Some things I learned in my food and nutrition journey over the last couple of years.

Essential Fatty Acids

Most people know about essential amino acids, which human bodies rely of food proteins for, but essential fatty acids are overlooked. Why? First of all “fatty acids” sounds terrible, like something nobody wants, and second of all the public health focus on excess calorie consumption deemphasizes the importance of fats.

Human bodies require the fatty acids linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid in their food; the corresponding fats are omega-3 and omega-6. Human bodies use these not for calories but for synthesizing many other molecules they need.

How much? Omega-6 fats are common and if you eat a decent amount of fats or oils, plant or animal, you’ll get enough. Omega-3 fats are much rarer and worth seeking out. A low-to-medium active adult needs about 15 grams of linoleic acid and 1.5 grams of alpha-linoleic acid a day. More alpha-linoleic is probably beneficial; some people say it’s best to get the same amount of both types.

More information is at Wikipedia > Essential Fatty Acid or search the web.

My recommendation is use a variety of vegetable oils and you’re likely to get what you need. Or, if you eat a low fat diet and want one source for your essential fatty acids, eat a nice amount of walnuts, or use walnut oil for cooking and/or salads. 2 Tablespoons of walnut oil has approx 15 grams of linoleic acid and 3 grams of alpha-linoleic acid.

Fat Calories

It turns out your muscles, including your heart, prefer fats over carbohydrates for energy. They’ll take carbs if there are no fats in the blood they’re being supplied, but it takes more chemical processing to use them, so if both are available they’ll take the fats.

Based on this, it’s a bad idea to eat very low fat. Especially the more physically active you are, the higher a proportion of fat is beneficial.

More information is at Wikipedia > Fat or search the web.

My recommendation is to treat the general guideline of 30% max calories from fats as a middle ground and shoot for 20-40% of calories from fats. And avoid trans (partially hydrogenated) fats.

Electrolytes: Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium (Na, K, Mg)

Everyone knows that athletes, heavy exercise, hot days, and diarrhea require more electrolytes. But even for routine living, it’s worth paying attention. Human bodies need all three of these everywhere all the time. They aren’t used to build molecules, their presence is required in blood and cellular fluids to keep chemical reactions operating at the right pace.

Making sure you have the right amount without going over isn’t hard. All three are very water soluble, easily moved by your body to where they’re needed, and easily excreted if there’s too much. You don’t want to go way over, but adding 50-100% DV shouldn’t be a problem. With the exception of if you already go over with sodium.

My recommendation is to replace salt in the kitchen with “low sodium salt”, which is half sodium chloride (NaCl) and half potassium chloride (KCl). This helps you avoid getting too much sodium, which is common, and supplements your potassium intake, which is somewhat deficient in some people. I get about 50% DV of both from conscious use of NaCl-KCl salt. I haven’t read up on magnesium epidemiology, but I take a 50% DV pill daily.

Want to make your own sports drink? Start with a bottle of Ocean Spray Cranberry Drink (all cranberry or a blend), which has the right amount of sugar, and add [need to double check the amount] NaCl-KCl salt. Magnesium isn’t lost the way sodium and potassium are, so Mg isn’t needed for this. Voila – not as inexpensive as mixing up sugar water but convenient, the right amount of everything, and delicious.

Choline

Choline is completely overlooked and that’s sad. It’s required for making cell walls body-wide and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

Why is it overlooked? First of all, human bodies make some of what they need and depend on food for the rest, so even if you got no choline in your diet, you’d still have part of what you need. Second of all, one DV of choline makes a very big pill, so it’s hard to add to a multivitamin like its cousin folate.

More information is at Wikipedia > Choline or search the web.

The recommendation is to make sure to include foods with ample choline: organ meats (not a fan, personally) and eggs are high in choline, regular meats and whole grains are good sources too.

Phosphorous

Phosphorous is overlooked, but if you get enough protein, from plants or animals, you probably get enough phosphorous. It’s not part of protein molecules but organisms tend to group them together. You have to be careful about getting too much because then connective tissues start hardening kind of bone-like. If you get enough protein you probably get enough phosphorous. More information is at Wikipedia > Phosphorus > Biological Role.

Boron

Boron is a strange one: it’s known to be essential for some chemical reactions in our bodies, but how much is needed hasn’t been well studied. So there are no DV or AI or anything values established in the US or Europe.

Typical diets get 1-3 mg of boron daily. More information is at Wikipedia > Boron > Biological Role.

Fiber

Everyone knows you need fiber, but most people think it’s just to avoid constipation. That’s what I thought until I started reading up on dietary fiber. There are so many different kinds of fibers and they’re hard to classify! And they have several important functions:

• Regularity – preventing constipation and minimizing diarrhea.
• Supplying energy to the cells of your large intestine, which don’t get energy from your blood. Large intestine microbiomes metabolize some types of fiber and produce short-chain fatty acids as by-products, which the cells of your large intestine take up for energy – your large intestine will start dying without this.
• Supplying nutrients to your body: short chain fatty acids, which human bodies use for energy, above, and for building larger molecules, and vitamin K.
• Helping your immune system recognize pathogens.

More information is as Wikipedia > Dietary Fiber or search the web.

The recommendation is to eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

And So

I think the most important things here are Essential Fatty Acids and Fibers.