Essential Nutrients 101: What Your Body Needs to Thrive

For proper functioning of the body and good health, it is necessary to consume six essential nutrients through diet. They are vitamins, minerals, protein, fats, water, and carbohydrates. Consuming these nutrients through a balanced and varied diet ensures smooth functioning of all the essential body functions and good health.

What Are Essential Nutrients?

Essential nutrients are compounds that the body cannot make on its own or cannot make in sufficient quantities. Therefore, it is extremely important to get them through food. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these nutrients are important for our health, growth, and disease prevention.

These nutrients can be divided into two main categories:

Macronutrients: These nutrients are consumed in large quantities and are the major building blocks of your diet. Macronutrients include:

• Carbohydrates: These are the main source of energy and are needed for most of the body’s physical activities. Whole grains, fruits, and vegetables are the major carbohydrate sources.
• Proteins: These are needed to repair and build body tissues and cells. Major sources of protein include meat, fish, eggs, pulses, and nuts.
• Fats: These are the main source of energy and contribute to the structure of body cells, hormone production, and body temperature control. Healthy fat sources include avocado, nuts, seeds, and fish.

Micronutrients: These are micronutrients and are required in smaller quantities, but they are still extremely important for proper body function. Micronutrients include:

• Vitamins: These play a role in various bodily processes, such as supporting the immune system and repairing cells.
• Minerals: These are essential for bone strength, blood supply, and other vital body functions.

A balanced intake of these nutrients helps maintain your health and keep all the body’s essential processes running properly.

Essential Nutrients That Your Body Needs

There are 6 basic essential nutrients:

Vitamins

Vitamins are such organic compounds which are very essential for the proper functioning of our body, even if present in small quantities. We get them from food. Our body does not make vitamins on its own or makes them in very small quantities, so we fulfil their deficiency through food.

There are 13 vitamins in total and they are classified as micronutrients because we only need them in small amounts, usually milligrams or micrograms (mcg) daily.

The list of essential vitamins includes the following 13 vitamins:

Vitamins are divided into two main groups: fat soluble and water soluble.

1. Fat-Soluble Vitamins:

These vitamins are stored in the body in combination with fat and remain in the body for a long time. They include:

• vitamin A
• vitamin D
• vitamin E
• vitamin K

2. Water-Soluble Vitamins:

These vitamins dissolve in water and don’t stay in the body for long, so it’s important to consume them regularly. They include:

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
• Vitamin B3 (niacin)
• Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
• Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
• Vitamin B7 (biotin)
• Vitamin B9 (folic acid)
• Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)

They offer a range of health benefits, including:

• Boosting the immune system
• Preventing or delaying cancer
• Strong teeth and bones
• Aiding calcium absorption
• Maintaining healthy skin
• Helping metabolize proteins and carbohydrates
• Supporting healthy blood
• Supporting brain and nervous system functioning

It is important to get these vitamins through a balanced diet, as each vitamin has its own specific role. Usually, a person who eats a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins can get all the necessary vitamins in their food and all of them work together to maintain the overall health of the body.

Minerals

Minerals are essential micronutrients for the body and can be divided into two main groups:

Major Minerals:

These minerals are required by the body in large quantities as well as important for various bodily functions. Major minerals include:

• Calcium
• Phosphorus
• Potassium
• Sodium
• Magnesium
• Sulfur

Major minerals are helpful in various vital functions of the body.

• Essential for maintaining fluid balance in the body.
• Helps in skin repair, hair growth, and nail strength. It also provides anti-inflammatory properties.
• Extremely important for the strength and structure of bones and teeth.

Trace Minerals:

These minerals are needed in small amounts by the body, but they are still important for healthy bodily functions. Trace minerals include:

• Iron
• Zinc
• Copper
• Selenium
• Manganese
• Chromium
• Iodine

Trace minerals are helpful in various vital functions of the body.

• Helps in the growth and maintenance of bones.
• Plays an important role in dental health.
• Plays a key role in blood clotting.
• Necessary for carrying oxygen in the blood.
• Important for the immune system to function properly.

To overcome mineral deficiencies, the diet can include foods such as red meat, seafood, iodized table salt, milk and other dairy products, whole grains, soybeans, nuts, leafy greens and legumes.

Protein

Proteins are essential nutrients for the human body. They are one of the building blocks of body tissues and can also serve as a fuel source.

Proteins are helpful in various vital functions of the body.

• Proteins are needed for the functioning of every cell in the body
• Proteins play an important role in transporting and storing molecules throughout the body, such as hemoglobin and myoglobin
• Help in repairing cells and building new cells
• Protect the body from virus and bacterial infections as antibodies
• Promote proper growth and development in children, teens and pregnant women
• Perform important functions as the enzyme amylase and the hormone insulin
• Proteins also act as neurotransmitters.

Sources of Protein

Vegetarian sources include gram, peas, beans and legumes, soybean, soy, nuts, quinoa. Meat, fish, egg, milk and liver are good non-vegetarian sources of protein. Among plant foods, soybean has the highest amount of protein.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, also known carbs, are found in many foods and beverages. Most carbs are naturally found in plant-based foods, which are generally beneficial. But if you are taking carbs from processed foods or added sugar, then it can have many disadvantages.

The amount of carbohydrates has been fixed differently for men and women. A healthy man needs 2000 calories a day and a woman needs 2500 calories. 45-65% of these calories, you get from carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are mainly divided into two types: simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates.

1. Simple Carbohydrates:

Simple carbohydrates contain small amounts of sugar and are digested quickly. There are two types: monosaccharides and disaccharides

• Digest quickly and raise blood sugar levels quickly.
• Often have a high glycemic index, providing an immediate surge of energy but no long-term stability.

2. Complex Carbohydrates:

Complex carbohydrates are more complex in structure, with more sugar molecules combined. They take longer to digest and provide a steady source of energy. There are two main types: polysaccharides and disaccharides.

Examples: whole grains, brown rice, quinoa, beans, peas, and vegetables.

• Digest slowly and maintain a steady blood sugar level.
• Aids digestion and provides long-term energy due to their high fiber content.

Fats

Fat is a very important macronutrient for our body. Like protein and carbohydrates, fat also plays a very important role in our body. It plays a very important role in many functions of the body. It is stored in our body as energy, so that it can be used as fuel in our body when needed.

Fat is also very important for keeping the cells of our body healthy, as it forms a layer to protect the cells from damage, which acts like a shield. For physical growth and development as well as mental health, we need to take adequate fat from our diet.

There are 4 main types of dietary fat

• Saturated fats
• Trans fats
• Monounsaturated fats
• Polyunsaturated fats

Saturated fats

This fat is mainly present in animal-based foods. However, it is also found in some plant-based foods such as coconut and its oil.

Trans fat

It is considered the most harmful fat for health. We mainly get it from vegetable oils. Apart from this, when we cook the oil at a temperature higher than its smoking point, the oil starts burning, the nutrition present in it is destroyed and the formation of trans fat starts.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats

Both these fats come under the category of unsaturated fats. These include omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. These are healthy fats, which are very essential for the body. It plays an important role in cholesterol control, mental health, weight management and keeping the heart healthy etc. It helps in preventing inflammation in the body.

• Monounsaturated fats are found in olive, peanut, and canola oil, avocado, nuts and seeds etc.
• Polyunsaturated fats are found in sunflower seeds, corn, soybean, and flaxseed oil, walnuts and fatty fish etc.

Water

Water is perhaps the most important nutrient as the human body is made up mostly of water.

Regulating body temperature, keeping the eyes and mouth moist, removing toxins, transporting nutrients to the cells – water plays a vital role in each of these processes. The body needs water to function smoothly. Also, dehydration can lead to a number of health problems, both long-term and short-term. These include migraines, indigestion, high blood pressure, kidney stones, breast cancer, uterine cancer, sinusitis, pulmonary tuberculosis and obesity. So to avoid these, you need to drink plenty of water every day. All these properties make it truly the elixir of life.

Conclusion

A balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, healthy proteins, vegetables, fruits, complex carbohydrates, water provides not only enough of essential nutrients but also beneficial chemicals such as phytonutrients.