09/02/2026
Starting a little series on micronutrients 🌿
The Macronutrients - protein, carbohydrates, and fat - tend to get all the attention. While micronutrients may be needed in smaller amounts, their jobs are anything but small. Electrolytes help regulate your heartbeat and nerve signals, iron delivers oxygen to your tissues, and vitamin B12 supports healthy blood cells, nerves, and the metabolic pathways your cells use to produce energy, to name a few.
When we’re not getting enough of these essential vitamins and minerals, deficiencies can drastically affect our health long before we recognize what’s happening. One of the issues with heavily processed foods is that they are lacking in micronutrients. That’s why I want to break down what each micronutrient does, where to find it, and why understanding your nutrient status can be so valuable.
First up: Vitamin A 🥕
Vitamin A is fat-soluble, which means dietary fat helps your body absorb and use it. So whether you’re eating carrots, spinach, or another source of provitamin A carotenoids, pair it with olive oil, butter, avocado, or another healthy fat.
So, what does the body actually use vitamin A for and how does it work? Plant foods provide provitamin A carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, which must first be converted into vitamin A before the body can use them. Animal foods provide preformed retinol, which is already vitamin A and does not require that initial conversion. The body can then convert retinol into retinal, which helps form the light sensitive pigments needed for vision, or into retinoic acid, which regulates gene expression involved in cell growth, specialization, immune function, and tissue maintenance.
This is particularly important for maintaining the epithelial barriers lining the skin, eyes, respiratory tract, and digestive tract, which act as a first line of immune defense. Vitamin A also helps immune cells develop and function appropriately and is essential for normal fetal growth and organ development.
