Essential nutrient
An essential nutrient is a nutrient required for normal body functioning that either cannot be synthesized by the body at all, or cannot be synthesized in amounts adequate for good health (e.g. niacin, choline), and thus must be obtained from a dietary source. Essential nutrients are also defined by the collective physiological evidence for their importance in the diet, as represented in e.g. US government approved tables for Dietary Reference Intake.[1]
Some categories of essential nutrients include vitamins, dietary minerals, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids. Different species have very different essential nutrients. For example, most mammals synthesize their own ascorbic acid, and it is therefore not considered an essential nutrient for such species. It is, however, an essential nutrient for human beings, who require external sources of ascorbic acid (known as Vitamin C in the context of nutrition).
Many essential nutrients are toxic in large doses (see hypervitaminosis or the nutrient pages themselves below). Some can be taken in amounts larger than required in a typical diet, with no apparent ill effects. Linus Pauling said of vitamin B3, (either niacin or niacinamide), "What astonished me was the very low toxicity of a substance that has such very great physiological power. A little pinch, 5 mg, every day, is enough to keep a person from dying of pellagra, but it is so lacking in toxicity that ten thousand times as much can [sometimes] be taken without harm."[2]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Fatty acids
- α-Linolenic acid (the shortest chain omega-3 fatty acid)
- Linoleic acid (the shortest chain omega-6 fatty acid)
[edit] Amino acids
- Essential amino acids necessary for preterm children but not healthy individuals:
[edit] Vitamins
- Vitamin A (retinol)
- Vitamin Bp (choline)
- Vitamin B1 (thiamin)
- Vitamin B2 (riboflavin, vitamin G)
- Vitamin B3 (niacin, vitamin P, vitamin PP)
- Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
- Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, or pyridoxal)
- Vitamin B7 (biotin, vitamin H)
- Vitamin B9 (folic acid, folate, vitamin M)
- Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)
- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
- Vitamin D (ergocalciferol, or cholecalciferol)
- Vitamin E (tocopherol)
- Vitamin K (naphthoquinoids)
[edit] Dietary minerals
- Calcium (Ca)
- Chloride (Cl−)
- Chromium (Cr)[4]
- Cobalt (Co) (as part of Vitamin B12)
- Copper (Cu) Main article: Copper in health
- Iodine (I)
- Iron (Fe)
- Magnesium (Mg)
- Manganese (Mn)
- Molybdenum (Mo)
- Nickel (Ni)
- Phosphorus (P)
- Potassium (K)
- Selenium (Se)
- Sodium (Na)
- Sulfur (S) numerous roles[5]
- Zinc (Zn)[6]
The required quantity varies widely between nutrients. At one extreme, a 70 kg human contains 1.0 kg of calcium, but only 3 mg of cobalt.
[edit] Elements with speculated role in human health
Many elements have been implicated at various times to have a role in human health. For none of these elements, however, has a specific protein, complex or dietary reference intake been established. See Ultratrace_element.
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