Facts About Vitamins Role They Play In Keeping Your Body Strong And Healthy
Facts about vitamins: Well, vitamins are organic substances needed by your body in very small amounts to regulate metabolic processes and assist the biochemical processes that take place at the cellular level. Vitamins work together with enzymes as coenzymes to facilitate and expedite the different functions that go on in your body continually. They are especially vital for correct growth in children.
That’s how important vitamins are–these micronutrients play a big role in keeping you healthy!
Your body isn’t able to synthesize or make vitamins, at least in sufficient quantities to meet its needs. And this is why you have to get these essential nutrients for the most part from the food you eat. It’s important to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet of a variety of nutrient dense foods including low-fat dairy products, poultry and lean meats, healthy fats, oily fish, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, beans, and legumes.
There are 13 vitamins
Here’s a breakdown of the 13 vitamins your body needs for optimum health:
A B9
B1 B12
B2 C
B3 D
B5 E
B6 K
B7
Facts about vitamins show that these 13 vitamins are categorized into 2 groups – fat soluble and water soluble, which has to do with the way vitamins are dissolved and absorbed into your body.
Fat Soluble Vitamins
Facts About Vitamins A, D, E, K
Sources: Fat-soluble vitamins are found mainly in fatty foods such as meats, liver, butter, cream, eggs, fish-liver oils, and unrefined vegetable oils. They’re also found in nuts and seeds, leafy green vegetables, dark orange fruits and vegetables and whole grains.
Absorption and storage: Vitamins A, D, E and K can’t be absorbed from your intestines into your blood without a certain amount of fat being present–this is why a fat-free diet can actually produce deficiencies of these vitamins. They’re then stored in your body’s fatty tissues and liver. Storage depots can supply your body’s need for these vitamins for several months even if you’re not getting them in your diet during that time.
Toxicity: This doesn’t mean you can overdo it on the fat solubles. Excess amounts can actually be toxic and harmful to your health.
Water Soluble Vitamins
Facts About Vitamin C and the B-Complex Vitamins
Sources: You will find the B-complex vitamins in a variety of foods including red meat, liver, poultry, fish, wheat germ, yeast, whole grain cereals, eggs, milk, legumes and fresh vegetables. Citrus fruits, dark green vegetables, tomatoes, green pepper, broccoli, strawberries, melon, and potatoes are good sources of vitamin C.
Absorption and storage: Water-soluble vitamins dissolve in your body’s watery fluids. They’re absorbed in your intestine and go directly to your blood which then carries them to the tissues that need them. Water soluble vitamins need to be included in your diet on a daily basis because they’re stored in your body for a short period of time before being eliminated in the urine. Vitamin B12 is an exception to this, it can be stored in the liver for many years.
more facts about vitamins – water soluble vitamins are easily destroyed by most cooking, processing and storing methodsToxicity: Water soluble vitamins are generally non-toxic. Excess amounts of water-soluble vitamins are very unlikely and overdosing on the water solubles would have to be intentional, say through taking megadoses of certain supplements such as Vitamin C, niacin (B3) or pyridoxine (B6). This could cause serious medical problems. Should an excess occur, water soluble vitamins can be quickly excreted through the urinary tract.
Normally you’re much more likely to have a deficiency of these vitamins than an excess because you excrete more than you consume.
Water soluble vitamins are unlike fat soluble vitamins in that they are easily destroyed by most cooking, processing and storing methods.
More Facts About Vitamins
Most vitamins have 2 names. Facts about vitamins again show that most vitamins are known by their proper chemical name as well as their original letter name:
Vitamin A (Retinol, Beta-carotene) Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid)
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) Vitamin B12 (Cobalamine)
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Vitamin D (Calciferol)
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) Vitamin K (Naphthoquinone)
Vitamin B7 (Biotin)
More complete vitamin list including specific functions, sources, signs of deficiency and other important facts about vitamins
Vitamins and good health
The connection between vitamins and good health was common knowledge way before vitamins were officially discovered in the early 20th century.
Scurvy and Vitamin C
Scurvy used to be a very common disease among sailors and a dreaded one at that. It was a serious problem and a potentially fatal disease.
Those aboard ships at sea for extended periods of time would be limited to a diet of mostly dried foods and salty meats. It was discovered that scurvy could be prevented by eating fresh fruits and vegetables during long voyages. The preferential use of limes and lemons was generally successful in preventing scurvy because of their vitamin C content.
Scurvy is known to be one of the first diseases to be associated with a dietary deficiency.
Beriberi and Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)
Beriberi is a disease that attacks the nerves, heart, and digestive system.
In the early 1900’s, an English doctor named William Fletcher was researching the causes of beriberi in Malaysia and noticed that the disease was prevented in those that ate unpolished rice instead of polished rice. He came to the conclusion that there must be some specific nutrient in the husk of rice that prevents the disease, and he was right. Beriberi is caused by a lack of vitamin B1 or thiamin. This was before vitamins (as we know them today) had been discovered.
Official Discovery of Vitamins
Dr. Fletcher’s findings led to the discovery of vitamins seven years later (1911) by Dr. Casimir Funk. Funk accurately hypothesized that the chemical substances he first called “vitamins” were absolutely necessary to sustain a healthy life and capable of preventing deficiency diseases such as pellagra, rickets, and scurvy. Dr. Funk identified four of the thirteen vitamins presently known to science–B1, B2, C, and D.
Vitamins as supplements
As history would have it, Funk later became a research consultant to the U.S. Vitamin & Pharmaceutical Corp. and helped in the development of artificial vitamins.
The following was taken from an article– Death of the Vitamin Pioneer –published by TIME magazine back in December of 1967:
Funk believed it was preferable for a person to obtain his daily requirement of vitamins from natural foodstuffs. “I get the vitamins I need from eating the right foods,” he once said, and his fitness attested to the claim. Nonetheless, he maintained that such factors as bad soil and poor cooking made artificial vitamins not only necessary but “sometimes indispensable.”
The Journal of the American Medical Association more recently corroborated this in an article published in the June 19, 2002, issue that stated:
“Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone… It appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”
But as facts about vitamins point out, there’s something very important about vitamin supplements you need to understand…
Artificial vitamins have evolved!
Artificial vitamin products have changed a LOT since their initial discovery. There’s been a moving away from the original use of synthetic versions of vitamins and an increased momentum toward using natural and standardized ingredients. We used to think that synthetic vitamins had the same nutritional benefit as natural nutrient compounds that are in the foods we eat. Research has shown us that this isn’t the case.
Facts about vitamins now reveal that synthetic vitamins don’t provide your body with the nutritional support it needs to fill in for what it’s not getting in food. Most commercial vitamin products are made up of synthetic vitamins that can be hazardous to your health and actually cause more harm than good to your body.
Standardized natural vitamins
All-natural, plant-sourced vitamin supplements are considered to be the most nutritionally effective because they contain nutrients that are bioavailable to your body. Standardization (meaning the amounts of vitamins they contain are labeled for nutritional values) is very important along with labeled sources.
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