What are trace minerals and do I need them?

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Written by Amy Malec — Medically reviewed and edited by Tod Cooperman, M.D.

Updated March 20, 2025 ⓘ

Trace Minerals - What are they and do you need them?

Answer:

"Trace minerals" has a range of definitions, but, with regard to nutrition, generally means minerals that are used in very small amounts in the body, mostly in enzyme reactions

Essential dietary trace minerals are those that must be obtained through the diet and/or from supplements. These include chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc. Other trace minerals you may see on supplement labels include boron, nickel, tin (stannous chloride), and vanadium. Sign in to the full answer to find out if deficiency in these trace minerals is common, the best way to get them (from foods and supplements), and which, if any, you may want to avoid.

You may also use ConsumerLab's nutrient calculator below to see the Recommended Daily Allowances or Adequate Intakes of these and other minerals by age and gender, Tolerable Upper Intake Levels are also shown.

Nutrient

Age Range

Adult

RDA/AI*

900
1,000 (preg)
1,300 (lact)

Daily Value
(DV)

900
1,300 (preg/lact)

Upper Limit
(UL)

10,000

Sources

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Recommended Dietary Allowances and Adequate Intakes from the National Academies
Daily Values from FDA Food Labeling: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels 2016
ULs (Tolerable Upper Intake Levels) from Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Tolerable Upper Intake Levels, Vitamins from the National Academies

Abbreviations

* - Adequate Intake (AI)
mg - milligram (1,000 milligrams = 1 gram)
mcg - microgram (1,000 micrograms = 1 milligram)

NE - DV not established
ND - UL not determined
m - male; f - female
lact - lactating (breast feeding); preg - pregnant
Age ranges are in years

+ — 15 sources

In addition the results of its expert testing, ConsumerLab uses only high-quality, evidence based, information sources. These sources include peer-reviewed studies and information from agencies such as the FDA and USDA, and the National Academy of Medicine. On evolving topics, studies from pre-print journals may be sourced. All of our content is reviewed by medical doctors and doctoral-level experts in pharmacology, toxicology, and chemistry. We continually update and medically review our information to keep our content trustworthy, accurate, and reliable. The following sources are referenced in this article:

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6 Comments

johnsturm22295

March 21, 2025

How about lithium?

ConsumerLab.com

March 21, 2025

Please see our Low-Dose Lithium Supplements Review for information about lithium https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/lithium-low-dose-supplements/lithium/.

Reply to this post…

Esther2791

January 02, 2024

People like myself who have Wilson’s disease must avoid copper in multivitamins as WD is genetic copper poisoning caused by a genetic defect that causes us to accumulate copper ingested from foods.
Similarly, individuals with hemochromatosis must avoid supplemental iron as they suffer from toxic iron overload from food.

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