Minerals in food systems: metabolic relevance, dietary sources, and advanced analytical strategies for quantification and speciation

Minerals are essential micronutrients involved in structural functions, enzymatic activity, cellular regulation, and metabolic homeostasis. This review critically examines mineral occurrence in foods and beverages, emphasizing the relationship between dietary sources, food matrix composition, bioavailability, and chemical speciation. Unlike previous reviews that separately address mineral nutrition or analytical methodologies, this work integrates mineral metabolism with advanced analytical strategies, food authenticity, and emerging data-driven approaches within a unified food chemistry perspective. Particular emphasis is placed on the transition from conventional total elemental determination toward speciation analysis, demonstrating how the chemical form of minerals governs biological availability, metabolic pathways, and toxicological outcomes. Current analytical techniques, including atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), ICP-OES, ICP-MS, EDX, XRF, LIBS, and hyphenated methods, are critically compared regarding sensitivity, selectivity, multi-element capability, portability, and suitability for routine and advanced food analysis. The influence of food processing, matrix interactions, and gastrointestinal bioaccessibility on mineral availability is also discussed. Finally, recent advances in chemometric data fusion, portable analytical systems, precision nutrition, and harmonized analytical methodologies are evaluated as emerging strategies expected to transform food authentication, nutritional assessment, and regulatory monitoring. By identifying current analytical challenges, methodological limitations, and future research priorities, this review provides an integrative framework connecting mineral metabolism with modern analytical food chemistry.