The Science: What Are Essential Nutrients?

Essential nutrients are molecules that are vital to our health but which our bodies are unable to synthesis through chemical pathways. Our inability to build these molecules means that we must obtain them from our diets. Essential nutrients are grouped into four categories: amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals.

• Amino acids: There are twenty different amino acids and it is these twenty molecules that our bodies use to build proteins. Eight of these twenty amino acids are essential nutrients. It is imperative to our health that we obtain these eight from our diets because all twenty must be available in the body in order for it to use any of them. All animal products contain ample amounts of all twenty amino acids because animals use the same twenty amino acids to build their proteins as we do. Also, combining any grain with any legume will deliver all eight essential amino acids. Most grain based cultures have intuited this; in Mexican foods rice and beans are staples, chickpeas and whole wheat in Middle Eastern foods, and soy beans and rice in Asian cuisines.
• Fatty Acids: There are two families of fatty acids, omega-3's and omega-6's. Both of these are polyunsaturated fats. Legumes, grains, nuts, green vegetables, fish, olive oil and animal fats supply both of these fats and in a healthy proportion to each other.
  
• Vitamins: Vitamins are organic molecules that are required in our diets in small amounts relative to the amounts of amino acids and fatty acids needed by our bodies. Vitamins are grouped into two categories: water-soluble and fat-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins are excreted in the urine and moderate overdoses in these vitamins are probably harmless. There are two:
• B complex: 17 vitamins have been labeled B and all work synergistically. These vitamins generally functions as coenzymes. Coenzymes are molecules that enzymes bind to in order to catalyze metabolic processes more efficiently. The best source in whole grains.
  
• Vitamin C: required for production of connective tissues, lactation, and beneficial in treatment of the common cold. It is found in many fruits and vegetables.
  

Fat-soluble vitamins: excesses of these molecules are not excreted in the urine but are deposited in body fat so overconsumption may result in toxic levels. There are four:

• Vitamin A: a very important vitamin that catalyzes innumerable biochemical processes. Vitamin A is an antioxidant and protects against free radicals and pollutants, thus against cancer. Sources are butterfat, egg yolks, organ meats, seafood, and fish liver oil. Provitamin A, or carotene can be obtained from yellow, red, orange, or dark green fruits and vegetables. Carotene can be converted into vitamin A in the upper intestines but some people-particularly infants, children, diabetics, and individuals with poor thyroid function-cannot make this conversion. It is found in butterfat,
  
• Vitamin D: aids in calcium and phosphorus absorption and is there for important for bone formation, healthy teeth, and normal growth.
• Vitamin E: needed for circulation, tissue repair, and healing. It protects the phospholipids in membranes from oxidation and is therefore an antioxidant. It is found in unrefined vegetable oils, butter, organ meats, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and dark leafy vegetables.
  
• Vitamin K: required for blood clotting and important for cone formation. It is found in liver, egg yolk, butter, grains, dark leafy vegetables, vegetables of the cabbage family, and fermented soy foods like miso.
  
• Minerals: minerals are simple inorganic molecules that are best absorbed in ionic forms. Minerals can be broken up into macrominerals which are needed in relatively large amounts and trace minerals which are needed in minute amounts. The seven macrominerals are:
  
• Calcium: best sources are dairy products and bone broth.
  
• Chloride: best source is salt. Also available in celery and coconut.
  
• Magnesium: found in many foods.
  
• Phosphorus: found in many foods.
  
• Potassium: found in a wide variety of nuts, grains, and vegetables.
  
• Sodium: found in salt, meatb roths, and zucchini.
  
• Sulphur: found in cruciferous vegetables, eggs, milk, and animal products.
  

Some of the better known trace minerals are:

• Iodine
• Iron
• Manganese
• Selenium
• Silicon
  
• Zinc