Six essential nutrients

(By Lisa Sarah John, Courtesy Bangalore Times, October 08, 2007)

All foods contain nutrients. And these nutrients perform various important functions in our body. Often, when people go on a diet, they overlook this fact and instead assume that as long as they are getting instant energy, it doesn’t matter what they eat. Which is why we have people who go on diets consisting only of fruits, vegetables, juices, soups, idlis, etc. This is dangerous for the body as there are many nutrients which are essential every day and deficiency of these results in hair fall, bone and teeth damage, poor blood functioning (anaemia), muscular weakness, sagging and wrinkling of skin and an overall deterioration of health and fitness.
Here are six classes of nutrients that are absolutely necessary to stay healthy:
1. Water makes up 60 per cent of the body components.

2. Minerals, which are important for teeth, bones and blood.

3. Vitamins, which help many vital processes of the body.

4. Carbohydrates, an energiser, to keep your body vigorous and active.

5. Proteins, a body builder, important for growth, maintenance and repair.

6. Fats, a reserve fuel, that provides energy but excess of it gets converted to body fat.

Providing a proper balanced supply of these nutrients ensures the smooth and efficient running of my body. It’s like providing water, oil and petrol to ensure the smooth and efficient running of a car. Water, minerals and vitamins energise but play crucial roles in the efficient functioning of the body. If you don’t oil the hinges of your door, it will still open and shut but it will creak. If oiled it functions smoothly. Minerals and vitamins are the oil in the machinery of the body. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats, all provide the petrol or fuel.
Minerals and vitamins do not supply energy or calories but they play an important role in the regulation of several essential processes of the body.
For example the mineral calcium, is important for proper muscle contractions so that our heart beats properly and our limbs move easily. It also makes up our teeth and bones and it is essential that it is supplied through our daily diet, from birth to death.
Iron is necessary for oxygen to be properly carried from our lungs to all parts of the body. Iron from the food goes into the blood to make up haemoglobin (Hb), which is the oxygen lorry of the body. If your haemoglobin count is 10 instead of 12 it is like saying you have only 10,000 lorries instead of 12,000. Your oxygen supply to the whole body is less and you will feel tired and weak. This is called Iron deficiency anaemia.
Sodium and potassium are also minerals essential for the water or fluid balance of the body. Similarly, we see that vitamins also play important roles. If we have calcium in the diet but not enough Vitamin D, the calcium will not be absorbed properly. If we have enough iron coming from our food but not enough Vitamin B and C then the iron cannot be absorbed fully.
Most of the minerals and vitamins are required in small amounts but are required every day. They can be easily obtained from food if one condition and principal is strictly followed — eat a balanced diet every day and never miss a meal. 

                                *  *  *  *  *   *  *