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Most Vitamin-Rich Foods, Plus Nutrients that Are Hard to Get from Diet Alone

By Ethan Boldt

September 17, 2025

Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients, for they keep the body functioning properly. While carbohydrates, proteins and fats provide energy, vitamins and minerals help regulate and boost nearly every system in the body.

While both are needed in our diets and are often lumped together, vitamins and minerals are quite different. Vitamins are made by plants or animals and are termed "essential" because they are not synthesized in the body (except for vitamin D); instead, they must come from food.

Minerals come from soil, rocks and water. They make their way into the foods we eat by being absorbed by plants and animals, which we then eat. They’re also considered essential because our body can’t make them on its own.

Both vitamins and minerals are needed in small amounts but without them, the body can’t perform basic functions.

Now that you know all of that, you may have questions like these:

• For each essential vitamin and mineral, what are the best food sources?

• What are the most nutrient-rich foods that contain an abundance of both vitamins and minerals?

• What are the most common nutrient shortfalls that may require additional supplementation?

Let’s get into it.

As always, you should consult your healthcare professional prior to beginning any new dietary or lifestyle regimen.

Two types of vitamins and minerals

There are 13 essential vitamins that the body requires. Meanwhile, there are many minerals, but the human body needs roughly 16 essential minerals to maintain overall health.

Vitamins consist of two types:

• Water soluble: The body expels what it does not absorb. These include eight B vitamins along with vitamin C.

• Fat soluble: Leftover amounts are stored in the liver and fat tissues. These include vitamins A, D, E and K.

Minerals are split into two groups:

• Major: Also called macrominerals, your body needs these in larger amounts than trace minerals. They include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur.

• Trace: also called micro minerals, your body only needs these in very small amounts. They include iron, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, iodine, fluoride and chromium.

Best food sources for essential vitamins and minerals

In general, it’s possible to meet your daily needs — called Daily Value (DV) or Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) — from everyday foods, particularly unprocessed, whole foods. We’re talking vegetables and fruits, whole grains, proteins, beans and legumes, dairy products, fermented foods and more.

Each of the foods listed for each vitamin and minerals are in the order of highest Daily Value.

Here are the top foods for essential water soluble vitamins:

• Vitamin B1 (thiamine): Nutritional yeast, seaweed, black beans, lentils, edamame

• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): Beef liver, yogurt, fortified milk, spinach, almonds, eggs

• Vitamin B3 (niacin): Chicken, beef liver, tuna, turkey, salmon, sardines

• Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid): Chicken liver, sunflower seeds, avocado, portobello mushrooms, salmon

• Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine): Turkey breast, beef, sunflower seeds, pistachios, tuna, pinto beans

• Vitamin B7 (biotin): Beef liver, eggs, salmon, avocado, pork, sweet potato

• Vitamin B9 (folate): Lentils, beef liver, broccoli, wheat germ, beets, asparagus

• Vitamin B12 (cobalamin): Beef liver, nutritional yeast, Atlantic mackerel, fortified cereals, sardines

• Vitamin C (ascorbic acid): Guava, black currant, red pepper, kiwi fruit, kale, lemon, strawberries

Here are the top foods for essential fat soluble vitamins:

• Vitamin A: Beef liver, cod liver oil, liverwurst, sweet potato, butternut squash, spinach

• Vitamin D: Cod liver oil, Atlantic mackerel, steelhead trout, halibut, sardines, morel mushrooms

• Vitamin E: Sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, spinach, avocado

• Vitamin K: Leafy greens, Brussels sprouts, scallions, kiwi fruit, chicken breast

Here are the top foods for essential major minerals:

• Calcium: Sardines, kefir, fortified milk, leafy greens, yogurt, tofu, cheese

• Chloride: Salt (sea salt), seaweed, shrimp, processed meats

• Magnesium: Wheat bran, amaranth, cooked spinach, pumpkin seeds, black beans

• Potassium: Avocado, lima beans, Swiss chard, acorn squash, spinach, sweet potato

• Sodium: Pork, tempeh, pastrami, shrimp, halloumi, pickles, beef jerky

Here are the top foods for essential trace minerals:

• Chromium: Broccoli, grapes, potatoes, garlic

• Copper: Beef liver, dark chocolate, sunflower seeds, cashews, chickpeas

• Fluoride: Black tea, coffee, canned shellfish, oatmeal, raisins

• Iodine: Seaweed, cod, oysters, Greek yogurt, fortified milk

• Iron: Spinach, beef liver, dark chocolate, lentils, spirulina

• Manganese: Teff, rye, amaranth, brown rice, hazelnuts

• Selenium: Brazil nuts, salmon, tuna, turkey, cottage cheese

• Zinc: Oysters, beef, beef liver, lamb, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds

Most nutrient-rich foods

As you can see above, that’s quite a wide variety of food sources for each vitamin and mineral. However, if you look closely, you’ll also notice that several foods appear for multiple nutrients.

Accordingly, here are what are widely considered some of the most nutrient-dense foods (aka superfoods):

• Beef liver: High in vitamins A, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B12 as well as copper, selenium, folate, zinc, phosphorus and iron

• Avocado: High in vitamins B5, B6 and K as well as folate and copper

• Legumes: High in vitamin B1, magnesium and potassium

• Leafy greens: High in vitamins A, B1, B2, E and K as well as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron

• Berries: High in vitamins K and C as well as manganese

• Broccoli: High in vitamins B6, C and K as well as folate

• Eggs: High in vitamins B2, B7 and B12 as well as selenium

• Atlantic mackerel: High in vitamins D and B12

• Wild-caught salmon: High in vitamins B2, B3, B5 B6 and B12 as well as selenium and copper

• Sunflower seeds: High in vitamins B5, B6 and E as well as copper

• Chia seeds: High in manganese, copper and phosphorus

• Sweet potatoes: High in vitamins A, B5 and C as well as manganese and copper

• Almonds: High in vitamins B2 and E as well as copper, manganese and magnesium

• Kiwi fruit: High in vitamins C and K

• Seaweed: High in vitamin B1, chloride and iodine

• Nutritional yeast: High in vitamins B1 and B12

• Quinoa: High in manganese, copper, magnesium and phosphorus

Which nutrients are difficult to get from diet alone?

Lastly, as we discussed above, your diet alone doesn’t always cover your daily need for all vitamins and minerals. Indeed, there are certain nutrient shortfalls for women and men. They include the following.

1. Vitamin D

Coming up short on vitamin D is one of the most common nutrient shortfalls for adult women and men. It’s estimated that anywhere from 45 percent to 75 percent of all adults in the U.S. deal with a vitamin D shortfall.

Taking a multivitamin will usually cover one’s daily requirement, including 49 mcg (244% DV) in both Ancient Multivitamin Women's Once Daily and Ancient Multivitamin Women's 40+ Once Daily and 100 mcg (500% DV) in Ancient Multivitamin Men's Once Daily and 40 mcg (200% DV) in Ancient Multivitamin Men's 40+ Once Daily.

If you want more vitamin D, Ancient Nutrients Vitamin D provides 125 mcg (5,000 IU) of organic, probiotic-fermented vitamin D. This is 625% DV.

2. Iron

According to the World Health Organization, it’s estimated that 30 percent or more of the world’s total population might need an iron boost. For women, demand for iron naturally increases during menstruation due to normal blood loss. Men who are vegetarian, donate blood often or need some digestive support are more prone to an iron shortfall.

Some multivitamins do contain the RDA of iron, but it’s often well below. Check each label to make sure. Ancient Multivitamin Women's contains 18 mg (100% DV). Meanwhile, Ancient Nutrients Iron contains 18 mg (100% DV) of enzyme-activated iron and is formulated with real food sources.

3. Vitamin B12

According to a 2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the United States, vitamin B12 shortfalls affect about 3 to 26 percent of people over age 19.

Women are more likely to come up short compared to men, particularly pregnant women and young adult women. While most men usually get adequate amounts of vitamin B12 through foods like beef, chicken and eggs, they can have difficulty absorbing the vitamin because of lifestyle choices.

For most people, taking a multivitamin will more than cover your daily requirement. If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, you may want to take a vegan B12 supplement (such as in the form of methylcobalamin), which is usually made via bacterial fermentation. Ancient Nutrition's B12 supplement contains 20 mcg (833% DV) of vitamin B12.

4. Calcium

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body, stored mostly in the bones and teeth. But as we age, our ability to absorb calcium decreases. Women older than 50 years are considered to be most likely to have low calcium levels.

Meanwhile, today’s soil contains less calcium and that means the calcium levels in foods are also declining. If you consume less dairy because of a lactose intolerance or dietary reason (such as being a vegan), you’re also more likely to have a calcium shortfall.

Calcium does not appear in a significant amount in any multivitamin because it’d make the multi size too large. Instead, to supplement, it’s best to use a body-ready, food-sourced form of calcium made without dairy like Ancient Nutrients Calcium. It also features vitamin D3, which, in general, is a preferred form of vitamin D and acts as a supporting role in the body’s absorption of calcium.

5. Magnesium

Magnesium is one of the most important minerals in the body but also one of the most common minerals which women and men come up short on. It's especially common among pregnant women (up to 80 percent according to one study) and women with hormone issues (up to 55 percent). Otherwise, up to 74 percent of women of fertile age may be short in magnesium.

Most men (up to 60 percent) don’t reach the recommended daily intake for magnesium, and it’s particularly important for men as they get older, such as over the age of 70.

Only low levels of magnesium are typically included in multivitamins. Formulated with real food sources and optimized for absorption, Ancient Nutrients Magnesium contains 300 mg (71% DV) of magnesium in addition to 25 mcg of vitamin D.

6. Folate

Men and women alike can come up short on folate. For women, however, some shortfall ranges reported from 10 percent of the population to around 50 percent among certain populations.

All of Ancient Nutrition's multivitamins for women contain 892 mcg DFE (223% DV) of folate (fermented folic acid).

7. Iodine

Both men and women can come up short on iodine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, women between the ages of 20–39 have the lowest urine iodine levels compared to all other age groups.

Most multivitamins — such as 159 mcg (110% DV) in Ancient Nutrition's Women's Fermented Multivitamin — will usually cover one’s daily requirement for iodine.

8. Potassium

Both men and women can also come up short on potassium. In fact, men who exercise for more than one to two hours a day may be more susceptible to a potassium shortage.

Potassium is left out of many multivitamins, so you’ll need to get enough through your diet, such as with avocado, legumes, sweet potato and bananas.