There are six essential minerals that are classified as macrominerals because you need fairly large amounts. "The Merck Manual" lists them as sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. The nine essential trace element minerals are listed as iron, iodine, fluorine, zinc, chromium, selenium, manganese, molybdenum and copper. No food source contains the exact amount needed of each mineral, but there are some that do contain almost all 15 of them.
Meat and Seafood
Because mammals need the same minerals that humans do, meat contains most of the minerals you need. It is a good source for all of them, except manganese, molybdenum, iodine and chromium. Liver contains chromium, and seafood will provide the manganese and iodine. The form of iron in meats is the easiest for your body to use. Ground chuck with 80 percent lean meat contains 11 of the 15 minerals considered essential, according to "Self" magazine's website Self Nutrition Data. Beef liver also contains 11 minerals and, in addition, is a very rich source of vitamins.
Milk and Eggs
Milk is intended as a complete food for young mammals, so it is a good source of some important minerals. The exact composition of milk varies, but you can depend on cow's milk for the bone-building minerals calcium and phosphorus, as well as eight other minerals. Milk is also a source for the molybdenum not abundant in meat. Cheese is a concentrated milk product, so, measure for measure, it has more minerals. Eggs contain 11 minerals and are an especially good source of selenium.
Plants and Mushrooms
Nuts supply many of the trace elements, including magnesium. Bananas are a good source of potassium. Dried fruits are concentrated foods and contain more minerals per ounce than the fruit from the tree. The mineral content of vegetables depends on the soil, as well as the type of vegetable. Eating a wide variety of leafy green vegetables will provide many trace minerals, including the iron in spinach. Mushrooms provide as many as 10 of the essential minerals and are low in calories, as well.
Mineral Water
Many natural mineral waters contain nearly all the minerals you need. As an example, the San Pellegrino water from Italy contains 14 of the 15 essential minerals and trace elements, according to Mineralwaters.org. The only exception in this water is iodine. Other mineral waters contain substantial amounts of some of the macrominerals, as well as trace elements. Some contain more calcium per measure than milk.
References
- "The Merck Manual" 17th Edition; Mark H. Beer, Robert Berkow, eds.; 1999
- Self Nutrition Data: Search
- Mineralwaters.org: San Pelligrino
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