If you are a man and you are interested in improving your health, then you must understand the importance of proper nutrition. Essential nutrients are the vitamins and minerals your body uses to carry out its many functions each day. Without vitamins and minerals, your body would not be able to create energy, build bone, produce red blood cells or run your nervous system efficiently.
Essential Vitamins and Minerals
Your body needs 13 vitamins and a handful of macrominerals and trace minerals to function properly. Each of these nutrients has minimum intake requirements by your body. Men generally need more of these nutrients than women do, and you should try to get the majority of these vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat. The essential vitamins include A, C, D, E, K and the B vitamins, which are thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, B-6, B-12 and folate. The essential minerals include macronutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur. The trace minerals include iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride and selenium.
Vitamin Daily Requirements
The recommended dietary allowance is also referred to as the adequate intake or AI. This is the minimum amount that you must consume to avoid deficiency symptoms. The current recommendations for adult men include 900 mcg of vitamin A, 90 mg of vitamin C, 800 international units of vitamin D, 15 mg of vitamin E and 120 mcg of vitamin K. The recommended intakes of the B vitamins are 1.2 mg of thiamine, 1.3 mg of riboflavin, 16 mg of niacin, 5 mg of pantothenic acid, 30 mcg of biotin, 1.7 mg of B-6, 2.4 mcg of B-12 and 400 mcg of folate.
Mineral Daily Requirements
The daily requirements for essential minerals for adult men include 1000 mg of calcium, 700 mg of phosphorus, 420 mg of magnesium, 1.3 to 1.5 g of sodium, 4700 mg of potassium and 3.0 to 3.3 g of chloride. The recommended dietary allowances for the trace minerals are 8 mg of iron, 2.3 mg of manganese, 900 mcg of copper, 150 mcg of iodine, 11 mg of zinc, 4.0 mg of fluoride and 55 mcg of selenium. Sulfur and cobalt do not have recommended values, because you get cobalt with B-12, and you need only a trace of sulfur. The requirements vary depending on age.
Considerations
Remembering the daily requirements and keeping track of your intake of minerals and vitamins is a difficult task. Therefore, it is much easier if you eat a balanced diet that contains the foods that are high in the essential vitamins and minerals. These foods include fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds and fish. You must consume all of these foods, but you should focus your diet on healthy fruits and vegetables. Limit your intake of fat from meat and processed foods. If you have trouble following this type of diet, you can add a daily multivitamin, which will ensure that your body is getting essential vitamins and minerals each day. If you are on medication, talk with your doctor before supplementing with vitamins. Some vitamins can interfere with how your medications work.
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