The essential vitamins & minerals that your body needs

The ‘Macronutrient’ gives us the key nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water. To protect our bodies and maintaining our health, we do need the essential ‘Micronutrient’ - vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. However, many are wondering what does each vitamin and mineral do for us?

Here are the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs to stay healthy.

1. Vitamin A

Also known as beta-carotene from fruit and vegetables with orangey-red pigment, like carrots, sweet potato, cantaloupe melon, dark leafy greens, broccoli, butternut squash, peppers, apricots and peas.

Vitamin A plays an important role in cell development, keep your vital organs like your heart, lungs, liver function properly. In addition, also promote healthy teeth, skin, hair, nails and bones development, also including eyes health and strengthen our immune system.

2. B Vitamins

Most B vitamins can be found in whole unprocessed foods like whole grains, lentils, beans nuts, seeds, potatoes, and fortified cereals, bread, and pasta. However, vitamin. There are eight different essential B vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and B12.

Vitamin B1 helps maintain a healthy metabolism, normal digestion, appetite, and nerve function.

B2 promotes healthy adrenal function, supports vision, and helps maintain healthy skin.

B3 helps metabolise energy and promote normal growth.

B5 aids energy metabolism and stabilises blood sugar levels.

B6 promotes protein and carbohydrate metabolism and healthy nerve function.

B7 helps maintain a healthy metabolism.

B9 makes DNA and red blood cells.

B12 which is vital for supporting the function of nerve cells, making red blood cells, DNA formation, and producing energy – is found mainly in animal products, like meat, fish, and eggs

3. Vitamin C

We can only get vitamin C from our diet because our body can’t produce them. Most citrus fruits like oranges are known for being high in vitamin C, other fruits like kiwis and strawberries. Vegetable like cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, red and green peppers, brussels sprouts and other leafy greens.

To keep our immune system strong and healthy we need vitamin C, protecting us from pathogens. Vitamin C is an antioxidant protects our cells from free radical attack and encourages our bodies to produce collagen, increases iron absorption, strengthens blood vessel walls and promotes wound healing too.

4. Calcium

Calcium is the most important mineral from dairy products like milk, fortified non-dairy milk like oat, rice milk, cheese, yogurt, almond, soy, dark green vegetables including kale, broccoli and collard greens. Legumes like beans, lentils, dried fruit, nuts, seeds and tofu.

Our body need calcium to improve bone health including our teeth. Low level of calcium will increase risk of reduced bone density, premature bone loss and increase risk of fracture.

5. Co-Q10

Also known as Coenzyme Q10 or Ubiquinol from vegetable like spinach, cauliflower and broccoli. From fruit like oranges and strawberries, legumes like soybeans, lentils, peanuts, sesame seeds and pistachios, fatty fish like trout, herring, mackerel, sardines and offal.

CoQ10 helps generate energy in our cells which aids energy transfer between cells and serves as an antioxidant, protecting cells from damage and helping to increase blood oxygenation.

6. Vitamin D

Unfortunately, we won’t able to find vitamin D from many foods other than sunlight, also known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’ because our bodies produce it when our skin is exposed to sunlight. However, some foods like fortified juices, cereals, dairy, and plant milk as well as oily fish, seafood, egg yolks and mushrooms do provide certain amount of vitamin D.

Vitamin D helps our bodies absorb calcium from food and supplements, it can create stronger bones, teeth, and muscles. It can also help boost our immune system, and may even be able to help protect against respiratory tract infections, affects serotonin levels, and can help boost our mood and reduce the risk of depression.

7. Vitamin E

The best sources of vitamin E are nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and peanuts. Though sunflower seeds, dark leafy greens like spinach and Swiss chard, avocados, butternut squash, tomatoes, mango, kiwi, margarines, and wheatgerm oil also contain vitamin E, as do fortified grains and cereals.

Vitamin E is important for blood circulation and preventing blood clots, as well as strengthening our immune system. It also helps protect fatty acids and maintain muscles and red blood cells. Plus, vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that can protect our bodies from free radical damage and help slow the cell ageing process.

8. Iron

Our bodies can’t produce iron similar like vitamin D, so we have to get it through our diet. They can be found in animal products like red meat and organ meat, seafood including halibut, haddock, clams, oysters, mussels, and eggs. Also from plants, like dried fruits, dark green leafy veg, nuts and seeds, chickpeas, beans and pulses, and fortified breakfast cereals. Iron foods usually contain antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and vitamins, they can also help boost our immune system.

Iron is an essential mineral that our body needs to function properly. Iron plays a key role in building haemoglobin, a protein that’s found in red blood cells. Haemoglobin carries oxygen around the body, and it makes up around two-thirds of all iron in our bodies. If we don’t have enough iron, our bodies can’t get enough oxygen, and we’ll feel tired and lethargic. Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world, and this can develop into the more serious iron deficiency, anaemia.

9. Vitamin K

Vitamin K mostly are from leafy greens like kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli. It’s also found in soybeans, blueberries, figs, eggs, and vegetable oils.

Similar like vitamin E, vitamin K is also important for blood clotting and helping wounds heal. If you’re vitamin K deficient, your body doesn’t have enough of the proteins that help blood coagulate, and one of the most common signs of vitamin K deficiency is excessive bleeding from wounds (even small ones). There’s also evidence that vitamin K can help keep bones healthy.

10. Magnesium

Essential mineral found in foods from spinach, leafy greens, almonds, cashews, peanuts, beans potatoes, brown rice, oats, avocado, broccoli, dark chocolate and from meat like chicken and beef.

Magnesium plays an important role in maintaining our body’s muscle, nerve functions, heart and glucose control, help soothe muscle and increase bone density.

11. Omega-3

Omega-3 fatty acids are oily fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, and herring, although you can also get omega-3 from cod liver oil, caviar, and oysters. The best source is from krill oil. Plant-based sources of omega-3 include seeds like flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and hemp seeds, nuts like walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts, and soya bean products like tofu, tempeh, soya milk, or soya protein.

Omega-3 fatty acids are among the most vital nutrients our body needs, and have many important benefits. They can prevent and treat depression and anxiety, enhance eye health, reduce risk factors for heart disease, help fight inflammation and autoimmune diseases, reduce liver fat, improve psychiatric disorders, and protect the brain against age-related decline.

12. Potassium

Foods that are high in potassium include fruits like apricots, bananas, kiwi, oranges, and pineapples – as well as vegetable like leafy greens, carrots, and potatoes. There are also high potassium levels in whole grains, beans, nuts, and lean meats.

Our bodies don’t produce potassium naturally, so we have to get it through our diet – although many Western diets are low in potassium. Because getting too much potassium can cause health problems, potassium isn’t easily supplemented, but if you eat a healthy, balanced diet you should be able to get enough natural sources of potassium each day.

Potassium is another vital mineral that has many important functions like keeping your body hydrated, supporting healthy blood pressure, and aiding muscle contractions and nerve impulses. It’s also important in promoting healthy digestion and heart rhythm, as well as maintaining pH balance acidity and alkalinity.

Final thoughts…

While there are many essential vitamins and minerals, we need to stay healthy. The good news is most of us can ensure we get enough from eating a healthy, balanced diet. There are some health conditions that can make it harder to get enough of a certain nutrient, but in many cases, you can supplement vitamins or minerals to make sure you’re getting enough.

But how do we know our body is absorbing the right amount of nutrients from the food we eat? How do we know the vitamins and minerals we are taking is working well for our immune system? We mustn’t rely on how we feel, we need to measure and monitor our health through science regularly. For those who like to know how to do that, please message me and happy to share more information with you.