Vitamins or Minerals in food... which is more important?
JanPalmer500
Posts: 9 Member
Hi everyone. I am a bit confused about vitamins and minerals in food and how they affect us. The general view I think is that the vitamins in food are essential to health. Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, the B vitamins, and all that.
So if what we eat is to keep us well, then our daily food should include all the vitamins. That makes sense.
But what about the minerals? There are things like potassium, magnesium, calcium etc. Are these more important than vitamins? I've read somewhere that if some minerals are missing in the diet then certain vitamins won't work.
So, if the food we eat lacks certain minerals, then counting the calories might be a waste of time because our bodies will be telling us to eat more in order to acquire those minerals. So we get heavier, and that contributes to today's high obesity levels.
Has anyone come across this theory? Is it true?
So if what we eat is to keep us well, then our daily food should include all the vitamins. That makes sense.
But what about the minerals? There are things like potassium, magnesium, calcium etc. Are these more important than vitamins? I've read somewhere that if some minerals are missing in the diet then certain vitamins won't work.
So, if the food we eat lacks certain minerals, then counting the calories might be a waste of time because our bodies will be telling us to eat more in order to acquire those minerals. So we get heavier, and that contributes to today's high obesity levels.
Has anyone come across this theory? Is it true?
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Replies
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Count calories.
Eat a variety of foods in order to get your vits and minerals.2 -
I consider them both to be about equal in terms of importance, as a lot of vitamins and minerals depend with together. I've read sources that say vitamin D needs magnesium to work properly, vitamin A benefits depend on zinc, etc.5
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I don't worry about getting every single vitamin and mineral daily. I focus on a theme and variety of mostly healthy food. I mostly concentrate on hitting my protein and fiber goals and everything else tends to fall in place this way.0
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If you have a well balanced diet, you should get most of the vitamins and minerals you need. If there are any particular vitamins/minerals you want in your diet, I suggest researching what foods contain them and incorporate them in your diet.2
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You are over thinking this. It's like asking if the gravel or sand is more important on the roadway. It's all important but they are such small amounts most people don't even have to think about it.
That being said there are some combos that support each other, and others that work against.
Vitamin C and iron work well together.
Vitamins A and D are fat soluble and work well with calcium which is why you will often see milk fortified with these two vitamins.
Iron and calcium supplements should not be taken together as they will work against each other. I did take both together for a few months and all I did was pee out the calcium. It smelled like wet cement. And my iron levels barely improved. I now take these separately and I am seeing steady improvement.2 -
Without the required minerals all the vitamins in the world may not help prevent a premature death.
Since the minerals are the foundation to good health in hindsight that is what I should have worked on before vitamins and nutrition in general. Well they can/should be actually all done at the same time. Magnesium levels I currently am finding is not so easy to increase. Vitamin D levels gave me a fit until I learned vitamin K2 was required.
I agree with @jgnatca that we need to look at what ties up what and prevent that action. The empty/full stomach is a factor I have trouble learning and keeping straight.1 -
They all are important. A **severe** deficiency of any vitamin or mineral likely will lead to medical problems. why is it necessary to choose one over the other?0
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I maintain however that macros supersede micros. If you are short on protein, fat, or carbs it won't improve things by taking a vitamin water.0
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Vitamins and minerals are both important equally. Without both the body won't function correctly.
Knowing which vitamins and minerals go together is important.
return2health.net/articles/vitamin-mineral-antagonists/
I believe that you're more likely to stay hungry if you are missing certain nutrients.
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JanPalmer500 wrote: »Hi everyone. I am a bit confused about vitamins and minerals in food and how they affect us. The general view I think is that the vitamins in food are essential to health. Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, the B vitamins, and all that.
So if what we eat is to keep us well, then our daily food should include all the vitamins. That makes sense.
But what about the minerals? There are things like potassium, magnesium, calcium etc. Are these more important than vitamins? I've read somewhere that if some minerals are missing in the diet then certain vitamins won't work.
So, if the food we eat lacks certain minerals, then counting the calories might be a waste of time because our bodies will be telling us to eat more in order to acquire those minerals. So we get heavier, and that contributes to today's high obesity levels.
Has anyone come across this theory? Is it true?
No. No need to overthink it this much...0 -
TheDevastator wrote: »Vitamins and minerals are both important equally. Without both the body won't function correctly.
Knowing which vitamins and minerals go together is important.
return2health.net/articles/vitamin-mineral-antagonists/
I believe that you're more likely to stay hungry if you are missing certain nutrients.
@TheDevastator I agree with you about to likely stay hungry. I am starting to think cravings are nature's way to keep us 'grazing' hoping we stumble upon what is missing in our diet that we need for health.
I have been studying supplements at some level for 40 years and almost daily for the past two years and find it very hard to find research that is consistent.
The fraud in the supplement industry turns me off. Bio-availability for vitamins, minerals and supplements in general are often unknown or a wild card at best. Currently I use many different sources and find LifeExtension has some of the best researched articles and is one reason I pay a bit more for their products. Most that comes from chain box sources can really be a wild card. If it is MLM product I do not even stop to look.
What people use/eat is their business but when there are vendors knowingly into fraud for $$$ taking serious peoples money that may do them no good or worse it rattles my chain.
After two years I am just tweaking my vitamins and minerals because my macro experimenting still needs more tweaking. As my health recovers I find my needs tend to shift requiring tweaking everything more than I expected.
Recently I added Marine Phytoplankton (Nannochloropsis Gaditana), Nutritional Yeast Flakes and D-Ribose trying to fill some mineral and vitamin gaps. Staying in Nutritional Ketosis and bumping up my carbs at the same time is a challenge but seems to be positive for my health so far and cuts out the need for some of my current supplements. I am into shotgun approaches it seems. 1 -
That's like asking if water is more important to human survival than oxygen. You need both, but for different reasons. Your body can't make either of them, so they need to be included in your diet in one way or another, whether that's through food or supplementation.1
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I took nutrition courses in college. My professor stressed variety in the food you eat. Bananas are loaded with potassium and if you eat a variety of foods all the minerals and vitamins should be ok. Vitamins and minerals are best absorbed by the body through food. But if your diet isn't balanced you can take a multivitamin mineral but be sure to stay close to the RDAs and don't go mega doses which can be harmful. The water-soluble vitamins are not that much of a concern as what your body doesn't need it will flush out in your urine. It's the other fat soluble vitamins that you do not want to have megadoses. I take extra vitamin C and it's better absorbed if you take vitamin C supplement with the food that contains vitamin C. You can go as high as 2000 or 3000 MGs a day for better protection. I suggest researching reputable sites online to get more information from qualified professionals who are degreed in the area of nutrition.2
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Thank you very much for all your answers! I like this forum.
Thanks @TheDevestator for the 'Agonist/Antagonist' article. That was new to me. Thanks @GaleHawkins for your detailed reply. Much appreciated.
Anyway, I asked this question because around a month ago a friend of mine mentioned that she read that today's farm foods, both plants or animals, contain fewer minerals than they did 100 years ago due to modern agricultural practices. It is why farmers need to use NPK fertilizers in order to maintain crop yields. That is why I feel rather concerned about what I am eating and whether it affects everyone's body chemistry.
That being so, it is not a lack of phosphorus or potassium in foods available in the shops because of the use of fertilizers.
Is about trace mineral depletion? These are things like iron, iodine, copper, manganese, zinc, molybdenum, selenium and chromium, and so on. I found out that trace minerals occur in really tiny amounts in farm soils and are taken up by plant roots, and that way become accumulated in the plant tissues. When farm animals eat the plants and when we eat farm produce we then get those trace minerals.
I read that co-enzymes in our bodies won't work without specific trace minerals, and if they don't work then we get illnesses like obesity and other ailments. I'm doing a bit of digging around because I feel there is a link between today's weight problems and the quality of foods in the shops. It's something we all ought to be aware of I believe.
If anybody is aware of our soil problems and how it affects our nutrition then maybe we could continue in this thread.
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I've also read that food has less trace minerals than it did 100 years ago. Ways around that are to get the trace minerals individually in foods that are high in them like Brazil nuts for selenium and kelp for iodine. You can also get salt or clay that have the full spectrum of trace minerals in them to supplement your diet.JanPalmer500 wrote: »Is about trace mineral depletion? These are things like iron, iodine, copper, manganese, zinc, molybdenum, selenium and chromium, and so on. I found out that trace minerals occur in really tiny amounts in farm soils and are taken up by plant roots, and that way become accumulated in the plant tissues. When farm animals eat the plants and when we eat farm produce we then get those trace minerals.
I read that co-enzymes in our bodies won't work without specific trace minerals, and if they don't work then we get illnesses like obesity and other ailments. I'm doing a bit of digging around because I feel there is a link between today's weight problems and the quality of foods in the shops. It's something we all ought to be aware of I believe.
Two sites on food nutrients like trace minerals:
whfoods.com/nutrientstoc.php
https://healthaliciousness.com/1 -
If you are concerned a decent multivitamin probably wouldn't hurt you.0
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This is getting quite interesting! @TheDevastator (thanks for your reply, Sir,) says that Brazil nits and Kelp are good sources of selenium and iodine respectively. I agree with that. Brazil nuts are always available in health food shops where I live ... and they are nice! Not sure about kelp though...
But I've never come across salt or clay as being something to eat. How do you get that into your food? Do you grow kale, onions, and veg like that on it? Do you mix it into soil? That will make sense. Maybe the farmers should do that...
I suppose there is a way, perhaps.
And @makingmark says that a multivitamin is okay, but I don't see any minerals in multivitamins.
I think this topic is somewhat confusing to most of us, which is why it ought to be debated.0 -
It may also be that minerals are depleted faster (in the case of magnesium, stress and exercise use it up).0
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JanPalmer500 wrote: »This is getting quite interesting! @TheDevastator (thanks for your reply, Sir,) says that Brazil nits and Kelp are good sources of selenium and iodine respectively. I agree with that. Brazil nuts are always available in health food shops where I live ... and they are nice! Not sure about kelp though...
But I've never come across salt or clay as being something to eat. How do you get that into your food? Do you grow kale, onions, and veg like that on it? Do you mix it into soil? That will make sense. Maybe the farmers should do that...
I suppose there is a way, perhaps.
And @makingmark says that a multivitamin is okay, but I don't see any minerals in multivitamins.
I think this topic is somewhat confusing to most of us, which is why it ought to be debated.
Salt is a common seasoning.
There are minerals in my multivitamin.0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »Without the required minerals all the vitamins in the world may not help prevent a premature death.
Since the minerals are the foundation to good health in hindsight that is what I should have worked on before vitamins and nutrition in general. Well they can/should be actually all done at the same time. Magnesium levels I currently am finding is not so easy to increase. Vitamin D levels gave me a fit until I learned vitamin K2 was required.
I agree with @jgnatca that we need to look at what ties up what and prevent that action. The empty/full stomach is a factor I have trouble learning and keeping straight.
My dietary vitamin D levels are very low, almost non-existent, but I thought that being exposed to sunlight might be enough
so do I need to get vit D also from food?
0 -
JanPalmer500 wrote: »Hi everyone. I am a bit confused about vitamins and minerals in food and how they affect us. The general view I think is that the vitamins in food are essential to health. Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, the B vitamins, and all that.
So if what we eat is to keep us well, then our daily food should include all the vitamins. That makes sense.
But what about the minerals? There are things like potassium, magnesium, calcium etc. Are these more important than vitamins? I've read somewhere that if some minerals are missing in the diet then certain vitamins won't work.
So, if the food we eat lacks certain minerals, then counting the calories might be a waste of time because our bodies will be telling us to eat more in order to acquire those minerals. So we get heavier, and that contributes to today's high obesity levels.
Has anyone come across this theory? Is it true?
I believe they're both of equal importance and I found that eating a healthy balanced diet usually delivers most vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Vegetables, fruits and legumes plus whole grains and nuts are very good sources of the nutrients we need 
0 -
JanPalmer500 wrote: »Hi everyone. I am a bit confused about vitamins and minerals in food and how they affect us. The general view I think is that the vitamins in food are essential to health. Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, the B vitamins, and all that.
So if what we eat is to keep us well, then our daily food should include all the vitamins. That makes sense.
But what about the minerals? There are things like potassium, magnesium, calcium etc. Are these more important than vitamins? I've read somewhere that if some minerals are missing in the diet then certain vitamins won't work.
So, if the food we eat lacks certain minerals, then counting the calories might be a waste of time because our bodies will be telling us to eat more in order to acquire those minerals. So we get heavier, and that contributes to today's high obesity levels.
Has anyone come across this theory? Is it true?
I don't think it's likely to be true. Americans are actually one of the groups least commonly affected by micronutrient deficiencies; the primary parts of the world where nutrient deficiencies are common are sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Polynesia. Among other things, we eat more, we tend to have a more varied diet, many staple foods are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, and we have greater use of vitamin supplements and vitamin deficiency testing.
The worldwide patterns of vitamin deficiencies and the pattern of obesity don't really overlap much.1 -
The salt I'm talking about are any of them that still have the spectrum of minerals in them. I just add a little salt to my eggs or eat a teaspoon of clay powder with water.JanPalmer500 wrote: »But I've never come across salt or clay as being something to eat. How do you get that into your food? Do you grow kale, onions, and veg like that on it? Do you mix it into soil? That will make sense. Maybe the farmers should do that...
I know farmers mix rock dust in the soil for remineralization.0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »TheDevastator wrote: »Vitamins and minerals are both important equally. Without both the body won't function correctly.
Knowing which vitamins and minerals go together is important.
return2health.net/articles/vitamin-mineral-antagonists/
I believe that you're more likely to stay hungry if you are missing certain nutrients.
@TheDevastator I agree with you about to likely stay hungry. I am starting to think cravings are nature's way to keep us 'grazing' hoping we stumble upon what is missing in our diet that we need for health.
I have been studying supplements at some level for 40 years and almost daily for the past two years and find it very hard to find research that is consistent.
The fraud in the supplement industry turns me off. Bio-availability for vitamins, minerals and supplements in general are often unknown or a wild card at best. Currently I use many different sources and find LifeExtension has some of the best researched articles and is one reason I pay a bit more for their products. Most that comes from chain box sources can really be a wild card. If it is MLM product I do not even stop to look.
What people use/eat is their business but when there are vendors knowingly into fraud for $$$ taking serious peoples money that may do them no good or worse it rattles my chain.
After two years I am just tweaking my vitamins and minerals because my macro experimenting still needs more tweaking. As my health recovers I find my needs tend to shift requiring tweaking everything more than I expected.
Recently I added Marine Phytoplankton (Nannochloropsis Gaditana), Nutritional Yeast Flakes and D-Ribose trying to fill some mineral and vitamin gaps. Staying in Nutritional Ketosis and bumping up my carbs at the same time is a challenge but seems to be positive for my health so far and cuts out the need for some of my current supplements. I am into shotgun approaches it seems.
I buy most of my vitamins from Vitacost. I also buy some from Amazon like vitamin C(Viva Labs) since I want higher quality stuff.
I've been taking higher doses of vitamins and minerals the last month or so and I wake up earlier and feel better.1 -
mayoosh_primrose wrote: »GaleHawkins wrote: »Without the required minerals all the vitamins in the world may not help prevent a premature death.
Since the minerals are the foundation to good health in hindsight that is what I should have worked on before vitamins and nutrition in general. Well they can/should be actually all done at the same time. Magnesium levels I currently am finding is not so easy to increase. Vitamin D levels gave me a fit until I learned vitamin K2 was required.
I agree with @jgnatca that we need to look at what ties up what and prevent that action. The empty/full stomach is a factor I have trouble learning and keeping straight.
My dietary vitamin D levels are very low, almost non-existent, but I thought that being exposed to sunlight might be enough
so do I need to get vit D also from food?
Sorry, there is very little Vitamin D in food. If you live in a northern climate about the only way to get enough vitamin D is through supplements.
https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-do-i-get-the-vitamin-d-my-body-needs/2 -
Here's something I discovered after doing a a bit of digging around today...
Apparently, a study carried out by two UK food scientists (McCance and Widdowson) on the mineral depletion of foods available in the UK from 1940 to 1991, showed that in all the foods analysed in the study there was a large loss in their mineral content. That was published 25 years ago. So what about today? It must be a lot worse.
It appears that the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Foods, and the Royal Society of Chemistry, are fully aware of this.
Here's the link to the published report (it's a PDF):
http://www.mineralresourcesint.co.uk/pdf/mineral_deplet.pdf
It's all a bit scary to me.
I also discovered that glacial soils hold all the minerals and trace minerals that we think are present in our farmland soils, harvest after harvest. They once were ... many years ago it seems.
Maybe we should look at Greenland's soil under the ice sheets and grab some, and then spread it over our farms...
Anyway, I have a feeling that some very important information about the health of the soils on which our food grows is being shoved under the carpet by those in-the-know. Perhaps because there is practically no remedy available. And with population growth things won't get any better in the foreseeable future.
Is it no wonder why many of us are overweight?1 -
JanPalmer500 wrote: »
Is it no wonder why many of us are overweight?
What's the connection you're making between depleted soil and being overweight?
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JanPalmer500 wrote: »
Is it no wonder why many of us are overweight?
What's the connection you're making between depleted soil and being overweight?
Thanks for the question.
The body might 'crave' food in order to obtain any specific minerals that it doesn't have. If those are not in the food we eat, then maybe it complains and makes us feel hungry...1 -
JanPalmer500 wrote: »JanPalmer500 wrote: »
Is it no wonder why many of us are overweight?
What's the connection you're making between depleted soil and being overweight?
Thanks for the question.
The body might 'crave' food in order to obtain any specific minerals that it doesn't have. If those are not in the food we eat, then maybe it complains and makes us feel hungry...
Thanks for the response.
0 -
rankinsect wrote: »JanPalmer500 wrote: »Hi everyone. I am a bit confused about vitamins and minerals in food and how they affect us. The general view I think is that the vitamins in food are essential to health. Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, the B vitamins, and all that.
So if what we eat is to keep us well, then our daily food should include all the vitamins. That makes sense.
But what about the minerals? There are things like potassium, magnesium, calcium etc. Are these more important than vitamins? I've read somewhere that if some minerals are missing in the diet then certain vitamins won't work.
So, if the food we eat lacks certain minerals, then counting the calories might be a waste of time because our bodies will be telling us to eat more in order to acquire those minerals. So we get heavier, and that contributes to today's high obesity levels.
Has anyone come across this theory? Is it true?
I don't think it's likely to be true. Americans are actually one of the groups least commonly affected by micronutrient deficiencies; the primary parts of the world where nutrient deficiencies are common are sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Polynesia. Among other things, we eat more, we tend to have a more varied diet, many staple foods are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, and we have greater use of vitamin supplements and vitamin deficiency testing.
The worldwide patterns of vitamin deficiencies and the pattern of obesity don't really overlap much.
You have to take into account countries where the average person can afford to overeat.0
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