Super Health Key: Micronutrients
Do you know what makes up a "healthy diet"? Fruits? Vegetables? Low-fat? Lean meat? Protein? These suggestions are all good, but based on our current understanding of the relative nutritional value of foods, these vague guidelines only scratch the surface. Many people believe they are eating healthy, but when they learn how nutrient-poor their so-called healthy diet actually is, they are often shocked. Paradoxically, even those who overeat often suffer from nutrient deficiencies. Many people, even those with healthy diets, lack many nutrients that help prevent disease.
Start by understanding the basic nutritional structure of food, including macronutrients such as fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, then dive deeper into micronutrients. All foods are different. We are familiar with the idea that some proteins are better than others—for example, striped bass is healthier than fatty pork chops; many know that low-fat or non-fat dairy products are better than full-fat ones—but the concept that certain vegetables or fruits are healthier than others is new. This distinction is possible because we can now test the micronutrients in fruits and vegetables and identify which ones contain more beneficial compounds.
Among micronutrients, two categories are widely recognized: vitamins and minerals. Another increasingly known micronutrient is phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are naturally occurring substances with powerful effects on human health.
Understanding Phytonutrients
Phytonutrients are food components that are neither vitamins nor minerals but offer significant health benefits. Thousands of phytonutrients exist in foods. They are present in every food item—from the tea you drink in the morning to the popcorn you eat while watching a movie. Some phytonutrients enhance cell communication; some fight inflammation; some help prevent cellular mutations; some inhibit cancer cell proliferation. Some functions of phytonutrients are just beginning to be understood, and many remain undiscovered.
Here are three important and health-promoting phytonutrients:
Polyphenols: In addition to promoting health, polyphenols act as antioxidants with anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties. Foods rich in polyphenols include tea, nuts, and berries.
Carotenoids: Carotenoids are pigments found in red and yellow vegetables such as tomatoes, pumpkins, carrots, peaches, mangoes, and sweet potatoes. Important carotenoids include beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene. These nutrients have antioxidant properties, protecting the body from cancer and helping slow aging.
Phytoestrogens: Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring chemicals, especially abundant in soy foods. They are also found in whole grains, seeds, grains, and certain fruits and vegetables. Phytoestrogens play a role in hormone-related cancers.
How Micronutrients Extend Lifespan
The human body is a complex, interconnected system capable of rapidly restoring energy and vitality. But after a lifetime of operation, the delicate links maintaining health begin to loosen. Micronutrients in natural, healthy foods can strengthen these links and slow their deterioration. Micronutrients play a crucial role in maintaining health—they are powerful antioxidants. Just as a bicycle left in a garage eventually rusts, the body also "rusts" or oxidizes at the cellular level. Oxidation causes both short-term and long-term health problems, and antioxidants protect the body from oxidation. The most studied and well-known antioxidants include vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and minerals like selenium. You can see vitamin C’s antioxidant power in your kitchen: when you cut an apple, it quickly turns brown, but if you apply lemon juice (rich in vitamin C) to it, it stays fresh and doesn’t discolor. Vitamin C slows down oxidation. New nutrients with antioxidant properties are discovered almost daily.
How Antioxidants Maintain Human Health
The body is a heat-producing machine that relies on oxygen for basic metabolic functions. One side effect of using oxygen or oxidation is the conversion of oxygen molecules into free radicals—well-known entities. Free radicals are byproducts of the body’s metabolic system. Additionally, free radicals are everywhere in the environment, appearing in secondhand smoke, pollution, certain foods and chemicals, even in tap water and the warm sun on your face in April.
Free radicals continuously increase inside the body, missing an electron, making them extremely unstable. Driven to find a replacement electron, free radicals attack neighboring cells indiscriminately to find a substitute molecule. Their targets could be DNA, enzymes, vital proteins in nearby cells, or cell membranes. It is estimated that each cell is attacked by free radicals at least 10,000 times a day.
Clearly, no organism can survive long without a defense system against free radicals. Antioxidants play the role of frontline soldiers in this battle. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals by donating an electron, thereby minimizing the threat. A stabilized free radical no longer poses a danger to cellular health.
The body produces many antioxidants naturally, but antioxidants from food are equally important in continuously suppressing free radicals. In fact, it is precisely the antioxidants in food that have led the medical community to widely accept today that certain foods not only nourish the body but also promote health.
Scientists now believe that successfully combating free radicals and the damage they cause is one of the keys to long-term health. In other words, it is not only genetics or medical advances that determine longevity and resistance to chronic diseases, but also the body’s ability to fight free radicals. Scientists have confirmed that uncontrolled free radical activity in the body is linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, vision problems, Alzheimer’s disease, and premature aging.
Continuously consuming rich sources of phytonutrients, along with all macronutrients and other micronutrients, will bring immense benefits to the body—it is one of the foundations of superfoods.
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