Many people are familiar with the importance of vitamins for healthy bodies, but not everyone realizes humans need minerals in order to build bones, create hormones and regulate heartbeats. Minerals are essential to many processes like digestion, formation of cells, immunity to disease, energy and metabolism. The body cannot live without even small amounts of minerals like copper and some minerals like magnesium, affect all of the body's biological processes.

Of the 21 essential minerals, the body requires more than 100 mg of 7 of them, classifying those as macrominerals.