Vitamins: a choice for a healthy life

Vitamins work together with enzymes and release energy from digested food and regulate the billions of chemical activities that occur in the body every minute of every day.
A balanced diet that includes a wide variety of the main food groups generaly provides all the vitamins and minerals that your body needs. There are only a few examples where you do need certain vitamin or mineral supplements such as strict vegetarians, during pregnancy, or if you have a bowel problem that prevents you absorbing fat soluble vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins and mineral tablets work in the same way as those which are in your food. It`s not hard to understand that our bodies works as a system and will have difficulty consuming individual vitamins and using them effectively. Only a small dosage of vitamins are needed to keep the human body processes functioning properly. Supplements are an easy, safe, and inexpensive way to make sure you’re getting the vitamins and minerals your body has to have for optimum health. Taking supplements can improve your health now and ensure it for the future. Also, there are many herbal remedies that keeps you health as well!

Vitamins and minerals should only be taken as recommended by your doctor as too many vitamins and minerals can cause health problems as they can be toxic at high doses.

Vitamin Facts

• The human body uses food to manufacture all its building blocks as well as to provide fuel. To do this, it performs several thousand different chemical reactions. Each reaction is controlled by “enzymes” and “coenzymes”. Some of the coenzymes contain vitamins which the body cannot make by itself and which must be obtained from outside the body.
• About 25% of US households do not have balanced meals to meet the requirements that the body needs in digesting enough nutrients to sustain the body’s health and fuel factors.
• Research has shown that almost all varieties of disease can be produced by the deficiency of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients. Vitamins are vital for your skin. The most important factor of nutritional deficiencies is the intense processing and refining of foods like cereals and sugar.
• A lot of the vitamins in fruits and vegetables are lost between the farm and your plate. The longer the foods are stored before you eat them, the more nutrients are lost.

There are two specific Vitamin groups.

1) Water soluble type vitamins such as vitamin B and vitamin C which are not stored so they must be taken into the body every day.
2) Fat-soluble Vitamins A, D, E, and K which are stored in the body’s fatty tissue and the liver.
The main minerals the body requires are calcium, magnesium, iodine, chromium, phosphorus, iron, copper, selenium, fluoride and zinc.

The thirteen vitamin types are:

Vitamin C
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)
Niacin
Riboflavin
Vitamin B6
Folic Acid (Folacin)
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)
Vitamin A
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Biotin
Pantothenic Acid

Vitamin A

Helps develop and maintain healthy growth in the cells and almost all the parts of the body. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. Vitamin A is carried through the body by fat and plays a key role in the immune system by helping protect it from infections. Critical to the development of bones and teeth. Helps maintain good eyesight.
Food sources: dark green leafy vegetables, yellow-orange vegetables and fruits, liver, milk, butter, carrots, broccoli, spinach, sweet potatoes
A lack in vitamin A may cause: rough, dry, or pimply skin, digestive problems, lowered resistance to infections, problems with becoming pregnant, poor growth, improper tooth formation, night blindness and eye disease and increased infection risk.

Vitamin B6

A vitamin that can be dissolved in water. It is one of the B complex vitamins. Vitamin B6 helps the body by building protein, making antibodies and making the red blood cells and is the principle vitamin for processing amino acids.
Vitamin B6 is found in foods such as: meats, fish,whole ,grainspeas, beans, nuts, eggs, fortified breads and cereals.
A vitamin B6 deficiency can may cause: fatigue, dizziness, mouth sores,
nausea, dermatitis, retarded growth and nervousness

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 helps the body make red blood cells, maintain the nervous system, digest and use fats, carbohydrates, and some proteins for energy and form the neurotransmitters in the brain. Anemia is treated with injections of B12. Vegetarians, their children and the elderly are at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency.
Vitamin B12 can be found in animal foods, fortified foods, and some fermented foods like: eggs, meat, poultry fish and liver.
A lacking of vitamin B12 may cause: anemia, fatigue, very sensitive skinnerve damage such as tingling sensations and numbness, muscle and nerve paralysis

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin. Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are the best choices for getting vitamin C. Freezing has little to no effect on Vitamin C. Cooking vegetables too long can also destroy the contained vitamin C. Vitamin C helps the body build and maintain healthy bones, teeth, gums, red blood cells, and blood vessels, heal wounds, bruises, and fractures and protect from infection by keeping the immune system healthy and reduces the impact of some allergy producing substancesBecause vitamin C cannot be stored in the body so it is important to eat foods high in vitamin C.
The best sources of vitamin C are fruits and vegetables. Citrus fruits and drinks such as: orange juie, grapefruit and tangerines melons, oranges, kiwi, strawberries, broccoli, sweet green and red peppers, unpeeled potatoes and tomatoes.
Signs of vitamin C deficiency include: inflamed gums, slow wound healing, stomach disorders, reduced resistance to colds and infections, skin problems.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D can be produced in the body as well as from your diet. The human body can also make vitamin D from direct sunlight, or an ultraviolet light source, hits the skin. Ten to 20 minutes of sun exposure 3 times a week is all thats needed. Vitamin D helps build strong and healthy bones and teeth. A person who does not get enough vitamin D and calcium is at a higher risk for bone mass loss, which is known as osteoporosis. This Vitain also mantains a stable nervous system, maintains a normal and strong heartbeat and helps in blood clotting.
Vitamin D is present in: cheese, butter, margarine, cream, some soy milks, eggs, liver, fish such as sardines and salmon.
A lack in vitamin D may cause: rickets-poorly developed, weak bones, osteomalacia and bone resorption.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E has strong antioxidant properties. The vitamin may protect against heart disease and cancer and improves the way the body uses vitamin A. Lessens oxidative damage after hard training, prevents lung damage from many pollutants and It`s vital to the immune system. Vitamin E is found in the fatty parts of foods and to insure an adequate vitamin E intake, healthy vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and unrefined whole-grain products should be a regular part of the diet.
The best sources of vitamin E are unsaturated fats, such as vegetable oils such as:
avocados, nuts, seeds, wheat germ, and whole grain. Green leafy vegetables have smaller amounts.
A vitamin E deficiency can may cause: muscular dystrophy and sterility.

Vitamin K

Vitamin K makes several proteins that assist the blood to clot when bleeding. It also makes proteins for blood, bones, and kidneys. People taking blood thinning medicines, such as aspirin may need to limit their intake of vitamin K foods. There are three different forms of Vitamin K:
a) phylloquinone, which is found in food
b) menadione, which is man-made
c) menaquinone, which is produced by the body
Vitamin K is in foods: collards, kale, and other green leafy vegetables
cabbage family including broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, egg yolk, some fruits, liver, cheese and milk.
A vitamin K deficiency can may cause: excessive bleeding due to retarded blood clotting

Biotin

The B vitamin complex includes vitamins B1, niacin, B6, B12, folate, biotin, and pantothenic acid. Biotin helps the body use protein, fat and carbohydrate from foods for energy. It helps the body produce energy in the cells. Pantothenic acid is needed to make cholesterol, bile, some fats, red blood cells, hormones and nerve regulators.
Sources of pantothenic acid include: egg yolks, organ meat, meat, poultry, fish, dairy products whole-grain cereal, broccoli, cauliflower, legumes
Sources of biotin include: meats and liver, milk, yeas,t cereal, soybeans, peanuts, egg, yolks
Biotin Deficiency symptoms include: muscle pain and weakness, fatigue, hair loss, loss of appetite, nausea and depression

Folic Acid

Folacin is also known as folic acid and folate. It is a water-soluble vitamin and is one of 8 members of the B complex including vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, biotin and pantothenic acid. Folate assists prevention of neural tube defects (spina bifida) in fetuses before birth and involvement in production of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, that regulate mood, sleep, and appetite. Evidence suggests that folate may have a role in the prevention of some cancers when it is consumed along with a variety of nutrients found in fruits, vegetables and other foods.
Foods high in folacin include: citrus fruits, beans, peas, liver, yeast breads, wheat germ

Riboflavin

Riboflavin is also called Vitamin B2. Milk products supply about half of the riboflavin that people get and unlike other vitamins, riboflavin is not destroyed by cooking. Vegetarians may have riboflavin deficiencies.
Children who do not get enough riboflavin may have poor growth. Vitamin supplements usually reverse symptoms within days to a few weeks.
Food sources of riboflavin include: milk and dairy products, meat and eggs leafy, dark green vegetables, whole-grain or enriched breads and cereals, organ meats such as liver, kidney, and heart
Riboflavin deficiencies symptoms can include: dry and scaly skin,cracks at the corners of the mouth, eye disorders, swollen tongue or gums.