Minerals provide your body with neither calories nor energy, yet nothing works without them — muscle contraction, nerve impulses, bone structure and digestion all depend on them. Below is a summary of the most important minerals, your daily requirements and the best food sources.
Why minerals matter for your body
Unlike proteins, fats and carbohydrates, minerals don’t provide energy. Their role is different: they act as catalysts and building blocks. The metabolic reactions that extract energy from food, protein synthesis for building bigger muscles, and digestion all need the help of minerals and vitamins.
Without enough potassium and sodium, a muscle can’t contract properly. Without calcium and phosphorus, bones don’t stay strong. Without iron and copper, oxygen doesn’t reach the working muscle. A varied everyday diet usually covers your needs, but if you train intensively, you lose more minerals through sweat and need to think more deliberately about getting enough.
Main minerals and daily doses
Potassium
- Daily dose: 2000 mg
- Function: the main balancer of fluids and electrolytes, maintains cell integrity, contributes to muscle contraction and the transmission of nerve impulses.
- Sources: meat, milk, fruit, legumes and vegetables, grains.
Calcium
- Daily dose: 1000-1300 mg
- Function: forming bones and keeping them healthy, muscle contraction and relaxation, nerve function, blood clotting, normal blood pressure, supporting immunity.
- Sources: milk and dairy products, small fish eaten with the bones, tofu, green vegetables, legumes.
Phosphorus
- Daily dose: 0.7-1.25 g
- Function: bone formation, a component of cells, RNA, DNA and phospholipids, acid balancer, energy transport.
- Sources: meat, chicken, fish, eggs, milk.
Iron
- Daily dose: 18 mg
- Function: takes part in oxygen transport, contributes to muscle contraction.
- Sources: red meat, fish, chicken, bivalves, eggs, legumes, dried fruit.
Iodine
- Daily dose: 150 mcg
- Function: regulates growth, development and digestion.
- Sources: salt, pork, bread, dairy products.
Magnesium
- Daily dose: 310-420 mg
- Function: supplying bones with minerals, using proteins to build muscle, controlling enzyme activity, muscle contraction, transmission of nerve impulses, supporting immunity.
- Sources: nuts, legumes, whole grain products, green vegetables, pork, chocolate, cocoa.
Zinc
- Daily dose: 15 mg
- Function: making RNA and DNA, supporting immunity, vitamin A transport, helps wounds heal, stimulates the taste buds, sperm and insulin production.
- Sources: meat, chicken, fish, whole grain products and vegetables.
Chloride
- Daily dose: 750 mg
- Function: the main balancer of fluids and electrolytes.
- Sources: table salt, soy sauce, processed food.
Sodium
- Daily dose: 500 mg
- Function: the main regulator of fluid and electrolyte balance; contributes to muscle contraction and nerve impulse transmission.
- Sources: table salt, soy sauce, processed foods.
Selenium
- Daily dose: 55-70 mcg
- Function: works together with vitamin E as an antioxidant.
- Sources: pork, meat, whole grain products.
Copper
- Daily dose: 2 mg
- Function: iron absorption and utilization; a component of several enzymes.
- Sources: meat, drinking water.
Manganese
- Daily dose: 2-5 mg
- Function: facilitates a number of processes inside cells.
- Sources: almost all foods.
Fluoride
- Daily dose: 2.9-3.8 mg
- Function: strengthens bones and teeth.
- Sources: drinking water, tea and pork.
Chromium
- Daily dose: 50-200 mcg
- Function: releases energy from glucose.
- Sources: meat, unrefined foods, vegetables, oils.
How to cover your mineral needs through food
The simple truth: a varied plate does most of the work. If your menu includes something animal-based every day (meat, fish, eggs or a dairy product), a handful of nuts or seeds, a small handful of legumes and a couple of servings of colorful root vegetables and other vegetables, most of the minerals listed above are covered.
A few rules of thumb that help:
- Red meat once a week covers your iron and zinc needs — vegetarians should keep a closer eye on these.
- A dairy product every day keeps your calcium on track; if you don’t drink milk, choose tofu, sardines or fortified plant-based drinks.
- A sweaty workout demands more sodium, potassium and magnesium — during longer training sessions, it’s worth drinking water with electrolytes.
- A handful of nuts and whole grain products a day provides magnesium, phosphorus and manganese all at once.
Supplements are worth considering only when food has failed to cover a shortfall over a longer period — for example with a strict diet, a vegetarian diet or a very high training load. An excess of fat-soluble minerals (such as iron or zinc) is not beneficial, quite the opposite.
FAQ about minerals
Do minerals give you energy?
Not directly. Minerals contain no calories. They do, however, take part in the reactions that release energy from food — without them, even the richest meal would go largely unused by your body.
Does someone who trains need more minerals than a sedentary person?
For some minerals, yes. Sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride leave the body in sweat. During longer or hot training sessions, it’s worth getting more of them deliberately — even if only through slightly saltier food or electrolytes.
How do I know if I’m lacking a mineral?
Long-term fatigue, cramps, hair loss or a pale complexion may point to a deficiency of iron, magnesium or calcium. A blood test gives a definite answer — before buying supplements, it’s worth asking your family doctor.
You can find more minerals here: https://turg.fitness.ee/et
Author: Translated by M&F Liis Kutsar
Source: Health Board – dietary supplements.
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