All foods which are preserved, processed, manufactured, cooked, baked, smoked, packaged, or bottled are derivatives. Derivative foods, of course, have increased burdens of non-nutrient chemicals, additives and contaminants. Macronutrients are the heavy materials derived from food consisting of sugars, fatty acids, and amino acids. These molecules must be supplied in sufficient quantity to fuel the body and to replace structural material lost through secretion, excretion, or injury. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals which are required in smaller amounts, mostly as co-factors or catalysts to enzymes.
Enzymes are responsible for the millions of different molecular transactions which sustain our life.
Many enzymes must have one or two vitamins and at least one critical mineral to function. At the appropriate place inside a brain cell, two enzymes and vitamin B 6 transform tryptophan to serotonin. 5-Hydroxytryptophan STEP 2. Prenutrients The size and identity of food molecules are important to us when we consider the problem of food allergy. Proteins are large molecules containing hundreds of amino acids.