A common classification of nutrients distinguishes between macro- and micronutrients. Macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats) consumed in relatively large amounts are used as sources of energy production or incorporated into tissues for growth and repair purposes.
Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals provide essential support for metabolism and other functions in our bodies, including metabolic pathways such as energy production. Each nutrient must exist in dynamic balance in order to remain effective. This is why dividing water- and fat-soluble vitamins as well as trace minerals into categories may help.
Vitamins
Vitamins are organic molecules (or groups of closely related molecules called vitamers) essential to proper metabolic function in small amounts for daily health. Since most vitamins cannot be produced naturally in the body, they must be obtained through diet.
Blood cells help transform food into energy, serving as the building blocks for blood, muscles and nerves as well as maintaining skin and mucous membrane health. Furthermore, they play an essential role in eye health, immune function and hormone production.
Some vitamins are water-soluble, meaning excesses can be excreted through urine; others, however, are fat soluble and stored in liver and fat tissue stores for future use. Fat-soluble vitamins include A, D, E and K while water-soluble versions include all B vitamins as well as vitamin C.
Minerals
Minerals are inorganic solid substances formed naturally without human involvement or modification. In order to be classified as a mineral, certain criteria must be fulfilled, including being inorganic and solid (meaning it doesn’t droop or melt) with definable chemical composition and crystal structure.
Geological processes used to produce minerals typically involve magma cooling, with elements then being classified according to their chemical makeup. Metals include platinum, iridium and palladium; semi-metals include gold, silver and copper; non-metals include the remaining elements as well as being further classified into categories such as sulfides, sulfosalts, oxides/hydroxides/hydroxyides carbonates halides phosphates/borates silicates etc. All minerals share an ordered internal structure feature.
Amino Acids
Proteins contain amino acids and comprise almost every tissue and organ in your body, as well as enzymes responsible for driving critical chemical reactions that supply energy to you. Your body can produce some essential amino acids itself; others must come from diet sources like meat, fish, eggs, soy products, black beans quinoa or pumpkin seeds – these essentials may even be found naturally!
Some amino acids, like lysine, play key roles in building muscles and stimulating protein synthesis as well as transporting nutrients and preventing illness. When essential amino acid deficiencies arise they may lead to decreased immunity, digestive issues, depression, fertility problems and reduced growth rates in children. Your physician can recommend an amino acid supplement; be sure that it has been third-party tested as this will ensure its quality.
Fatty Acids
Fatty acids (FAs) are an umbrella class of molecules composed of carbon chains with one or more acid groups and may be saturated or unsaturated, depending on whether their chains contain unsaturation. Unsaturation distinguishes omega 6 from omega 3 fatty acids; mammals lack enzymes necessary to insert double bonds at these positions and therefore essential dietary elements are required in sufficient amounts for normal physiological functioning. FAs are important structural “building blocks” of cell membranes that impact fluidity, cell receptor activity and signaling pathways, disease processes modulation processes modulation by modulating their presence or absence.
Cofactors
Cofactors are non-protein chemical compounds that assist an enzyme’s role as a catalyst. They may be either organic or inorganic molecules and they can bind loosely or tightly with its target enzyme; loosely bound cofactors are known as coenzymes; while tightly-bound cofactors are known as prosthetic groups.
Metal ions such as magnesium, zinc and iron are necessary for many enzymes to function correctly; similarly vitamins serving as coenzymes play an integral part in most metabolic processes.
Deficits in these nutrients have an enormously detrimental impact on enzyme specificity and metabolic pathways. For instance, the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex at the intersection between glycolysis and citric acid cycle requires one metal ion, five organic coenzymes such as FAD+ or NAD+ as well as two prosthetic groups (thiamine pyrophosphate or heme). Cofactors play an essential role in biochemical reactions of all kinds and should always be present in any formula used in its creation.
