Minerals In Food

Last Updated On: 21 September 2025

According to Wikipedia:

[captionpix align=”left” width=”250″ imgalt=”Minerals In Food” imgsrc=”www.janeunsworth.com.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/drinking-water.jpg” captiontext=”Minerals With Water”]

The Reference Daily Intake or Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) is the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of healthy individuals in every demographic in the United States (where it was developed, but has since been used in other places).

The RDI is used to determine the Daily Value (DV) of foods, which is printed on nutrition facts labels in the United States and Canada, which is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Health Canada.
The RDI is based on the older Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) from 1968;[1] newer RDAs have since been introduced in the Dietary Reference Intake system, but the RDI is still used for nutrition labelling.

The RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for Trace Minerals is shown in the following table:

Mineral	Daily Quantity	Dietary Sources
Boron	around 1mg	2 oz of almonds or peanuts, apple-sauce, cooked dried beans and peas, dark green leafy vegetables, dried fruits, nuts, grape juice, 1 mg of boron is found in 1.5 oz of raisins or prunes, 4 oz of red wine
Chromium	50 to 200mcg	apples, bananas, brewers yeast, beef, chicken, eggs, green peppers, liver, oysters, spinach and wheat germ
Cobalt	No available data	clams, green leafy vegetables, liver, meat, milk and oysters
Copper	1.5 to 3 mg	beans, black pepper, cocoa, dark leafy greens, dried fruits i.e. prunes, nuts, offal i.e. kidneys and liver, oysters and other shellfish, potatoes, whole grains and yeast
Iodine	150 mcg	fish, plant foods i.e. cereals / grains and shellfish
Iron	10 to 15 mg	beans, most dark-green leafy vegetables i.e. watercress / curly kale, dried fruits i.e. apricots, liver, meat, nuts, wholegrains i.e. brown rice / fortified breakfast cereals / soy-bean flour
Manganese	2.5 to 5.o mg	dried fruits, leafy vegetables, nuts, tea and whole grain cereals – the manganese found in tea is not well-absorbed
Molybdenum	75 to 250 mcg	cereals, legumes, milk and milk products, offal meats, are good dietary sources of molybdenum. A diet high in processed foods may lead to a deficiency in molybdenum.
Selenium	55 to 70 mcg	brewer’s yeast, chicken, eggs, enriched breads, fish, garlic, grains, liver, red meat, shellfish, wheat germ, alongside meats produced from animals that ate grains or plants found in selenium-rich soil, plant foods i.e. vegetables but how much selenium is in the vegetables you eat depends on how much of the mineral was in the soil where the plants grew
Vanadium	No available data	dill, fish, olives and radishes
Zinc	12 to 15 mg	beef, chicken (the dark meat), fish, fruits, lamb, legumes, nuts, pork, vegetables, whole grains and yeast. Low-protein and vegetarian diets tend to be low in zinc Zinc is in most multivitamin and mineral supplements. These supplements may contain zinc gluconate, zinc sulfate, or zinc acetate. It is not clear whether one form is better than the others. It is also found in some over-the-counter medicines, such as cold lozenges, nasal sprays, and nasal gels

NB: It’s important to remember that some known trace elements don’t yet have a recommended allowance as this amount is simply not known at this time.

Sourcing Trace Minerals

Many foods that would normally be expected to supply the trace minerals unfortunately do not. Many soils are geographically deficient in certain minerals and therefore foods grown in them lack those nutrients. A similar problem can be caused by over farming or poor soil management. Many areas are deficient in selenium, a very important trace mineral.

According to US Minerals approximately 99% of the body is comprised of minerals yet minerals are generally overlooked when nutrition is considered.

Did your mother ever remind you to take your minerals? Probably not, but she did say don’t forget to take your vitamins! Why do doctors, nutritionists and health practitioners constantly promote vitamins without mentioning minerals? Don’t they know vitamins are basically useless in the absence of minerals?

Gary Price Todd, M.D., says the human body needs at least 60 trace minerals in order to maintain a disease and ailment free state. If this is true, it’s easy to understand why sickness is so prevalent throughout the world.

Foods that are raised or purchased today contain, on average, no more than 16 to 18 minerals. This small number of minerals in plants is due to a mineral deficiency of the soils around the world.

Soil Deficiency

Science has proven the soils of the earth did contain approximately 80 minerals in prehistoric times. However, millions of years of wind and rain erosion and centuries of questionable farming practices have drastically reduced the mineral content of the earth’s surface where plants grow.

According to Dr. Todd, minerally deficient soils produce sick plants, which produce sick animals and ultimately sick human beings. Dr. Linus Pauling, two times Nobel Laureate, said;

“One could trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency”.

Healthy Mineral Sources

If the preceding is true, it only makes sense that people need to find a mineral source that provides 60 or more minerals to make up for the lack. This is the reason the principals at U.S. Naturals believe you should consider Sizzling Minerals.

This product provides up to 75-trace minerals. It is also plant derived, containing the same kind of hydrophilic minerals that are found in fruits and vegetables. This type of mineral is unlike a metallic mineral obtained from ancient seabeds, soil or ground up rocks.

Metallic minerals have a positive electrical charge whereby plant minerals like those in Sizzling minerals have a negative charge or what experts call a negative zeta potential.

This makes a big difference in the body’s ability to digest these minerals for the utmost benefit. Today’s environment of a polluted atmosphere, toxic chemicals, toxic emissions and contaminated water can alter the functions of the body on a day-to-day basis. Plant derived minerals can help regulate these alterations.

References
Bland, J. 1996, Contemporary Nutrition. J & B Associates.
Davies, S. and A. Stewart., 1997, Nutritional Medicine. Pan.
Holden, S., Hudson, K., Tilman, J. & D. Wolf, 2003, The Ultimate Guide to Health from Nature. Asrolog Publication.
Pressman, A. and S. Buff, 2000, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vitamins and Minerals. (2nd Ed.) Alpha Books.
Soothill, R. 1996, The Choice Guide to Vitamins and Minerals. A Choice Book Publication.
Sullivan, K. 2002, Vitamins and Minerals: A Practical Approach to a Health Diet and Safe Supplementation. Harper Collins.

Read more: http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/002418fod.htm#ixzz1myNsLQjb