Proper nutrition is more than just calories and macros.
BareVue provides micronutrient tracking as part of a much fuller view of your nutrition, covering 98 nutrients and dietary components across food and supplements. That includes vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, fiber, sugars, carotenoids, caffeine, and more.
Vitamins and subforms
27 vitamins and subforms, including vitamin A forms, D2 and D3, vitamin E forms, K1 and K2, B vitamins, folate forms, and choline.
Minerals and trace elements
16 minerals and trace elements, including calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iodine, selenium, copper, manganese, and more.
Amino acids
14 amino acids, including all nine essential amino acids that must come from food.
Fats and fatty acids
Saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and trans fats, plus cholesterol. Omega-3 and omega-6 are broken down further into linoleic acid, ALA, arachidonic acid, EPA, DPA, and DHA.
Nutrient detail depends on the information available from the food or supplement source. BareVue does not invent values when a source does not provide them.
Nutrient guidance based on official health authorities
Nutrient needs change with age, sex, and life stage. BareVue supports every nutrient recommendation and upper limit established by the official nutrition standards it uses from the United States and Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, the Nordic countries, Japan, and South Korea.
These recommendations help show whether you are getting enough of a nutrient, or too much. Upper limits are especially important when supplements can add concentrated amounts on top of food.
Why nutrition matters
Nutrition affects far more than body weight. Too little of an essential nutrient can cause health problems, while excessive intake can also be harmful. Nutrient needs also change during childhood, adolescence, pregnancy, and across adulthood.
Research has shown that nutrition can help with:
- Depressive symptoms
- Type 2 diabetes remission through structured dietary weight loss
- Lowering high blood pressure
- Lowering LDL cholesterol
- Reducing cardiovascular events in high-risk adults
- Reducing liver fat in fatty liver disease
- Irritable bowel syndrome symptoms through dietary changes
- Chronic constipation through adequate fiber
- Knee osteoarthritis symptoms through dietary weight loss
- Premenstrual symptoms through adequate calcium intake
- Acne symptoms through a low-glycemic-load diet
- Cognitive function in older adults
- Reducing certain inflammatory markers
These are only some of the health outcomes studied in nutrition research. BareVue is a nutrition tracking tool and does not diagnose, treat, or prevent disease.
During pregnancy
During pregnancy, nutrients help form the baby’s brain and nervous system, bones, organs, blood, and other tissues. Needs change as pregnancy progresses.
Poor nutrition during pregnancy can increase the risk of:
- Neural tube defects
- Restricted fetal growth and low birth weight
- Preterm birth
- Impaired brain and nervous system development
During childhood
During childhood, adequate nutrition supports physical growth, brain development, learning, immunity, bones, and muscles.
Poor nutrition during childhood can increase the risk of:
- Impaired growth
- Learning, attention, and memory difficulties
- Weaker immune response and more infection
- Poor bone and muscle development
- Higher chronic disease risk later in life
Nutrition deserves a larger role in healthcare.
Despite its importance to physical and mental health, nutrition remains underused in many healthcare settings. A global systematic review found that nutrition was insufficiently incorporated into medical education, and international depression guidelines now recognize dietary counseling as a possible part of treatment. Nutrition is not a replacement for medical care, but it deserves to be treated as part of it.