping your bones, muscles, heart, and brain working correctly and making enzymes and hormones.
Macrominerals are calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, chloride, sulfur, and magnesium.
Trace minerals are iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, fluoride, chromium, and selenium.

Why do we need them?

As I mentioned in my article about Vitamins (click here to read it), vitamins and minerals are micronutrients required by the body to perform many different functions. We need to get them from our food because our bodies cannot produce them.

Macrominerals

Calcium

Needed for: helps maintain healthy bones and teeth; helps with nerve conduction, muscle contraction, blood clotting, immune system, and energy production in our body.

Good sources: Milk and dairy products, green leafy greens, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage; Fortified cereals, juices, soy products, and Tofu.

Magnesium

Needed for: crucial for most body functions: cells energy, making DNA and protein, helps use glucose in the body; helps keep blood pressure regular, bones strong, and the heart rhythm steady.

Good sources: green leafy vegetables, fish, nuts, beans, and whole grains.

Potassium

Needed for: essential for the body to function correctly like muscle contraction, nerve impulse, energy production, building DNA and protein.

Good sources: fresh vegetables (richest in potassium are Winter squash, sweet potato, potato, broccoli), fresh fruits (richest are avocado, cantaloupe, banana), pork, fish, chicken, dairy.

Sodium

Needed for: water balance in tissues

Good sources: table salt; salt is added to many manufactured food.

Phosphorus

Needed for: bones and teeth health (calcium needs phosphorus to do this job), cells function, cell membrane health.

Good sources: Meats and other proteins: beef, chicken, fish, and organ meat like liver; dairy foods; eggs; beans; bran and wheat germ grains;

almonds, cashews, peanut butter, and sunflower seeds.

Chloride

Needed for: keep the body’s fluids and electrolytes in balance (helps balance the Ph in your body working together with other electrolytes).

Good source: table salt.

Trace Elements

Iron

Needed for: production and function of hemoglobin in red blood cells (carry oxygen to organs in your body).

Good sources: organ meats (liver), meat, poultry, fish, veggies like spinach, broccoli, kale; Beans, lentils, and peas, dried fruits, and nuts.

Your body absorbs better iron from animal sources. Eating fruits or vegetables high in vitamin C (like red or green bell peppers or oranges) will help your body absorb iron from plants.

Iodine

Needed for: helps produce energy; key for thyroid health.

Good sources: seafood, tuna, sardines, salmon, also dairy products, eggs, grains, and vegetables; iodized salt.

Fluoride

Needed for: biding calcium in teeth helps prevent tooth decay.

Good sources: fluoridated water

Copper

Needed for:

Function and synthesis of hemoglobin in red blood cells.
Production of collagen and elastin
It keeps nerve cells healthy
Supports the immune system
Protects cells from damage
It helps absorb iron into your body
Helps with energy production from sugar

Good sources:

oysters, lobster, squid, mussels, clams
cow liver, kidneys, heart
cashews, almonds, pistachios, pecans, macadamia nuts, peanuts
lentils, soybeans, navy beans
Unsweet or semisweet chocolate or cocoa
Enriched cereal
Fruits
veggies

Chromium

Needed for: helps with sugar in the body, forms a compound that affects insulin, and lowers glucose levels.

Good sources: meats, dairy products, spices, brewer’s yeast, whole grains, vegetables like broccoli, green beans, and potato; fruits like apples, bananas, and grapefruit.

Manganese

Needed for: activate specific enzymes to carry out their everyday processes. It is necessary for overall health.

Good sources: mussels, brown rice, chickpeas, spinach, hazelnuts, whole wheat bread, pineapple, black tea.

Zinc

Needed for: helps keep the immune system strong, helps with wound healing, helps with vision health, part of many enzymes activities.

Good sources: Red meat, Poultry, Oysters, Fortified cereals, Whole grains, beans and nuts, brewer’s yeast.

Selenium

Needed for: antioxidant.

Good sources: organ meats, broccoli, cabbage, celery, onions, garlic, whole grains.

” Provided One Has The Correct Level Of Vitamin, Mineral, And Nutritional Input, The Body Can Overcome Disease”
Linus Pauling, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954

Mineral and other benefits

Calcium:

Helps treat and prevent osteoporosis (weak and easily broken bones) and osteopenia (precursor).
Help prevent or control high blood pressure.
It May also help reduce PMS symptoms.
It may help prevent some types of cancers. As an example, some research shows that calcium with vitamin D may help protect premenopausal women from breast cancer.
People whit lactose intolerant or vegan may not get enough (the most common sources are dairy products).
According to data, most adults in the U.S. don’t get enough calcium from their diet. A calcium supplement may be a good option while adjusting the diet.

Magnesium

Low magnesium is more likely to create inflammation in your body. Inflammation is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.
Low magnesium may be a risk factor for osteoporosis.
Foods high in magnesium and other minerals may help prevent high blood pressure in people with prehypertension.
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), used to treat acid reflux, have been linked to low magnesium levels. If you are taking these medications, talk to your Doctor.

Manganese

It has potent antioxidant activity in our cells, helping prevent damage caused by aging and lifestyle activities.
It may help reduce inflammation.
These two effects could reduce your risk of chronic diseases linked with cell damage and inflammatory conditions like osteoporosis.

Final thoughts:

In my opinion, understanding facts about health is essential. Having the correct information encourages people to take action about their well-being. As you have learned, minerals are essential for our overall health, and the same as vitamins, the best sources of minerals are whole food-based diets. In other words, avoid processed foods as much as possible. Remember that consulting with your doctor before starting mineral supplements is the right way to go, especially if you have a chronic medical condition and take medications. Now go ahead and get your minerals and vitamins from a nutritious, healthy meal.