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Minerals are similar to vitamins in that only minute amounts are needed. Their roles in the body include: maintenance of body pH (the amount of acidity and alkalinity in body compartments, which is very tightly controlled), the formation of bone and blood, nervous system function, muscular contraction and release, and normal enzyme activity.

There is a natural division among the minerals: we require some of them, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus, in larger amounts (several hundred milligrams, or even slightly more than a gram), whereas we only require tiny, trace amounts of others, like chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, selenium, and zinc. Vitamins and minerals can both be obtained from foods; however, the difference with minerals is that they usually come from within the earth's crust. Plants take in these minerals from the soil, and the minerals are ultimately eaten by humans or by animals.