These are also needed in small quantities, but we need more of these than we need of vitamins. In nutrition, simple inorganic chemicals that are required, as nutrients, by living organisms. Plants usually obtain their mineral salts from the soil, while animals get theirs from their food. Important mineral salts include iron salts (needed by both plants and animals), magnesium salts (needed mainly by plants, to make chlorophyll), and calcium salts (needed by animals to make bone or shell).
A trace element is required only in tiny amounts.
Iron: required to make haemoglobin.
Calcium: required for healthy teeth, bones and muscles.
Sodium: all cells need this, especially nerve cells.
Iodine: used to make a hormone called thyroxin.
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