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
Oxygen	O	65.0
Carbon	C	18.5
Hydrogen	H	9.5
Nitrogen	N	3.2
Calcium	Ca	1.5
Phosphorus	P	1.0
Potassium	K	0.4
Sulfur	S	0.3
Sodium	Na	0.2
Chlorine	Cl	0.2
Magnesium	Mg	0.2
Others		< 1.0

All of the above elements can be found in abundance on Mars. some work will be required to incorporate some of then 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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