- Trace minerals are essential mineral elements required in amounts that are **less than 100mg per day**
- They still perform vital roles
- Obtaining adequate amounts of them from food is difficult
- **Iron** is the most important trace mineral
- Iron has 4 major roles:
1.**Oxygen transport** - Needed for production of hemoglobin (red blood cells), myoglobin (muscle cells), and cytochromes (most body cells)
2. Cell division - Required by an enzyme needed for DNA production
3. Immune system - Needed for production of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). Enables neutrophils (another type of white blood cell) to destroy bacteria
4. Nervous system - Needed to help maintain the myelin sheath that covers parts of certain nerve cells, needed for the production of neurotransmitters (eg, dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine that regulate br)
