dietary mineral
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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.
The term "mineral" is archaic, since the intent of the definition is to describe ions, not chemical compounds or actual minerals.
Some sources state that sixteen minerals are required to support human biochemical processes by serving structural and functional roles as well as electrolytes. The term "dietary minerals" does not include the fundamental elements of organic chemistry: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.
Also, sometimes a distinction is drawn between this category and micronutrients. Interestingly, most of the essential minerals are of relatively low atomic weight.