A lot of people tend to get vitamins and minerals confused. The body requires both but they are rather different. Vitamins are essential nutrients we need from organic compounds. Minerals are the chemical elements we need in our bodies to survive. There are two types of minerals that we rely on: macrominerals and trace minerals. Macrominerals consist of seven minerals that our bodies need large amounts of. Trace minerals are minerals that we need but in much smaller amounts.
Macrominerals
Within the category of macrominerals, there are even more types of minerals. Here is a list of the macrominerals and food sources for each:
- Calcium – dairy products
- Phosphorus – red meat, fish
- Potassium – legumes, tomatoes, bananas, avocados
- Sulfur – eggs, poultry, kale, onions
- Sodium – table salt
- Chlorine – table salt
- Magnesium – nuts, soy beans, spinach, tomatoes, ginger
Trace Minerals
A few examples of trace minerals would be zinc, copper, iron, manganese, iodine, fluoride, cobalt, and selenium. Although we require lesser of the trace minerals than macrominerals, they are still very important to our functioning. For example, someone with iron deficiency anemia can suffer from depression and lethargy as a result of their lack of iron.
The Minerals for You
Minerals are similar to vitamins in that they can differ from species to species. Mammals all require the standard twenty minerals but some species have even more. Even now, with the vast amount of knowledge we have acquired in the field of biology, we still have found minerals that serve an unknown function for humans. Silicon is a good example of this.
When you’re looking into trying new antioxidant fruits, wouldn’t it be helpful to know which ones contain minerals our bodies need? Luckily, you’ve found the right place. As far as antioxidant fruits go, blueberries are a great one to start with. Blueberries contain the trace mineral manganese, as well as vitamin C. Like blueberries, strawberries do too. Cranberries contain the mineral potassium in addition to manganese. What is fantastic about antioxidant fruits is that most (if not all) of them contain dietary minerals!
