Chemical compounds in foods that are required for (consuming organism’s) life, growth, or tissue repair, and cannot be synthesized by that organism.
Specific nutrients that cannot be synthesized by the body and must be obtained through food.
Nutrients needed by the body that must be provided in the diet. There are species and age differences in the nutrients needed. Some nutrients can be synthesized in the body, but the synthesis may be inadequate to meet the need of the consumer. The essential nutrients for humans include the amino acids, valine, leucine, isoleucine, threonine, phenylalanine, methionine, tryptophan, lysine, histidine, and arginine. Arginine can be synthesized but not in sufficient quantities in the growing child to meet the need for new tissue growth. Carbohydrate (glucose) can be synthesized. The fatty acids, linoleic, linolenic; the vitamins: retinol and its equivalents, vitamin D (can be synthesized if body is exposed to ultraviolet light), vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, folacin, vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin), biotin, choline and ascorbic acid (can be synthesized by most species except primates, guinea pig, and fruit bat); the minerals: calcium, phosphorous, iron, copper, selenium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, chloride, sodium, potassium, molybdenum, and fluoride. The needs for some additional minerals are being studied. These are called the trace and ultratrace minerals, and the need for these is very difficult to establish.
An essential nutrient is required in the diet of humans because we lack the ability to produce adequate amounts to meet our needs for normal growth, development, and maintenance.
Also referred to as indispensable, these are nutrients that are necessary to support life but must be supplied in the diet because the body either cannot produce them or cannot produce them in a large enough quantity to meet needs.