Understanding Food Classes 2: Vitamins, Minerals and Other Essential Dietary Components

In our previous article, we shared valuable insights on macronutrients. In today's episode, we will explore micronutrients and other essential dietary components that play important roles in maintaining health, growth, and development.

Not so fast, we are not about to skip our weekly quiz😅:

Which of the following is not an actual vitamin?

A. Vitamin B1

B. Vitamin B2

C. Vitamin B3

D. Vitamin B4

E. Vitamin B5

Share your answer in the comment section.

Micronutrients are nutrients that the body needs in small amounts, but they are essential for good health, growth, development, and proper functioning of the body.

They include:

1. Vitamins

2. Minerals

Vitamins

Vitamins are essential organic compounds needed in small quantities for the body to function properly and maintain good health.

There are 13 essential vitamins, and each plays a unique role in maintaining body health. Vitamins are generally classified into two groups:

1. Fat-soluble vitamins

2. Water-soluble vitamins

Fat-soluble Vitamins

These are vitamins that require fat for absorption. They can be stored in the body's fat tissues (adipose tissue) and the liver. Because they are stored, they do not need to be consumed every day.

Among the fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin A is stored the longest, lasting several months and sometimes up to a year. Vitamin K is stored for the shortest duration, usually only days to weeks.

Let's look at the functions of each vitamin.

Vitamin A: Plays several important roles:

1. Vision

Helps the eyes detect light, especially in dim conditions.

2. Immunity

Strengthens the immune system and helps the body fight infections.

3. Healthy skin

Supports the maintenance of healthy skin and body tissues.

4. Growth and development

Ensures optimal growth and development, especially in children.

Sources of Vitamin A include animal products like liver, eggs, fish oil, and dairy products. These contain preformed vitamin A (retinol), which the body can use directly and absorbs more efficiently.

Plant sources include carrots, sweet potatoes, and green leafy vegetables. These contain carotenoids (such as beta-carotene), which the body converts into active vitamin A. However, this conversion is not 100% efficient.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D is the body's “calcium manager”.

It helps ensure that calcium and phosphorus are absorbed, transported, and used properly to build strong bones and teeth, support muscle contraction, and improve immune system function.

Sources of Vitamin D include fatty fish, egg yolk, liver, and sunlight exposure.

Vitamin E. Vitamin E is the body's “natural cell protector”. It protects the outer covering of cells from damage caused by free radicals, helping to maintain healthy skin, eyes, immune system, nerves and red blood cells.

The best sources of vitamin E include nuts, vegetable oils and green leafy vegetables.

Vitamin K: Vitamin K is the body's "clotting vitamin." It helps blood clot properly after injury, preventing excessive bleeding.

It also supports bone formation, and maintenance of strong bones.

Plant sources of Vitamin K include fluted pumpkin leaves (Ugwu), waterleaf (Gbure), bitterleaf (Ewuro) and other green leafy vegetables.

Animal sources are liver, egg yolk and chicken.

Water-Soluble Vitamins: Unlike fat-soluble vitamins, water-soluble vitamins, do not require fat for absorption, are not stored in large amounts by the body, and need more regular intake through the diet.

The major water-soluble vitamins include:

Vitamin B Complex: B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), B7 (Biotin), B9 (Folate), B12 (Cobalamin) — You may forget about the names in bracket😁 .

(Vitamin B4 was, therefore, the correct answer to our quiz)

Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5 and B7: These vitamins help the body release energy from food, use nutrients properly and support growth and daily activities.

Vitamin B6: Vitamin B6 is very important for the nervous system because it helps the body produce neurotransmitters, i.e,  chemical messengers that allow brain cells to communicate.

It supports growth by helping the body use proteins. Vitamin B6 also helps build new proteins needed for growth and tissue repair, helps process amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), supports the formation of healthy red blood cells responsible for transporting oxygen and supports the immune system.

Vitamin B6 is found mainly in foods that support growth, including fish, meat, eggs, beans, groundnuts, fruits like bananas and vegetables like fluted pumpkin leaves (Ugwu) also provide some vitamin B6.

Vitamin B9 (Folate): Vitamin B9 helps the body make new cells, produce healthy blood, support the development of a baby's brain and spinal cord during pregnancy and it is especially important during periods of rapid growth.

Sources of Vitamin B9 are green leafy vegetables, beans, fruits, some animal foods such as liver and eggs.

Vitamin B12: Vitamin B12 helps children grow well, keep the brain and nerves healthy and produce healthy blood that carries oxygen.

It is mainly found in fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products.

Minerals: Not the chilled drink you take on a sunny afternoon! (If you are Nigerian, you definitely know what I mean😄)

Minerals are inorganic nutrients that the body needs for growth, development, normal body functions and maintaining good health.

The body cannot produce minerals, so they must come from food.

There are many important minerals, but we will briefly discuss five that are especially important for child health and development:

🦴 Calcium → Builds strong bones and teeth.

🩸 Iron → Helps carry oxygen in the blood and supports brain development.

🛡️ Zinc → Supports growth and immunity.

🧠 Iodine → Supports thyroid function and brain development.

🦴 Phosphorus → Works together with calcium to strengthen bones.

Fibre: Are you finding all this information difficult to digest?

Go get some fibre! 😄

Dietary fibre is the part of plant foods that the body cannot fully digest.

It helps to keep the gut healthy, support normal bowel movement and contribute to overall health.

Water: Now is the time to gulp down all this information; remember to drink water! 💧

Water is water! It is as plain as that 😁

But despite its simplicity, water performs very important functions like acting as a transport medium for nutrients and waste products, helping to regulate body temperature, participating in chemical reactions in the body and maintaining normal blood volume.

Now we know this is quite a lot of information, so feel free to read in bits and come back to this article from time to time. 

Our goal is not to make you feel overwhelmed or overburdened, but to encourage you for each time you decide to stretch and add something extra to your child's regular menu. That little added veggie, the little slice of protein you add and you are doing something magnificent.

A simple nutrition hack: Make your meals as diverse and colourful as possible. Different colours often represent different nutrients, and variety helps ensure that the body receives the vitamins and minerals it needs for growth and good health.

We love you! Keep on raising that Well Child and don't forget to share this resource with a fellow caregiver.