Editing Nutrition (section)

=== Key Minerals ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Mineral !! Function !! Deficiency or excess !! Sources
|-
| Iron || Hemoglobin and myoglobin oxygen transport || Microcytic hypochromic anemia, fatigue, pallor, spoon nails || Heme iron from red meat, liver, and shellfish is best absorbed. Non-heme iron from beans, spinach, and fortified cereals is absorbed better with vitamin C and worse with tea, coffee, calcium, and antacids.
|-
| Calcium || Bone, muscle contraction, clotting, nerve conduction || Tetany, positive Chvostek and Trousseau signs, osteoporosis || Dairy, fortified plant milks, sardines with bones, tofu, kale, broccoli
|-
| Potassium || Cardiac and skeletal muscle conduction || Dysrhythmias, weakness, ileus at either extreme || Bananas, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, avocado, spinach, dried fruit, legumes, salt substitutes
|-
| Sodium || Fluid balance, nerve impulse transmission || Excess drives fluid retention and hypertension || Table salt, processed and canned foods, cured meats, cheese, condiments
|-
| Magnesium || Enzyme cofactor, neuromuscular function || Tremor, tetany, torsades de pointes, refractory hypokalemia || Nuts, seeds, whole grains, leafy greens, legumes
|-
| Phosphorus || Bone, ATP, cell membranes || Restricted in chronic kidney disease; hypophosphatemia is central to refeeding syndrome || Dairy, meat, nuts, legumes, cola beverages, processed foods with phosphate additives
|-
| Zinc || Wound healing, taste and smell, immunity || Delayed healing, loss of taste (hypogeusia), alopecia || Oysters, red meat, poultry, beans, nuts
|-
| Iodine || Thyroid hormone synthesis || Goiter, hypothyroidism, cretinism in infants || Iodized salt, saltwater fish, seaweed, dairy
|}

'''Nursing application:''' Salt substitutes are potassium chloride. They are dangerous for patients with chronic kidney disease or on ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, or potassium-sparing diuretics such as spironolactone.