Term  Definition
Vitamins
Vitamin A Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and essential nutrient that the body needs for growth and development. It supports cell growth, immune function, fetal development, and vision.
Vitamin B1 (thiamine) Vitamin B1 is one of the eight B vitamins, also known as thiamin (thiamine). It is a water-soluble vitamin found naturally in some foods, added to foods, and sold as a supplement. Thiamine helps to turn food into energy to keep the nervous system healthy.
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) Vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, is one of the eight B-complex vitamins. Riboflavin (vitamin B2) works with the other B vitamins. It is important for body growth. It helps in red blood cell production. It also aids in the release of energy from proteins.
Vitamin B3 (niacin) Vitamin B-3, also known as niacin, is one of eight B vitaminsthat’s made and used by your body to turn food into energy. It helps keep your nervous system, digestive system and skin healthy.
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) Vitamin B5, also called pantothenic acid, is a water-soluble B vitamin and therefore an essential nutrient. It’s necessary for making blood cells, and it helps you convert the food you eat into energy.
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, is one of eight B vitamins that your body needs. Vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) is important for normal brain development and for keeping the nervous system and immune system healthy.
Vitamin B7 (biotin) Vitamin B7, also known as biotin, is an essential water-soluble vitamin that helps the body convert food into energy. It helps the body metabolize fats, carbohydrates, and protein.
Vitamin B9 (folate) Vitamin B9 is an essential nutrient that naturally occurs as folate. Folate is important in red blood cell formation and for healthy cell growth and function.
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) Vitamin B12, also called cobalamin, is one of 8 B vitamins. Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep your body’s blood and nerve cells healthy and helps make DNA, the genetic material in all of your cells.
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C is a nutrient your body needs to form blood vessels, cartilage, muscle and collagen in bones. Vitamin C is also vital to your body’s healing process.
Vitamin D Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that has long been known to help the body absorb and retain calcium and phosphorus to make strong bones and teeth.
Vitamin E Vitamin E is an important fat-soluble nutrient found in many foods. It’s a powerful antioxidant and is needed for immune health and cellular signaling in your body. Vitamin E helps maintain healthy skin and eyes, and strengthen the body’s natural defence against illness and infection.
Vitamin K Vitamin K is a group of fat-soluble vitamins that play a role in blood clotting, bone metabolism, and regulating blood calcium levels
Minerals
Calcium bone and teeth health. It also plays an important role in blood clotting, helping muscles to contract, including your heartbeat and nerve functions.
Sodium Sodium is a mineral and a nutrient that occurs naturally in many of the foods. Sodium is essential for maintaining fluid balance in the body, for transmitting nerve signals, and for helping your muscles contract and relax.
Potassium Potassium is a mineral found in the foods you eat.It is an essential mineral that is needed by all tissues in the body. It’s also an electrolyte. It helps the body regulate fluid, send nerve signals and regulate muscle contractions.
Copper Copper is an essential trace mineral found in some foods and in supplements. It works to assist various enzymes that produce energy for the body, break down and absorb iron, and build red blood cells, collagen, connective tissue, and brain neurotransmitters.
Fluoride Fluoride is a trace mineral naturally found in small amounts in a variety of foods.One of the main functions of fluoride is to keep the health of our bones and teeth.
Iron Iron is a mineral found in every cell of the body. Iron is important in making red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body.
Magnesium Magnesium is a nutrient that is essential for healthy muscles, nerves, bones and blood sugar levels.
Manganese Manganese is a trace mineral needed for the normal functioning of your brain, nervous system and many of your body’s enzyme systems.
Phosphorus Phosphorus, an essential mineral, is naturally present in many foods. It plays multiple roles in the body. It is a key element of bones, teeth, and cell membranes. It helps to activate enzymes, and keeps blood pH within a normal range.
Selenium Selenium is an essential trace mineral found in soil, water, and some foods. Selenium is a nutrient that plays a key role in maintaining thyroid hormone metabolism and DNA synthesis and protecting the body from oxidative damage and infection.
Zinc Zinc is a trace mineral, meaning that the body only needs small amounts, and yet it is necessary for almost 100 enzymes to carry out vital chemical reactions. It is a major player in the creation of DNA, growth of cells, building proteins, healing damaged tissue, and supporting a healthy immune system.
Ingredients Any of the foods or substances that are combined to make a particular dish.
Calories A calorie is a unit of energy. In nutrition, calories refer to the amount of energy people get from food and drinks they consume. It is the amount of energy released when your body breaks down food.
Sugars Sugars are carbohydrates that occur naturally in many foods but are also added as ingredients to foods. The most common sugars found in foods are monosaccharides (single sugars) such as glucose, fructose and galactose, and disaccharides (two monosaccharides joined together) such as sucrose (table sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and maltose.
Carbohydrates Carbohydrates (also called carbs) are a type of macronutrient found in certain foods and drinks.They are the sugars, starches, and dietary fiber that occur in plant foods and dairy products. Carbohydrates are mainly found in plant foods. They also occur in dairy products in the form of a milk sugar called lactose.
Dietary Fiber Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that the body can’t digest. Though most carbohydrates are broken down into sugar molecules called glucose, fiber cannot be broken down into sugar molecules, and instead it passes through the body undigested. Fiber is mostly in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.
Fat Fat is a source of essential fatty acids, which the body cannot make itself. There are all kinds of fats. Unsaturated fats are the good fats, of which there are two kinds: monounsaturated fats found in nuts, avocado, and vegetable oils and polyunsaturated fats located in seafood and some vegetable oils.
Vitamins Vitamins are a group of organic compounds which are essential for normal growth and nutrition and are required in small quantities in the diet because they cannot be synthesized by the body. Vitamins are generally classified as either fat soluble or water soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, D, E, and K) dissolve in fat and tend to accumulate in the body. Water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins, such as vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folate) must dissolve in water before they can be absorbed by the body, and therefore cannot be stored.
Minerals Minerals are elements that are found in the earth and food and are essential for our bodies to develop and function normally. Macrominerals and trace minerals are the two different categories of minerals. You require greater macromineral intake.They consist of sulfur, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, and potassium.Trace minerals are just slightly needed.
Iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride, and selenium are a few of them.
Proteins Proteins are long chains of amino acids. Protein is a nutrient your body needs to grow and repair cells and to work properly.
Aminoacids Amino acids are molecules that combine to form proteins.There are 20 different types of amino acids that can be combined to make a protein. Amino acids are classified as either essential or non-essential. Essential amino acids cannot be made by the body whereas non-essential amino acids can be produced by the body and therefore do not need to come from the diet. The 9 essential amino acids are: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Nonessential amino acids include: alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine.