You’ve no doubt heard of macronutrients, also known as macros. They are composed of three essential nutrients you need to include in your daily diet: proteins, healthy fats, and carbohydrates. But what about micronutrients? They’re often overlooked, though they are no less crucial than macros, and you can get them from many different foods or even supplements.
What are micronutrients? Which ones are the most important? Do you need to add them to your daily meals to avoid micronutrient deficiencies? What roles do they play in your health and well-being?
You’ll find the answers to all those questions and more here, thanks to MyFitFoods.
What Are Micronutrients?
While macros might make up the largest components of the food you eat, micronutrients, also known as micros, make up the smallest. The names make sense now, right? Essentially, micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals found in all of the food you eat. Whether you’re eating breakfast with eggs and buttered toast or dinner made of grilled chicken and rice, you’re not just consuming macros, but micros as well.
Although they make up small amounts of the nutritional elements you should eat every day, these micros are essential. Deficits in specific vitamins and minerals can lead to health conditions. Take scurvy, for example. In the 1700s, sailors would end up with scurvy because they didn’t have enough vitamin C in their diets.
Of course, this is just one example of the importance of micros. There are plenty of others.
The Four Types of Micronutrients
Overall, micronutrients can be divided into four main categories. They contain vitamins and minerals you’ve probably heard of before and maybe a few you haven’t. These categories include:
1. Trace Mineral
Trace minerals are found in small amounts in all of the foods you eat. They are crucial for a balanced diet because these minerals help regulate certain body systems, allowing your body to function properly and helping you feel healthy. You can get them from a variety of foods to avoid nutrient deficiencies.
Examples of trace minerals include:
- Fluoride: You’re probably already familiar with fluoride, as it’s added to your toothpaste and mouthwash. In addition, this trace mineral that helps strengthen your teeth is found in food sources like crab meat and fruit juice.
- Zinc: Want to have a healthy body? Zinc assists your body with healing injuries, maintaining your immune system, and assisting in your overall growth. You can find zinc in seafood, like crab and oysters, as well as chickpeas, so eat that hummus.
- Selenium: Your thyroid regulates your body’s systems. To keep your thyroid healthy, you can eat foods like ham and sardines that naturally contain selenium.
- Iron: Iron ensures that your muscles get enough oxygen. It also can regulate your hormones. Add oysters, spinach, and beans to your daily diet to make sure you are getting enough iron to prevent anemia.
- Copper: This trace mineral plays a role in how well your brain functions and keeps your nervous system working properly. It even helps your connective tissues (ligaments, etc.) stay healthy. If you need more copper in your diet, include foods like cashews and liver.
- Manganese: Sometimes this trace mineral is confused with the macromineral, magnesium. Manganese is found in nuts, like pecans and peanuts. It helps your body properly metabolize everything from cholesterol to amino acids and carbohydrates.
- Iodine: You can find iodine in cod, certain types of yogurt, and even seaweed. It helps regulate your thyroid, much like selenium.
2. Fat-Soluble Vitamins
There are two types of vitamins that your body needs to remain healthy. One of them is called fat-soluble vitamins, which are absorbed by the body through digestion. Since they are fat-soluble, they tend to stay in your body longer, and are usually stored in the liver. Examples of these vitamins include:
- Vitamin E: Vitamin E is an antioxidant as well as a vitamin that helps boost your immune system. It is found in an array of foods, including almonds, sunflower seeds, and wheat germ.
- Vitamin A: Without vitamin A, the organs in your body wouldn’t function properly. It is especially important for eye health. To get more vitamin A in your system, look for those in the carotenoid group. This includes foods such as spinach and carrots, as well as those in the retinol group, like fish, liver, and dairy.
- Vitamin K: The development of your bones, as well as your blood’s ability to clot, are both helped by vitamin K. Despite its vital role in the body, this vitamin is often overlooked. To add more vitamin K to your diet, try eating soybeans, leafy green vegetables like lettuce, and pumpkin.
- Vitamin D: You’ve probably heard of the importance of vitamin D. This vitamin is essential for helping your bones grow properly, as well as keeping them strong because it helps your body process calcium. You can find vitamin D in milk, sunlight (yes, not food), and even fish oil.
3. Water-Soluble Vitamins
Unlike fat-soluble vitamins, water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water. This means that while your digestive system processes them, a good portion of these vitamins are simply flushed through your system. Your body absorbs what it can, but what it can’t absorb is eliminated, as water-soluble vitamins cannot be stored in the body. As a result, you need higher amounts of them than you do fat-soluble vitamins.
When it comes to this type of vitamin, there are two main categories to include in your diet:
- B Vitamins: This group of vitamins includes B1, B2 (riboflavin), B3, B5, B6, B7, B9 (folate or folic acid), and vitamin B12. They help with everything from forming red blood cells to creating energy from the foods you eat. With so many different types of B vitamins out there, it should be no surprise that everything from meat to vegetables to legumes and dairy foods contains one of them. You’ll easily find them in one of your daily meals if you eat a healthy diet.
- Vitamin C: Vitamin C can boost your immune system and help your body create the neurotransmitters it needs for proper brain function. In addition, it helps with the creation of collagen, which keeps your skin looking nice and smooth. You can find vitamin C in citrus fruits and vegetables like bell peppers.
4. Macrominerals
Finally, there are macrominerals. These are named for the fact that you’ll find larger amounts of them in your food (and correspondingly, your body needs more of them to function). Macronutrients play several roles in ensuring that you remain healthy.
- Potassium: Although classified as a micromineral, potassium is an electrolyte. It ensures that your cells have plenty of fluid in them and helps your nerves and muscles function properly. You can find potassium in many foods, including bananas and lentils.
- Magnesium: Magnesium is found in tasty nuts, like cashews and almonds. It helps regulate your blood pressure. It also plays a vital role in many enzyme reactions (over 300 of them) that occur in the body every day.
- Phosphorus: You’ve probably never given any thought to the structures of your cell membranes, but phosphorus plays a role in maintaining them. Foods like turkey, salmon, and yogurt contain this mineral.
- Sulfur: Sulfur is used throughout the body, helping your tissues remain in good condition. You can find sulfur in foods such as eggs, onions, garlic, and brussels sprouts.
- Sodium: Sodium and chloride (below) often go hand in hand. Both are found in salt, as well as other foods. Sodium is a crucial micromineral because it helps your body retain enough fluid to function and ensures that your blood pressure remains stable.
- Chloride: Chloride also helps your body retain fluids, but it can also assist in producing stomach juices. Like sodium, it’s found in salt.
- Calcium: You probably already know quite a bit about calcium. It plays a role in keeping your bones strong and healthy. This micromineral can be found in everything from leafy vegetables, like lettuce and broccoli, to dairy products.
What You Need To Know About Micronutrients
Micronutrients are found in every single type of food that you eat. There are four main micronutrient types: macrominerals, trace minerals, fat-soluble vitamins, and water-soluble vitamins. You need to ensure that every meal that you eat contains a solid number of these nutrients to stay as healthy as possible.
The best way to do this is through proper meal planning or even choosing to eat prepared meals from MyFitFoods. Our meals are as tasty as they are good for you.
Sources:
What To Know About Micronutrients | Nourish by WebMD
Micronutrients: Types, Functions, Benefits and More | Healthline
About Author: Mario Mendias
