Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients because they perform hundreds of roles in the body. They help strengthen bones, heal wounds, and bolster your immune system. They also convert food into energy, and repair cellular damage.

Vitamins and minerals are often called micronutrients because your body needs only tiny amounts of them. Every day, your body produces skin, muscle, and bone. It produces rich red blood that carries nutrients and oxygen to all over the body, and it sends nerve signals through thousands of miles of brain and body pathways. It also formulates chemical messengers that move from one organ to another, issuing the instructions that help sustain your life. To do all this, your body requires some raw materials. These include at least 30 vitamins, minerals, and dietary components that your body needs but cannot manufacture on its own in sufficient amounts.