Trace metals are metals in extremely small quantities that are present in animal and plant cells and tissue. They are a necessary part of nutrition and physiology. Ingestion of, or exposure to, excess quantities is often toxic. However, insufficient plasma or tissue levels of certain trace metals can cause pathology as well; as is the case with iron.
Trace metals include iron, magnesium, lithium, zinc, copper, chromium, nickel, cobalt, vanadium, arsenic, molybdenum, manganese, selenium and others. [1]
Trace metals are depleted through the expenditure of energy by various metabolic processes living organisms. They are replenished in animals through diet as well as environmental exposure, and in plants through the uptake of nutrients from the soil in which the plant grows.
Human vitamin pills and plant fertilizers both contain trace metals as additional sources for trace metals.
Trace metals are sometimes referred to as trace elements, though the latter is a broader category. See also Dietary minerals