Micronutrients

• Micronutrients, which consist of vitamins and minerals, are required in small quantities in our diet for health and survival.
• Vitamins are key for efficiency in a number of functions, including metabolism, energy production and more.
• Minerals are important for fluid balance, bone and tooth health, hormone production, oxygen transport, and more.
• A micronutrient deficiency is caused by not consuming enough of a micronutrient and can lead to disease and eventually death.
• Lifestyle factors (e.g. exercise, fasting, occupation, etc.) and biological factors (e.g. age, sex, pregnancy, health status, etc.) can affect micronutrient needs.
• Your doctor or a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) can help you determine your micronutrient needs.

Every single food or beverage contains micronutrients, which means we consume micronutrients everyday. Micronutrients, more commonly known as vitamins and minerals, are required in very small quantities in our diet, but they are essential. When a component of food is essential, it must be consumed regularly in order to maintain our health and survival. Vitamins are produced by living things, including plants and animals. On the other hand, minerals are found in the earth, and living things, like humans, must take up minerals from soil or water – or by consuming the plants or animals that take up the minerals.

There are 13 essential vitamins: vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate, and vitamin C. For minerals, 15 are considered essential: calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, sulfur, cobalt, copper, fluoride, manganese, and selenium. In addition to our diet, micronutrients can also be found in dietary supplements, like multivitamins. Some vitamins and minerals can be stored in our body for a short period of time and others need to be replenished daily.

Vitamins

All vitamins are extremely important for a number of functions, including metabolism, energy production, immune function, inflammation, and more. In our bodies, vitamins are cofactors for enzymes, which is like a captain of a ship. Without a captain, a ship can still float and move along in water, but it probably won’t get to its destination and if it happens to get there, it will take a long time to do so. If enzymes are the ship, cofactors guide the enzymes, and help them work as efficiently as possible. Therefore, if we do not consume enough micronutrients, we may impair our body’s ability to perform certain functions. However, consuming more vitamins than we need doesn’t always lead to better function. And even though all vitamins are important, they do not behave the same – some are fat soluble and some are water soluble.

• Fat Soluble Vitamins. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are usually grouped together because they are fat soluble, meaning we need to eat them with fat containing foods in order to absorb them into our body. Fat soluble vitamins can be stored in our body, and excess body fat can capture some of the fat soluble vitamins and prevent them from being used. Therefore, people with overweight or obesity may require more fat soluble vitamins in their diet than someone who does not have overweight or obesity. Speak to your doctor or a Registered Dietitian to learn more about your vitamin or mineral needs.

Vitamins A, D, E, and K are usually found in foods that contain fat, like meat, eggs, dairy, nuts, and fish, which ultimately makes sense because they require fat in order to be absorbed into our body. Vitamin A and D are unique among the fat soluble vitamins. Even though our bodies cannot make vitamin A from scratch, we can make it from a nutrient called carotene. Carotene is found in red and orange foods, like carrots, sweet potatoes, and egg yolks. Vitamin D is special because we can make it from the sun. However, depending on the time of day and year, strength of the sunlight, color of one’s skin, and if we are wearing sunscreen or not, our vitamin D production can be greatly affected. Typically, if you live in a sunny area, 15-60 minutes in the sun is sufficient for your daily vitamin D needs. To best protect our skin, it is best to wear sunscreen with spf 30 or higher, even though it prevents most of our vitamin D production.

• Water Soluble Vitamins. Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folate are all considered B vitamins. Vitamin C and the B vitamins are grouped together because they are water soluble, meaning they need to be consumed with water (or without fat) in order to be best absorbed by our body. Water soluble vitamins dissolve in water and do not mix with fat – think about the oil and vinegar in a salad dressing that separate when they sit in the fridge for a while. Unless the B vitamins and vitamin C are being used, they tend to exist mostly in our blood, which is similar to water, instead of being stored in our fat.

Our kidneys are bean-shaped organs that play a substantial role in making sure we don’t have too many nutrients in our blood. Although it is relatively uncommon, having too much of a nutrient in our body can be just as damaging as not having enough of the nutrient. Our kidneys are responsible for continuously filtering our blood, and they pull out nutrients we don’t need and excrete them in our urine. Since our kidneys make sure we only have enough nutrients in our blood for immediate use, any excess will be excreted. Due to this continuous filtering, we need a regular and steady intake of water soluble vitamins. In other words, taking a single large dose of a water soluble vitamin would lead to it being excreted instead of being stored.

Minerals

Minerals are essential for a variety of functions like fluid balance, bone and tooth health, hormone production, oxygen transport, and more. Calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, sulfur, cobalt, copper, fluoride, manganese, and selenium are the 15 essential minerals. Although there are a lot of minerals, they are not grouped together like fat soluble and water soluble vitamins. However, some minerals can be grouped together by similar functions.

• Bone Health. Calcium and phosphorus are important for bone health and they form the matrix that makes up our bones. We can also find calcium in our blood. If we don’t have enough calcium in our blood, then we will take it out of our bones. Overtime, this can impact the strength of our bones, so we must regularly consume calcium to prevent this.
• Fluid Balance. Sodium, chloride, potassium, and magnesium are needed for fluid balance. Sodium tells our body to retain fluid, and this is why consuming foods high in salt, which contains sodium, can lead to fluid retention and affect our blood pressure. Some people’s blood pressure is more sensitive to sodium than others, so sometimes changing sodium intake doesn’t affect blood pressure at all.

Absorption

Some micronutrients affect the absorption of other micronutrients. Here, we will discuss a few interactions between micronutrients that can increase or decrease their absorption into our body.

• Vitamin C and Iron. Iron is a mineral that needs to be in a specific form for absorption. This form is called reduced iron. Vitamin C is able to help transform iron into its reduced form, which can increase iron’s absorption. Vitamin C is found in red, orange, and dark green fruits and vegetables, like oranges, bell peppers, and spinach. Iron is found in meat, especially dark or red meat, and beans. To increase iron absorption, try pairing an iron containing food with a vitamin C containing food – like ground beef in tomato sauce.
• Calcium and Iron. Similarly to iron, calcium also needs to be in its reduced form to be absorbed into our body. Since calcium and iron both need to be reduced, this can create competition for their absorption and neither of them will be absorbed efficiently. If you are trying to absorb more calcium, avoid foods high in iron at that meal and vice versa. Calcium is found in dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt.
• Calcium and Vitamin D. Vitamin D regulates our bodies calcium levels. If we have too much calcium, vitamin D is needed in order to decrease our calcium absorption, and if we don’t have enough calcium, then vitamin D is needed to increase our calcium absorption. Therefore, we must have adequate vitamin D for proper calcium regulation. Vitamin D is found in small quantities in foods like salmon and eggs, however the best source of vitamin D is from the sun.

Deficiency

If we don’t consume enough of a vitamin or mineral, we can become deficient. Each vitamin and mineral has their own signs and symptoms of deficiency, which can lead to disease and eventually death. A number of lifestyle factors, like exercise, fasting, and activity level, and biological factors, such as age, sex, pregnancy status, and health status, can affect micronutrient needs. Your doctor or a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) are two healthcare professionals that can help you determine your vitamin and mineral needs.

The best way to prevent micronutrient deficiency is through our diet. Different foods contain different amounts of vitamins and minerals, but consuming a variety of foods will ensure we are consuming adequate amounts of each vitamin and mineral. Here is a list of foods for each micronutrient. This list is not all-inclusive and notice some foods contain multiple vitamins and minerals.

Take Home Message

Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals in our diet that are needed for health and survival. There are over 20 essential micronutrients, and they are found in a variety of foods, including both animal and plant sources. Not consuming enough of a micronutrient can lead to deficiency, which can be extremely dangerous. If you have concerns about your micronutrient needs, speak to your doctor or a Registered Dietitian. Look below to test your knowledge.

Test Your Knowledge

True or False: If you go one day without consuming a water soluble vitamin, you will become deficient.

 Correct answer: False

Explained: Even though we don’t store water soluble vitamins in our body, going a few days without consuming one, or any other micronutrient for that matter, will not immediately lead to deficiency. Deficiency of any nutrient often takes months to develop, so consuming a variety of foods, and therefore micronutrients, at every meal will help ensure you have enough micronutrients.

If you are concerned about a possible micronutrient deficiency, speak to your doctor as soon as possible.

 References

1. Lykstad J, Sharma S. Biochemistry, Water Soluble Vitamins. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Accessed November 15, 2022. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538510/
2. Definitions of Health Terms: Minerals: MedlinePlus. Accessed November 20, 2022. https://medlineplus.gov/definitions/mineralsdefinitions.html
3. Sandström B. Micronutrient interactions: effects on absorption and bioavailability. Br J Nutr. 2001;85(S2):S181. doi:10.1079/BJN2000312
4. Gharibzahedi SMT, Jafari SM. The importance of minerals in human nutrition: Bioavailability, food fortification, processing effects and nanoencapsulation. Trends Food Sci Technol. 2017;62:119-132. doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2017.02.017