List of Vitamins and Minerals

As we discussed in our Truth About Vitamins  article, the best way to ultimately receive the vitamins and minerals you need is to eat foods that maximize your absorption of these health essentials. For those of you who have not read the previous article, whole foods are the best way to absorb vitamins and minerals because your body often cannot absorb an isolated nutrient in the form of a supplement pill.  In fact, certain foods contain specific combinations of nutrients and minerals that have been found to work together in order to be absorbed properly by your body.¹  Once you have background knowledge on how vitamins and minerals are properly absorbed, it is less daunting to adjust your diet accordingly.

Photo Credit: MeiTengⁱ

Types of Vitamins and Minerals
In nutrition conversations, it is easy to lump vitamins and minerals together. However, vitamins are organic substances found in plants and animals, while minerals are inorganic substances that are found in soil and water. Since plants use soil and water, and then animals eat plants, vitamins and minerals are able to travel up the food chain to humans.²

There are two types of vitamins: fat-soluble and water-soluble. Much like the name suggests, fat-soluble vitamins dissolve in fats and oils, meaning when they are absorbed with fats in the diet, they are stored in the body’s fatty tissue for later use. Water-soluble vitamins not surprisingly dissolve in water, and they are carried to the body’s tissues for immediate use. Since these are used right away, they have to be taken in daily.³

It is likely that many of the foods you already eat contain the essential vitamins and minerals. Here are three tables to help guide your diet:

1. Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Vitamin Health Benefits	Foods That Contain Them
Vitamin A: Promotes healthy skin, teeth, skeletal tissue, mucus membranes, and vision.4	Carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, spinach, cantaloupe, liver, egg yolks, fortified milk.5
Vitamin D: Helps body absorb calcium; promotes healthy nerve, muscle, and immune systems.6	Eggs, fatty fish (e.g. salmon), grass-fed and fortified dairy products (e.g. milk and yogurt).
Vitamin E: Is an antioxidant, meaning it helps slow down certain processes that damage cells.7	Spinach, almonds, sunflower seeds, avocados, shrimp, olive oil, broccoli, butternut squash.
Vitamin K: Helps the body absorb calcium and aids in blood clotting.8	Dark leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, beef liver, green tea.

1. Water-Soluble Vitamins

Vitamin Health Benefits	Foods That Contain Them
Vitamin C: Helps protect against immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, prenatal health problems, eye disease, and skin wrinkling.9	Citrus fruits (e.g. oranges), strawberries, guavas, kiwi, bell peppers, dark leafy greens, broccoli.10
Vitamin B12: Helps with proper development and function of the brain, nerves, and blood cells.11	Meat, fish, shellfish, poultry, eggs, dairy products.12
Vitamin B9: Also known as folic acid, helps produce DNA, and is essential for helping to prevent certain major birth defects.13	Beans, lentils, spinach, asparagus, lettuce, avocado, broccoli, oranges.14
Vitamin B3: Also known as niacin, helps improve cholesterol levels and lower cardiovascular risks.15	Meats (especially the organs), poultry, fish, peanuts/peanut butter.16
Vitamin B6: Helps with proper brain development and function; helps produce mood hormones (serotonin and norepinephrine) and melatonin (which helps us sleep properly).17	Nuts, beans, whole grains, potatoes, bananas, beef, poultry, fish, and eggs.18

1. Minerals ¹⁹

Mineral Health Benefit	Foods That Contain Them
Zinc: Helps promote immune system, normal growth and development; regulates stress and appetite.	Beef, lamb, pork, chicken, liver, spinach, pumpkin seeds, squash seeds.
Iron: Helps produce hemoglobin and prevents anemia.	Meat (red meat will have the most iron), poultry, seafood, beans, peas, and dark leafy greens.
Calcium: Helps maintain proper blood clotting, nerve and heart function, and muscle contraction.	Milk, yogurt, cheese, Chinese cabbage, kale, broccoli, sardines.
Magnesium: Helps maintain normal heart rhythm, immune system, muscle function, and mitochondrial function, which is essentially energy creation.	Dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, mackerel, lima beans.
Potassium: Helps maintain proper balance of fluids and chemicals in the body and controls muscle contractions.	Brussels sprouts, spinach, peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, almonds, citrus fruits, apples, bananas, apricots, cantaloupe.
Phosphorus: Helps build healthy bones and teeth, is also an electrolyte.	Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, legumes.
Selenium: Important for proper thyroid function; also is an antioxidant.	Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, shellfish, certain fish, certain meats, poultry, eggs, certain mushrooms.

The health benefits and foods listed in the tables above for each vitamin and mineral are by no means an exhaustive list.

Common Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies
Oftentimes your body has ways of letting you know if it is not receiving enough of a vitamin or mineral that it needs. However, if you don’t know what body signals to look for, it can be easy to ignore these signs or blame another cause.

Common Vitamin Deficiencies ²⁰

Vitamin	Body Signals
Vitamin D	Mainly inflammation related problems such as fatigue, muscle weakness, bone and joint pain, depression. Also potentially linked to diabetes, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and asthma.
Vitamin B9 (folic acid)	Anemia, weakness, fatigue, tongue inflammation, forgetfulness, mental sluggishness.
Vitamin B12	Anemia, numbness, weakness, fatigue.
Vitamin C	Easy bruising, inflamed and/or bleeding gums, slow-healing wounds, nosebleeds, dry and split hair, dry or scaly skin. In very extreme cases, the disease Scurvy.

Common Mineral Deficiencies ²¹

Mineral	Body Signals
Magnesium	Body odor, constipation, muscle cramps, insomnia, headaches, fatigue.
Phosphorus	Loss of appetite, anxiety, bone pain, stiff joints, irregular breathing, irritability, numbness, weakness, weight change.
Zinc	Growth/development problems, hair loss, diarrhea, impotence, loss of appetite, weight loss, mental slowness.
Calcium	Confusion, memory loss, hallucinations, depression.
Iron	Anemia, fatigue, difficulty breathing, dizziness, headaches, feeling cold.
Potassium	Weakness, fatigue, muscle cramps, constipation.
Selenium	Fatigue, loss of appetite, weight gain, hair loss, feeling cold, dry skin, constipation, menstrual irregularities, swollen eyes, loss of sex drive, depression.

Again, the health benefits and body signals for deficiencies listed for each vitamin and mineral are not exhaustive, nor should they be relied upon for self-diagnosis. Always make sure to consult your health care provider whenever you feel something might now be working properly in your body. However, when Sunday rolls around and you’re thinking about what you’re going to buy at the grocery store for the upcoming week, it can be helpful to compare recipes to these charts to see if you’ll be getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs!