What are the essential vitamins?

Vitamins aid the body in turning food into energy and tissues. There are 13 vitamins: vitamin A; the vitamin B complex, which includes thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12 pantothenic acid, and biotin; and vitamins C, D, E, and K.

Minerals are important for growth and maintaining of body structures. Minerals help maintain digestive juices and the fluids found in and around your cells.

The essential vitamins and minerals vary between individuals, what is most important for one person may not be an issue for someone else...due to diet or ethnicity. With that said, I would say that Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Calcium, and Iron would rank the highest. Here is a list of all vitamins and minerals and their roles. If you lack something or have issue with something, maybe you will find this list helpful.

FAT SOLUBLE VITAMINS
Vitamin A: Antioxidant, essential for growth and development; maintains healthy vision, skin, and mucous membranes
Vitamin D: Essential for formation of bones and teeth; helps the body absorb and use calcium
Vitamin E: Antioxidant; helps form blood cells, muscles, and lung and nerve tissue; boosts the immune system
Vitamin K: Essential for blood clotting
Beta carotene: Antioxidant; used by the body to make vitamin A

WATER SOLUBLE VITAMINS
Vitamin C: Antioxidant; necessary for healthy bones, teeth, and skin; helps in wound healing
Thiamin (vitamin B1): Helps convert food into energy
Riboflavin (vitamin B2): Helps in energy production and other chemical processes in the body; helps maintain healthy eyes, skin, and nerve function
Niacin (vitamin B3): Helps convert food into energy; helps maintain proper brain function
Vitamin B6: Helps produce essential proteins; helps convert protein into energy
Vitamin B12: Helps produce the genetic material of cells; helps convert carbohydrates into energy; helps with formation of red blood cells and maintenance of central nervous system; helps make amino acids (the building blocks of proteins)
Folic acid (folate): Necessary to produce the genetic material of cells; essential in first 3 months of pregnancy for preventing birth defects; helps in red blood cell formation; protects against heart disease

MINERALS
Calcium: Essential for building bones and teeth and maintaining bone strength; important in muscle function
Chromium: Works with insulin to convert carbohydrates and fat into energy
Copper: Essential for making hemoglobin (oxygen carrying protein in red blood cells) and collagen (a protein in connective tissue); essential for healthy functioning of the heart; helps in energy production; helps in absorption of iron from digestive tract
Iron: Helps in energy production; helps to carry oxygen in the bloodstream and to transfer oxygen to muscles
Magnesium: Essential for healthy nerve and muscle function and bone formation; may help prevent premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
Phosphorus: Essential for building strong bones and teeth; helps in formation of genetic material; helps in energy production and storage
Potassium: Essential for maintaining balance of body fluids, transmitting nerve signals, and producing energy
Selenium: Antioxidant; essential for healthy functioning of the heart muscle
Sodium: Essential for maintaining normal blood pressure and balance of body fluids and for transmitting nerve signals
Zinc: Essential for cell reproduction, normal growth and development in children, wound healing (tissue repair and growth), and production of sperm and the male hormone testosterone