Know Your Nutrients

Choosing a well-balanced diet that provides all the nutrients your body needs is essential for long-term health. No one can live on carbohydrates, protein, or even vitamins and minerals alone. Rather, the human body needs a steady supply of many different nutrients to stay healthy. Vitamins and minerals are substances found in food and beverages that are necessary for many body functions and processes for life and good health. Vitamins and minerals do not provide calories, but they function uniquely to help release the energy from carbohydrates, protein and fat.

Because different foods and beverages supply different nutrients, health experts have developed a variety of tools like the U.S. Food Guide Pyramid to help people assess and plan their diets. People who consume a variety of foods and the recommended number of servings from each food group of the Food Guide Pyramid can get the nutrients they need in sufficient quantities to support health.

However, no discussion of the role of beverage choice in a healthy diet is complete without information about the nutrients that different types of beverages contain and the function of those nutrients. Macronutrients including carbohydrates, protein and fat are needed in larger quantities than micronutrients in the body. Macronutrients also provide calories in contrast to micronutrients. Vitamins and minerals are considered micronutrients.

Follow these links for the major nutrients found in beverages to better understand how the nutrients in your beverage can impact your health.

Carbohydrates Fiber Fat Protein Vitamin A

Folate Vitamin C Vitamin D Calcium Phosphorus

Magnesium Potassium Sodium Water