When we think about food, we often are hung up on its fat content or the number of calories it adds to our bodies. Most of us are aware that oils will give us fat, grains will give us carbohydrates, while pulses, meat, and dairy products are mostly protein. But if anyone asks you about the micro-nutrients present in your food items, you may not have a quick answer and you may even have to look the information up.
Mirco-Nutrients: What are they and Why Should We Worry about Them?
All the food items that we eat consist of micro-nutrients as well as macro-nutrients, just as their names suggest, the macro-nutrients are required our bodies in a big quantity, while the micro ones are needed in a very small amount.
Because our bodies require the micro-nutrients in very little quantity we often disregard their importance, which can lead to a weaker immune system and a variety of diseases as well.
Let’s have a lot at a few of the vital micro-nutrients that our bodies need.
Most of the micro-nutrients that we get from the food we eat can be divided into different categories, one of which is the minerals. We all know about minerals, they are obtained from the food we eat, and we require them in very small amounts in our bodies. Among the minerals, we have the micro-minerals and trace minerals that our bodies need for having a healthy, strong, and well-functioning body.
We all know about the importance of calcium for our bone health, in fact, there are many supplements out there that are produced to meet our calcium needs as our bone health degrades as we age.
Apart from maintaining healthy bones, calcium also improves blood circulation as it helps in the contraction and expansion of the blood vessels which creates a healthy and regulated flow of blood across the whole body, it also aids medications such as Cenforce 100 which are prescribed for the purpose of regulating blood circulation work more effectively.
Phosphorus is also vital for forming a cell membrane structure, as well as for bone health. Sodium gets bad press for increasing blood pressure, but in its defence, most of us eat a variety of processed food that is so high in sodium that it becomes harmful. Sulfur, Magnesium, and Chloride are also some micro-minerals that our bodies require.
You can include food items such as garlic, eggs, onions, and Brussels sprouts in your diet for getting your required amount of sulfur, and bananas and acorns will get Potassium.
Leafy green vegetables are also rich in calcium, they are also rich in nitrates, and even though our bodies cannot make direct use of nitrates, they can convert it to nitric oxide, which mimics the working mechanism of medications such as Vidalista 20 aid proper blood circulation across the whole body.
There are trace minerals, which our bodies need in even smaller amounts than the number of micro-minerals and they can be found in food items such as oysters, green leafy vegetables, seaweed, Brazil nuts, and chickpeas.
Even though trace minerals like iron, manganese, and iodine are required in a tiny amount, there are many people who suffer from iron and iodine deficiency which can weaken their immune system and interfere with their body functions.
Vitamins
There are a variety of vitamins that our bodies need and there are different groups of each type of vitamin, but they can be categorized as water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins.
All the vitamins that come under the vitamin B complex such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, biotin, and folate as well as ascorbic acid, better known as vitamin C are all water-soluble vitamins.
There are a variety of food items such as meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit which gives us these vitamins but because they are water-soluble, they dissolve in the water in the body and often get eliminated through urination. Thus it is not possible for our body to keep a storage of these Vitamins, which is why you have to add food items rich in Vitamin B and Vitamin C in your meals regularly.
There are Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin K and Vitamin E are fat-soluble ones, implying that they can be stored by our body in fatty tissues as well as our liver.
If you want to ensure that you get the best out of your fat-soluble vitamins for your body, then you should combine them with food items rich in fat.
Among them, Vitamin D can also be obtained by exposing your body to sunlight, but if you want to get Vitamin C with the help of the sun, then make sure you go out in the early morning when the sun rises, or sometime before the sunsets.
These vitamins are vital for healthy skin as well as hair growth, and Vitamin A is especially recommended to people who suffer from night-blindness.
Vitamin D has also been found to lower down the blood pressure in people who are suffering from hypertension and people using medications such as Fildena 100 and Fildena have found that vitamin D intake improves the effectiveness of the medication and also improves the symptoms of hypertension.
The best thing about micro-nutrients is the fact that you won’t have to add specific food items for getting them as they are present in most of the food items that you already eat such as fruits, pulses, fishes, and even vegetables.
The best way to ensure that you get all kinds of micro-minerals, trace minerals as well as fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins is to add colourful food items to your meals. The more colors in your meals, the more micro-nutrients you mean, so make sure to eat your greens, reds, and oranges with delight!
If you suffer from a deficiency of micro-nutrients, your doctor can prescribe you supplements, and people are often advised to use multivitamin supplements to boost their immunity and to maintain the vitality as well as the strength of their body organs.