Dietary minerals are the
chemical elements required by living
organisms, other than the four elements
carbon,
hydrogen,
nitrogen, and
oxygen present in common
organic molecules. Some major minerals are
calcium,
selenium,
magnesium,
potassium,
sodium,
zinc, and
iodine. Most minerals that enter into the dietary
physiology of organisms consist of simple
chemical elements. Larger
aggregates of
minerals need to be broken down for absorption. Bacteria play an essential role in the weathering of primary minerals that results in the release of nutrients for their own nutrition and for the nutrition of others in the ecological
food chain. Scientists are only recently starting to appreciate the magnitude and role that
microorganisms have in the global cycling and formation of
biological minerals. Plants absorb dissolved minerals in soils, which are subsequently picked up by the herbivores that eat them and so on, the minerals move up the food chain. Larger organisms may also consume soil and visit
mineral licks to obtain limiting mineral nutrients they are unable to acquire through other components of their diet.
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