ABSTRACT
Minerals Minerals are chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, which are present in nearly all the organic molecules. They are needed in small amounts and may be classified, regarding its nutrition requirement rate, as major or trace minerals. Some dieticians recommend that these should be supplied from foods in which they naturally occur, as complex compounds, or from natural inorganic sources, as their bioavailability is higher under these ionic forms. Minerals provide material for bone and teeth growth, regulate chemical processes, improve muscular activities, release energy for body heat, and have a role in protein synthesis, oxygen transport, and many other processes.
