Vitamins & Minerals
Essential Nutrients for Optimal Health
Type of Nutrient
From A to Z
- Biotin — Vitamin B7 | B8 | H
- Calcium
- Chromium
- Copper
- Iodine
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Phosphorus
- Potassium
- Selenium
- Silicon
- Sodium
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B1 — Thiamin
- Vitamin B12 — Cobalamin
- Vitamin B2 — Riboflavin
- Vitamin B3 — Niacin
- Vitamin B5 — Pantothenic Acid
- Vitamin B6
- Vitamin B9 — Folate
- Vitamin C — Ascorbic Acid
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Zinc
Your Guide to Nutrition
To be fit and stay healthy, getting enough vitamins and minerals every day is important. These micronutrients have essential functions in our body, both in terms of energy metabolism and the body's structure.
In addition, the antioxidant properties of some of them help protect us from damage caused by free radicals and oxidative stress. They thus prevent many cardiovascular or degenerative diseases and certain cancers.
To achieve a diet rich in vitamins and minerals:
Increase your frequency of consumption of nutrient-dense foods richer in micronutrients (fruits and vegetables, nuts, seafood, etc.).
Limit fatty, sugary, and refined foods, primarily devoid of essential micronutrients for your health.
In addition:
To ensure that your diet is complete and that you regularly provide beneficial and protective elements, or if your needs are more significant than average (sport, stress, old age, pregnancy, pollution, smoking, growth, weight-loss diet, infection, chronic illness, medication, etc.), the use of quality dietary supplements can prove to be appropriate and effective.
Personalized nutritional supplements
Every person is unique. This refers to our character traits, lifestyle, likes, and dislikes when it comes to food, or certain physical circumstances, such as illness or pregnancy. This uniqueness influences our need for calories and nutrients and whether our needs are actually met.
General recommendations do not address the unique needs of individuals or their likes and dislikes when eating.
Personalized nutrition recommendations are tailored to individual needs.
Individual needs are determined and then assessed to see if the needs are being met through the current diet. Personalized nutrition recommendations or products can be developed if there are excesses or deficiencies in particular nutrients. These incorporate eating behavior and other aspects such as allergies, illnesses, the patient’s own goals, and much more. Personalized nutrition is thus intended to improve your health.
Say goodbye to one-size-fits-all and welcome to the most comprehensive concept for personalized vitamins. I have partnered with LOEWI, a scientific spin-off of the Technical University of Munich that pursues the vision of making customized health and nutrition available to everyone. Their tailor-made vitamins are based on your blood work and lifestyle. With LOEWI, you get precisely what your body needs – no more, no less.
If interested, you can benefit from a 25€ discount on your first order. Just enter LW-Catherine-Polet as a discount code when ordering.
They now deliver in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Their website is in German and English. If you want to order or have additional questions, email me. I’ll be happy to walk you through the order.
Note that there are more essential nutrients. I will update this page regularly, so check back regularly.
All the vitamins and minerals
from vitamin A to Zinc
Vitamin A
What is vitamin A?
Vitamin A, or retinol, is one of the fat-soluble vitamins essential to the body. It is a fat-soluble vitamin (i.e. soluble in fats), stored in large quantities by the body.
Vitamin A plays an important role in the quality of vision, which is its best known action. It also contributes to a healthy immune system and plays an important role in the development and growth of bones and skin.
Vitamin B1 — Thiamin
What is vitamin B1, or thiamin?
Vitamin B1, or thiamin, is a water-soluble vitamin. Vitamin B1 is necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates and their transformation into energy. It thus plays a crucial role in energy production.
It also contributes to the transmission of nerve impulses, and therefore promotes the proper functioning of the nervous system. It also helps to support mood and memory.
Vitamin B2 — Riboflavin
What is vitamin B2, or riboflavin?
Vitamin B2, or riboflavin, is another of the water-soluble vitamins essential to the body. Vitamin B2 plays an important role in the release of energy, participating in the metabolism of nutrients, but more particularly that of lipids.
It also plays an indirect role of antioxidant, and participates in the cycle of folates, essential to the process of methylation.
Vitamin B3 — Niacin
What is vitamin B3, or niacin?
Vitamin B3, also called niacin or nicotinic acid, is another of the water-soluble vitamins essential to the body.
Vitamin B3 plays a role in the regulation of cholesterol, as well as in the formation of red blood cells and the functioning of the nervous system. It is necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates (during glycolysis), lipids and proteins.
Vitamin B5 — Pantothenic Acid
What is vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid?
Vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that is sometimes called the "anti-stress vitamin" because of its action in the response to stress.
Vitamin B5 is also essential in energy production, in the formation of hemoglobin, and the functioning and regeneration of cells.
Vitamin B6
What is vitamin B6?
Vitamin B6 is one of the essential water-soluble vitamins best known due to its association with magnesium, enhancing its action in the fight against fatigue and stress.
The body needs vitamin B6 for more than 100 enzyme reactions involved in metabolism, in energy production and immune function.
Biotin — Vitamin B7 | B8 | H
What is Biotin?
Biotin, also known as Vitamin B7, vitamin B8 or vitamin H, is a water-soluble vitamin.
Biotin plays a key role in the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and amino acids, and is therefore actively involved in energy production. It also promotes the synthesis and use of vitamins B9 and B12, plays a role in energy production and maintains blood sugar levels.
Vitamin B9 — Folate
What is vitamin B9 or folate?
Vitamin B9, or folate, is a water-soluble vitamin whose name comes from the Latin folium, which means leaves in Latin, as it is mainly found in the leaves of plants.
It is important in red blood cell formation and for healthy cell growth and function. The nutrient is crucial during early pregnancy.
Vitamin B12 — Cobalamin
What is vitamin B12 or cobalamin?
Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, is one of the only water-soluble vitamins that is stored by the body, but is not synthesized by the body, so it must imperatively be provided by the diet.
It plays an essential role in the production of your red blood cells and DNA, as well as the proper functioning of your nervous system.
Vitamin C — Ascorbic Acid
What is vitamin C or ascorbic acid?
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is probably the best-known and most widely used vitamin as a dietary supplement.
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant: it intervenes by protecting the cells against the free radicals responsible for cellular aging and by participating in the regeneration of vitamin E, another antioxidant.
Vitamin D
What is vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin also known as “sunshine vitamin”. It is synthesized by the body, under the action of the sun's UVB rays.
It helps your body absorb calcium. Your muscles need it to move, your nerves need it to carry messages between your brain and your body and your immune system needs vitamin D to fight off invading bacteria and viruses.
Vitamin E
What is vitamin E?
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, stored in muscle and adipose tissue. Vitamin E plays an essential role in protecting the membrane of all the cells in the body.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant. It neutralizes the free radicals in the body. It has a particular role in the beauty of the skin.
Vitamin K
What is vitamin E?
Vitamin K is the blood clotting vitamin par excellence. Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, which gets its letter from its essential role in coagulation (K for Koagulation in German).
It also plays an important role in bone mineralization and in cell growth.
