Minerals and trace elements in food

Minerals and trace elements play a vital part in human metabolism. They must be ingested via food. Some are reused and accumulated by the human body (e.g. copper), others must be ingested regularly.

Investigations by the probe Phoenix have shown the existence of valuable minerals in the Martian regolith.

Composition of the human body, from Wikipedia (this is very similar for all life forms):

Element	Symbol	% in body	Notes
Oxygen	O	65.0	Oxygen is the most common element on Mars. Most of it in the human body is in the form of water
Carbon	C	18.5	Carbon is a part of CO2 that comprises 95% of the Martian atmosphere.
Hydrogen	H	9.5	Hydrogen is mostly in water, and in carbohydrates
Nitrogen	N	3.2	Nitrogen will comes from the Martian atmosphere, but is present in fairly low concentration. It may be one of the limiting factors of settlement growth
Calcium	Ca	1.5	Calcium should be common in the Martian crust.
Phosphorus	P	1.0	Phosphorous salts should be common as well.
Potassium	K	0.4	Potassium is common in the Martian crust
Sulfur	S	0.3	Sulfur is very common on Mars, more than on Earth
Sodium	Na	0.2	Sodium will be found with calcium
Chlorine	Cl	0.2	Chlorine can be found in perchlorates and salts. Perchlorates are so common on Mars they present a health problem,
Magnesium	Mg	0.2	Magnesium is a common mineral in the martian crust
Others		< 1.0

All of the above elements can be found in abundance on Mars. Some work will be required to incorporate some of the less common one into food.

1000 people mass about 70 x 1000 = 70 tonnes. So the Others part of this table, that covers all trace elements, is about 700 kg for a population of 1000.

So until the Mars settlement is entirely independent from Earth, a mass of a few hundred kg per year can cover the needs in trace elements for humans, and perhaps a few tonnes for an entire settlement ecosystem.

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