A number of inorganic elements are essential for the growth of living things. Boron, for example, has been demonstrated to be required for the growth of many-perhaps all-higher plants but has not been implicated as an essential element in the nutrition of either microorganisms or animals. Trace amounts of fluorine are certainly beneficial, and perhaps essential, for proper tooth formation in higher animals. Similarly, iodine is required in animals for formation of thyroxin, the active component of an important regulatory hormone. Silicon is a prominent component of the outer skeletons of diatomaceous protozoans and similar organisms and is required in them for normal growth. In higher animals the requirement for silicon is much smaller. A less obvious example of a specialized mineral requirement is provided by calcium, which is required by higher animals in comparatively large amounts because it is a major component of bone and eggshells; for other organisms, calcium is an essential nutrient but only as a trace element. Mineral elements in wide variety are present in trace amounts in almost all foodstuffs. It cannot be assumed that the nonessential mineral elements play no useful role in metabolism.
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