A nutrient is either a chemical element or compound used in an organism's metabolism or physiology.
A nutrient is essential to an organism if it cannot be produced by the organism and must be obtained from a food source.
This article deals with nutrition in animals, especially humans. Nutrition in plants, fungi, bacteria and archaea is not discussed here.
These three types of nutrients are often called macronutrients.
The following table gives an idea of what elements are essential for humans:
Periodic table highlighting dietary elements
H | He | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Li | Be | B | C | N | O | F | Ne | ||||||||||||
Na | Mg | Al | Si | P | S | Cl | Ar | ||||||||||||
K | Ca | Sc | Ti | V | Cr | Mn | Fe | Co | Ni | Cu | Zn | Ga | Ge | As | Se | Br | Kr | ||
Rb | Sr | Y | Zr | Nb | Mo | Tc | Ru | Rh | Pd | Ag | Cd | In | Sn | Sb | Te | I | Xe | ||
Cs | Ba | * | Lu | Hf | Ta | W | Re | Os | Ir | Pt | Au | Hg | Tl | Pb | Bi | Po | At | Rn | |
Fr | Ra | ** | Lr | Rf | Db | Sg | Bh | Hs | Mt | Ds | Rg | Cn | Uut | Fl | Uup | Lv | Uus | Uuo | |
* | La | Ce | Pr | Nd | Pm | Sm | Eu | Gd | Tb | Dy | Ho | Er | Tm | Yb | |||||
** | Ac | Th | Pa | U | Np | Pu | Am | Cm | Bk | Cf | Es | Fm | Md | No |
The four organic basic elements | Quantity elements | Essential trace elements | Possible structural or functional role in mammals |
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