Micronutrients

What are micronutrients?

Micronutrients, as opposed to macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat), consist of 13 vitamins and 14 minerals. They have to be obtained in small amounts from the diet (except Vitamin D).

Micronutrients don’t provide calories/energy like macronutrients, but help convert food into energy, and have hundreds of other biological functions in the body. They are cofactors (coenzymes) of thousands of enzymes; are essential in hormone production; and are structural elements of bone, teeth, proteins, DNA, and other biological macromolecules. They are also powerful antioxidants.

When their intake is inadequate, vitamin and mineral deficiency disorders are the consequences that may affect all aspects of metabolism. The micronutrients are listed below.

Water-Soluble (9)

B-Vitamins:
Thiamin (B1)
Riboflavin (B2)
Niacin (B3)
Pantothenic Acid (B5)
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxal)
Biotin (B7)
Folic acid (B9, folate)
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)

Fat-Soluble (4)

Vitamin A (retinol)
Vitamin D (calciferol)
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)

14 Nutritionally Essential Minerals
Macro-Minerals (5)

Calcium
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Potassium
Sodium (Chloride)

Trace Minerals (9)

Chromium
Copper
Fluoride
Iodine
Iron
Manganese
Molybdenum
Selenium
Zinc

No single food contains all the micronutrients required for optimal metabolism, so a balanced and varied diet is necessary to ensure an adequate intake.

There is a difference between micronutrient deficiency and inadequacy. For example, in micronutrient deficiencies, a low intake results in deficiency disease and overt symptoms. This is rare, but not absent, and common for iron, Vitamin A, zinc, and iodine.

In micronutrient inadequacies, the intake is sufficient to prevent deficiency disease but below the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). Micronutrient inadequacies are common in developing countries.

Just because someone doesn’t have any symptoms doesn’t mean they don’t have a micronutrient inadequacy that may prevent achieving optimal health. If a tire was low on your car but producing no adverse effect on your driving (inadequacy), would you wait until the tire goes flat (deficiency) before you ask the question, “Why is my tire low?”

Dietary guidelines for Americans are presented in Figure 1.

Take a look at Figure 2, which reflects the fact that so many diseases are potentially preventable by making diet and lifestyle changes.

Look how the Standard American Diet (SAD) results in the numerous deficiencies   in Figure 3. But look at the excess calories from solid fats and added sugars, excess refined grains, sodium, and saturated fat.

The vast majority of people have micronutrient inadequacies as shown in Figure 4.

Every person being seen by a healthcare professional should be evaluated for a micronutrient deficiency or inadequacy if optimal health is to be achieved. Look at the importance of micronutrients and overall health in Figures 5-12 from http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic. Everyone should visit this website.

How should people be evaluated for a micronutrient deficiency or inadequacy? Why not obtain a three-day dietary history? Patients may have a perfect diet by history, but what if they have a medical condition that impairs digestion and absorption? For example: The depressed metabolic rate seen in hypothyroidism is accompanied by a poor appetite, decreased gastric secretions, constipation and a decrease in intestinal absorption. Hypothyroidism decreases the synthesis of proteins from amino acids.

Why not obtain a routine blood test for a nutritional analysis? That only tells what patients have absorbed in their diet recently. It is a static measurement, not a functional one. It is a serum value and it does not tell if there are adequate levels intracellularly to meet the metabolic demands of a particular cell.

For example, you can have a normal serum magnesium, yet have a low red blood cell level that impairs the metabolic function of the cell.

There is a white cell in the body called a lymphocyte. It stays in your system for 4 to 6 months. Measurements of micronutrients within the lymphocyte is a functional test. That is, are there adequate amounts of the micronutrient present for that cell to function at an optimal level? This a micronutrient test performed by SpectraCell Lab.

If someone has a SpectraCell intracellular micronutrient analysis that reveals numerous deficiencies, then the healthcare professional must ask why.

Are the multiple deficiencies caused by:

• Advancing maturity
• Denture problems with poor mastication
• Poor dietary choices
• A bowel problem such as H-pylori, bacterial, yeast, or parasite infection in the small intestines
• Malignancy
• Celiac disease
• Leaky gut
• Food allergies
• History of bariatric surgery
• Other metabolic disorders
• Drug mugging (many drugs deplete nutrients)

To replenish inadequate nutrients without determining the cause would be an exercise of futility.

Once the cause has been determined and resolved, then the inadequate nutrients should be given to the patient in the recommended amounts. The nutrients must be pharmaceutical grade and an independent laboratory should test them to ensure the person is receiving what is actually listed in the ingredients.

Repeat testing should be performed in 3 to 6 months to ensure the inadequate micronutrients have been replaced to their optimal level.