Vitamins are a group of substances that are needed for normal cell function, growth, and development. There are 13 essential vitamins. This means that these vitamins are required for the body to work properly.
Minerals are inorganic nutrients. That is, they are materials found in foods that are essential for growth and health and do not contain the element carbon. The minerals that are relevant to human nutrition are water, sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphate, sulfate, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, iodine, selenium, and molybdenum. Cobalt is a required mineral for human health, but it is supplied by vitamin B 12 . There is some evidence that chromium, boron, and other inorganic elements play some part in human nutrition, but their role has not been proven.
