Nutrient

Influences how the body handles calcium, magnesium and vitamin D, and how much sex hormone stays free.

Bone mineral and signalling ion. A large calcium load in the same meal competes with non-heme iron for DMT1.

Builds cell membranes and acetylcholine, and feeds the methylation cycle through betaine.

Cofactor for iron export, connective-tissue crosslinking and the electron transport chain. High-dose zinc lowers it.

Carries single-carbon units for DNA synthesis and for recycling homocysteine back to methionine.

The raw material of thyroid hormone. T4 carries four iodine atoms and T3 carries three, so intake sets the ceiling on thyroid output.

Carries oxygen in haemoglobin and sits in the active site of several enzymes. Absorption is the bottleneck, not intake, which is why so much of the absorption layer points here.

Required by every ATP-dependent reaction, since the usable substrate is the Mg-ATP complex rather than ATP alone.

Cofactor for mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and several carbohydrate-handling enzymes.

The precursor of NAD+ and NADPH, which carry electrons for most of energy metabolism and every P450 reaction.

The long-chain marine fats EPA and DHA plus their plant precursor ALA. They sit in cell membranes and are the substrate for the resolvins that switch inflammation off.

The backbone of coenzyme A, so it sits upstream of fat oxidation and steroid hormone synthesis.

Bone mineral, and the phosphate group in ATP, DNA and every phosphorylation signal.

Main intracellular cation. Drives membrane potential and blood pressure regulation.

The precursor of FAD. Low riboflavin lowers FAD, and MTHFR needs FAD to work.

Built directly into selenoenzymes as selenocysteine. Without it the deiodinases cannot convert T4 to T3.

Main extracellular cation, and the ion most nutrient transporters in the gut are coupled to.

Cofactor for pyruvate dehydrogenase. Without it pyruvate cannot enter the Krebs cycle.

Needed for vision, immune function and steroidogenesis. Measured two ways in the food data, as retinol activity equivalents and as international units.

Needed by methionine synthase and by one mitochondrial enzyme. Absorption needs intrinsic factor, so it fails on stomach problems long before intake does.

Cofactor for over a hundred enzymes, most of them handling amino acids and neurotransmitters.

Cofactor for collagen synthesis and catecholamine production, and the single strongest lever on non-heme iron absorption.

Acts as a hormone rather than a classical vitamin. Governs calcium absorption and a wide set of immune genes.

Chain-breaking antioxidant inside cell membranes. Regenerated by vitamin C after it does its job.

Activates the proteins that clot blood and the ones that steer calcium into bone.

Structural and catalytic cofactor in hundreds of enzymes, including steroidogenic ones. Shares absorption machinery with iron and copper.