In the world of fitness and nutrition, macros get a lot of attention (as they should!). But there’s a long list of vitamins and minerals that are just as important in keeping your body and mind balanced and healthy: micronutrients.
What are micronutrients, you might ask? And why are micronutrients important? It turns out, they’re responsible for everything from your muscle growth and bone health to your immune response and mood regulation. Read on to learn about the different types of micronutrients and what they can do for your body.
What are micronutrients?
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that are only needed in small amounts each day, but are crucial for your overall health. If you’ve ever wondered how many micronutrients there are, most lists generally recognize 13 essential vitamins and 15 essential minerals.
Because your body doesn’t produce micronutrients on its own, you need to replenish these micronutrients daily to keep your body and mind functioning properly.
While eating a balanced diet is generally a good way to get all the micronutrients you need, certain micronutrient deficiencies are surprisingly common and may require supplementation.
What is the difference between micronutrients and macronutrients?
Consider macronutrients — fats, carbohydrates, and proteins — as the three main building blocks of nutrition. Your body needs large amounts of them every day to function properly. Micronutrients, on the other hand, are equally important — they’re crucial for staying alive! — but you only need small amounts each day to meet your body’s needs.
What are the different types of micronutrients?
There are four categories of micronutrients:
- Water-soluble vitamins
- Fat-soluble vitamins
- Macrominerals
- Microminerals (also called trace minerals)
Let’s explore which vitamins and minerals fall into each category, and what sets them apart.
Water-soluble vitamins
Water-soluble vitamins refer to vitamins that can’t be stored by the body for later use; they are carried to your tissues and the rest is flushed out of your system. This means you need to get more of them each day.
The nine water-soluble vitamins are:
- Vitamin C
- Thiamin (B1)
- Riboflavin (B2)
- Niacin (B3)
- Pantothenic Acid (B5)
- Biotin (B7)
- Pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine (B6)
- Folate (B9)
- Cobalamin (B12)
Benefits: Among their long list of benefits, water-soluble vitamins are crucial for your brain health, immunity, and energy production.
How to get your daily allowance: Getting your daily dose of Vitamin C is easy by choosing a variety of veggies (think: broccoli, green pepper, and brussels sprouts) and fruits like oranges, grapefruits, and strawberries. Leafy greens are a great target of B Vitamins, as are animal products like beef, chicken, or fish. Fortified cereals also offer a variety of B Vitamins like Thiamin, Riboflavin, and Niacin.
Fat-soluble vitamins
Fat-soluble vitamins are appropriately named, as they dissolve in fat rather than water. Once you ingest these vitamins, your body has the ability to store them in fatty tissue and your liver for later use — but you still need to ensure you’re eating enough each day.
The four fat-soluble vitamins are:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
Benefits: Fat-soluble vitamins support several key functions in the body, from blood clotting and bone health to your vision and immune system.
How to get your daily allowance: Fat-soluble vitamins tend to come from animal products, but you can also get them from certain fruits and vegetables, including cantaloupe, broccoli, avocados, carrots, kale, spinach, and papaya.
Macrominerals
We know this is a little confusing, but these particular micronutrients are technically referred to as macrominerals, since your body needs larger amounts of them (in general, greater than 100 milligrams) each day. These include:
- Calcium
- Phosphorous
- Magnesium
- Sodium
- Potassium
- Chloride
- Sulfur
Benefits: These mighty macrominerals play a crucial role in almost all bodily processes, including your metabolic function.
How to get your daily allowance: Beans and nuts (such as almonds and cashews) are great targets of macrominerals. Plus, your sweet tooth will be glad to know that dark chocolate can help you reach our daily allowance, too. Dairy products like milk or cheese can help you get enough calcium specifically (but so can spinach and broccoli if you have a dairy-free diet).
Microminerals (trace minerals)
Microminerals are also known as “trace minerals,” since you generally need less than 100 milligrams of each per day. Microminerals include:
- Copper
- Iron
- Manganese
- Iodine
- Zinc
- Cobalt
- Fluoride
- Selenium
Benefits: Trace minerals play a crucial role in disease prevention and the production of hormones and enzymes that are responsible for healthy growth and well-being.
How to get your daily allowance: Animal products offer rich targets of iron and other trace minerals, but if you don’t eat meat you still have plenty of options. Leafy greens, beans, and nuts — like cashews, peanuts, and Brazil nuts — are other great targets of trace minerals. Seeds are another option to snack on, from soybeans and sunflower seeds to pumpkin seeds.
What do micronutrients do for your health?
When it comes to what micronutrients do for your body, a better question might be what can’t they do? Now that you know the different categories they can fall into, let’s zoom out and recap all the benefits these mighty micronutrients can provide.
Here are just a few benefits of micronutrients, from preventing diseases to boosting your fitness routine:
- Disease prevention: Trace minerals like copper, zinc, manganese, and selenium help neutralize free radicals in the body, which have the potential to contribute to diseases like cancer, heart disease, and more.
- Muscle function: Without micronutrients, your body can’t tackle muscle building or muscle repair, let alone recover from a strength training session. There are specific micronutrients for muscle growth: B vitamins help metabolize the protein we need for muscle growth, for example, and zinc can help us recover faster from injury — making all of them critical in supporting your fitness routine.
- Immune response: Many micronutrients work together to support immune cell function and shore up the body’s response against infections. The list of micronutrients involved in your immune response includes many water and fat-soluble vitamins, plus folate, zinc, iron, copper, and selenium.
- Energy production: Several important micronutrients — such as the B vitamins, biotin, vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and zinc — are involved in helping convert food into energy or adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is used by your cells to power different processes throughout your body, from DNA and RNA synthesis to muscle contraction and nerve impulses.
- Bone health: Several key micronutrients work together to keep your bones healthy, from shoring up bone strength to reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
- Growth and development: Micronutrients allow your body to produce enzymes and hormones that are crucial for growth and development. Babies need adequate levels of folate in utero in order to synthesize new cells, which is why it’s a common ingredient in prenatal vitamins. And throughout infancy and their early years, micronutrients like Vitamin D, Vitamin A, and zinc are especially important for a child’s growth.
- Mood regulation: Micronutrients play a critical role in neurotransmitter function by supporting the production and regulation of dopamine and serotonin. B vitamins can help regulate feelings of anxiety and depression, and minerals such as magnesium and zinc have been shown to play a role in mood regulation as well.
Why are micronutrients important for exercise?
Micronutrients play a critical role in supporting your body during exercise, since they’re necessary for proper metabolic functions like energy production, muscle building, and recovery.
Since your body is expending more energy when you work out, your intake of macronutrients and micronutrients has to increase to support that increased energy expenditure. For example, iron is lost through sweat, so for athletes with high sweat losses, iron supplementation may be necessary.
By ensuring you get enough micronutrients, you can feel confident that through each workout — whether you’re logging another strength training session or a jog around your neighborhood — your body is supported with the right nutrition for building muscle and recovering properly.
How do I know if I’m getting enough micronutrients?
Eating a balanced diet filled with fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean protein, and healthy fats typically provides all the micronutrients your body needs.
But let’s be real — there are times when sticking to a balanced diet is tougher than usual. You might also struggle to get enough of certain micronutrients due to other health conditions.
For example, pregnant or breastfeeding women can sometimes develop anemia (iron deficiency). This can happen even if they eat plenty of iron-rich foods because their bodies need an increased amount of iron during this time.
People living in colder climates often face vitamin D deficiencies, especially during winter. Conditions like these can lead to certain symptoms, which is how you might be able to determine if you’re lacking any micronutrients. Those symptoms include:
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Shortness of breath
- Mood swings
- Muscle weakness
If you do suspect you’re low on micronutrients, you can ask a doctor for a micronutrient test. If you are deficient in any specific micronutrient, adjusting your diet to incorporate more foods that contain that micronutrient is the first step. If that’s not enough, supplements can give you a boost.
A final word on micronutrients and supplements
By understanding the different types of micronutrients, you can better appreciate their unique benefits and empower yourself to make informed choices to keep your body and mind healthy.
Have more nutrition or fitness questions? The Community tab in the free Anytime Fitness App is the place to ask expert Coaches for their insights.
