A guide to the vitamins & minerals

For most of us vitamins and minerals are that vague group of compounds we know are somehow essential for our health, but are most frequently sighted in the supplement aisle of our local pharmacy.

But why do we need them? What do they do? And can you actually name more than 5 individual vitamin and minerals? (Go on – I dare you…).

The Micronutrient need to know 

Here’s a brief round-up of what you need to know.

• There are 13 vitamins, and 17 minerals that we know we need as part of our daily diets.

• Vitamins and minerals are called micronutrients because we don’t need them in very large amounts, like we do the macronutrients (that's carbs, fats and protein). Instead, we need them in such small amounts that they’re often quite hard to visualise. A microgram anyone?

• They’re essential because our bodies can’t make them in large enough quantities themselves, so we have to get them from our diet.

• They’re not a source of energy or fuel, and contain no calories. Instead our bodies use micronutrients as co-factors and co-enzymes to help them carry out the day-to-day grind of running a human body. DNA replication? Metabolising food for energy? Forming your bones and skeleton? All done with a helping hand from various vitamins and minerals.

• Minerals are different to vitamins (and in fact, most living things in the universe) as they are inorganic substances found in rocks and ore that have slowly worked their way into our diets via soil and plants. They are single elements; so copper, iron, and so on.

• Vitamins in contrast are organic compounds, so contain carbon, meaning that they’ll burn if you for whatever reason choose to set fire to your food. Fun fact – because of this, mineral amounts in food were originally measured by combusting food in a furnace and measuring the resulting ash, while vitamins proved much harder to identify and are largely 20th century discoveries.

Get in touch

I've endeavoured to be as transparent as possible about sources and references to back up the information here with evidence. But please do get in touch if you spot anything that you have questions about, or don't think is clear enough. Please note that this site is not meant to provide medical advice. If you think you're deficient in any of the micronutrients, you should consult a registered dietitian or your GP.

AtoVnutrition@gmail.com

Food vs. vitamin and mineral supplements 

While a balanced diet is all most of us need to get the right amounts of vitamins & minerals, the problem is that a typical diet these days is actually not all that balanced, and often low in foods such as fish, dairy and anti-oxidant rich fruit and veg.

In the UK, only 33% of adults meet the “5-a-day” recommendation according to data published by the government in 2020, and average consumption of oily fish was well below the recommended one portion (140g) per week in all age groups. And the trend is a global one. In 2011, the Journal of Nutrition published a report entitled “Foods, fortificants, and supplements: where do Americans get their nutrients?” Without supplements, and enriched and fortified products, the authors estimated that 100% of Americans would fail to meet the average requirements (EARs) for vitamins D, E, C, A, B1, B6 and B9.

The problem is however, that isolating vitamins and minerals and serving them up in supplements as megadoses is not a surefire route for attaining good health either. In fact, several randomised controlled trials (the most reliable type of experiment) have shown that vitamins can actually act in very different ways to how we’d expect when taken in large amounts as synthetic supplements.

While there is absolutely a role for supplements in certain circumstances, the fact remains that most people in high income countries who take supplements are precisely the ones who least need them. According to research by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2008, nearly a third of people in the UK take some vitamin, mineral or dietary supplement on most days, and about 15% of us report having taken a “high dose” supplement in the last 12 months. Which is staggering when you think about it. At the A to V I believe your best bet is to eat a varied and healthy diet, avoid taking megadoses of anything, and consult credible sources such as the BDA and BNF websites if you think you should be taking a supplement.

A note on vitamin and mineral deficiencies….

If you suspect you’re deficient in any of the vitamins & minerals discussed here, the best thing to do is not to google your symptoms ( I repeat – do not google them!), but to consult your doctor or a qualified dietitian or nutritionist. You can tell who the qualified dietitians and nutritionists are by looking for anyone with RD, ANutr, or RNutr after their name. Spoiler – not many bloggers or so-called wellness gurus have these credentials…

I should stress that with a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle most adults living in high income countries are at a low risk for vitamin & mineral deficiencies. Those on exclusion diets (e.g. dairy free, vegans, and so on) may need to pay closer attention to their nutrient intake, ditto those with absorption problems or chronic health problems such as Crohn’s or kidney disease.

I’ve included some stories about deficiency diseases (aka what happens when you don't get enough of a certain nutrient) here not to scare anyone, but rather to show how fascinating the history of vitamins and minerals actually is. Deficiencies are also a salient reminder to us all that we really do need these little nutrients in our lives, even if we can't see them.