<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element required as an essential nutrient by organisms to perform functions necessary for life . Minerals originate in the earth and cannot be made by living organisms . Plants get minerals from soil . Most of the minerals in a human diet come from eating plants and animals or from drinking water . As a group, minerals are one of the four groups of essential nutrients, the others of which are vitamins, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids . </P> <P> The five major minerals in the human body are calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and magnesium . All of the remaining elements in a human body are called "trace elements". The trace elements that have a specific biochemical function in the human body are sulfur, iron, chlorine, cobalt, copper, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, iodine and selenium . </P>

Where do minerals originate in the food chain