Vitamins and minerals - a short guide
What are vitamins and minerals?
Vitamins are organic components of food that are essential for life. The human body needs vitamins to function properly. We are unable to produce most vitamins, or at least not in sufficient quantities to meet our needs. Therefore, they must be obtained from food
A mineral is an element that comes from the Earth and always retains its chemical property. Minerals are found in the form of inorganic crystalline salts. Once minerals enter the body, they remain there until excreted. They cannot be transformed into something else. Minerals cannot be destroyed by heat, air, acid or mixing. Compared to other food components, such as protein, carbohydrates and fats, vitamins and minerals are found in food in small amounts. This is why vitamins and minerals are called micronutrients, because we only consume them in small amounts.
All of the vitamins and minerals known today have specific functions in the body, making them unique and irreplaceable. There is no food that contains the full range of vitamins and minerals, and inadequate food choices can result in deficiencies. A variety of foods is therefore essential to meet the body's need for vitamins and minerals.
Of all known vitamins, four of them are fat-soluble. This means that fats or oils must be consumed in order for the vitamins to be absorbed by the body. These fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K. The others are water-soluble: they are vitamin C and the B complex, consisting of vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin, folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid and choline.
Minerals are divided into two categories: macronutrients and trace minerals/trace elements. As the name suggests, macronutrients are required by the body in larger quantities (more than 100 mg per day), unlike trace elements. In order to meet our requirements for certain macronutrients, we need to consume enough varied food. Trace elements are so named because they occur in the body in relatively small amounts. If we were to add up the requirements for trace elements, we would only get a little dust, barely enough to fill a teaspoon. However, they are not less important than macronutrients or other nutrients. The content of trace elements in food depends on the composition of the soil and water, and how the food is processed. There are more than twenty minerals that the body uses for various purposes. In this booklet, we will present only those minerals whose intake may be insufficient if we limit access to a varied diet
There are more than twenty minerals that the body uses for various purposes. In this booklet, we will present only those minerals whose intake may be insufficient if we limit access to a varied diet
