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In the nutritional sense, minerals are inorganic elements (metals like iron, zinc, and cobalt; and non-metals like phosphorus and iodine) that are necessary for healthy functioning of cells. In those examples, iron is a component of hemoglobin (a protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells), zinc is part of some enzymes, cobalt is a component of vitamin B12, phosphorus is a major part of your bones (and in lots of other cellular parts too), and iodine is part of an enzyme produced by your thyroid. There are probably about 20-30 minerals that have some function in the human body.

In the geologic sense, minerals are defined differently, but that's probably outside of the scope of this question.

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14y ago

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