Macronutrients, Micronutrients, and Antinutrients

Nutrients are substances essential for the life and growth of plants and animals.

- DR P.S. VENKATESH RAO

Plants get Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (Kalium), and micronutrients (minerals) from soil. They synthesize the three macronutrients, carbohydrate, protein, and fat (lipids), and many micronutrients (vitamins, mineral compounds, trace elements) required by humans and animals. We obtain vitamins B2, B12, and K from good microbes (microbiome) in our gut. Some nutrients are needed daily because the body does not store them. Many micronutrients are heat-labile and therefore obtained from raw foods. Antinutrients (phytates, tannins, lectins, and oxalates) are compounds synthesized by some plants to protect themselves and can reduce our ability to absorb essential nutrients. These can be reduced by sprouting, fermentation, or cooking.

Carbohydrates: These are our primary source of energy. Sugars, starches, and fiber are the three types of carbohydrates in food. Glucose, fructose, and galactose are monosaccharide sugars, and sucrose (table sugar), lactose (in milk), and maltose are disaccharides made of two monosaccharide sugars and are easy-to-digest simple carbohydrates. Starches (digestible) and fiber (not digestible) are complex carbohydrates made up of long chains of monosaccharides.

Grains like wheat, rice, oats, corn, millets, in starchy vegetables like potatoes, peas, and corn, and legumes like beans and lentils. Monosaccharides are readily absorbed and hence cause a sudden spike in blood glucose levels, triggering a surge of insulin release, followed by a sudden drop in blood glucose levels, triggering hunger. Complex carbohydrates need to be broken down by digestive enzymes and gut microbes over many hours. Hence, glucose levels are steady, and satiety is prolonged over 6 hours. Starch is classified as rapidly digestible starch (RDS), slowly digestible starch (SDS), and resistant starch (RS) that is not digested and is fermented by microbes in the large intestine. Cooking improves the digestibility of certain starches.