Perhaps, all of us are indeed familiar with the term vitamins and we are also very aware that vitamins are substances that are good for our health, yet this is the only thing that most of us know about vitamin and nothing else. It is important that we should know what exactly are vitamins and what they can do to our body before we take them either as a multivitamin, as a individual vitamin supplements, or no vitamin supplements at all or just relying on the nutrients given by food.
Vitamins are small organic compounds that are important for the human body which provides normal cellular function, growth and development. There are 13 different important vitamins and these are: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K and the B Vitamins, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, Folate, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12. No matter how essential these vitamins are, yet the body is unable to produce them completely in a natural way. In order to fulfill the needed vitamins, a person should take them from foods or vitamin supplements.
FUNCTIONS OF VITAMINS:
VITAMIN B – helps a person utilize the energy from the foods the he or she eats.
VITAMINS A, C & E – these three vitamins act as antioxidants that protect the cellular membranes and the tissues from oxygen damage or scavengers “free radical”. Free radicals are a product of oxidation, a process where carbohydrates are used as energy.
VITAMIN A – supports eyesight or vision.
VITAMIN D – supports optimal bone health.
VITAMIN K – needed for proper blood coagulation.
VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS
According to the Harvard Medical School, it is not necessary to take a multivitamin but it is important that a person should eat a balanced diet full of fruits, vegetables, buts, whole grains and fish. Multivitamins will not do much good if the person is already getting those vitamins that he or she needs. Fish oil dietary supplements can be exempted since food does not really contain much of them and they can lower a person’s risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular ailments.
RECOMMENDED DIETARY ALLOWANCES
Recommended Dietary Allowance refers to a specific measurement of how much of a vitamin a person needs on a daily basis in order to prevent the development of vitamin deficiencies. However, not all types of vitamin have accurate RDA measurements. For the major vitamins, the RDA for Vitamin D for both genders is 5 – 10 mcg daily. An adult man needs 10 mg and a woman needs 8 mg of Vitamin E. Men should receive 70 – 80 mcg of Vitamin K and women should receive 60 – 65 mcg of Vitamin K per day. For the Vitamin C or the ascorbic acid, men need 90 mg of it and women need 75 mg.
VITAMIN SIDE EFFECTS
Although vitamins are needed in order to have a healthful lifestyle and optimal body function, they can still provide side effects or adverse reactions. Large amounts or excessive amounts of fat soluble vitamins is ineffective and will only be toxic instead. Just like, taking too much of Vitamin A may cause liver damage and neural tube defects if you are pregnant. Fat-soluble vitamins are more prone to toxicity compared to water-soluble vitamins since they are stored and kept on body fats and cannot be quickly excreted from the body unlike the water-soluble vitamins like the B vitamins and Vitamin C.
