Vitamins

What Are Vitamins?

Before choosing which vitamins you need know what they are and why we need them is something we should all know. Vitamins are small molecules that are found in the food we eat. Our body needs these molecules to grow properly and then maintain health and well being. They are needed in small amounts but they are a required nutrient for survival. The body cannot make these molecules on their own but must extract them from the foods we eat or from supplements we take. The body can store certain vitamins for long periods of time but others must be replenished frequently.

The body can be likened to a machine that is able to do all kinds of things on it’s own. It is not able to make its own vitamins though. Eating a wide variety of food ensures that we get the vitamins we need to survive.

Once inside the body, they each have a special role or job description to fulfill. Examples of Vitamins and their jobs are:

• Vitamin A maintains and improve eyesight

• Vitamin B helps the body make protein and maintain energy levels

• Vitamin C helps the immune system maintain health

• Vitamin D strengthens bones

Scientists have discovered that there are 2 kinds of vitamins. These have been called water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins. The difference is that the water-soluble vitamins break down in water to release the vitamin molecules and the fat-soluble vitamins break down in the fatty tissues and release the vitamin molecules.

Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body. They go thru the blood stream and whatever the body does not need is passed out thru the urinary tract. Some examples of these are Vitamins C and B.

When foods have fat-soluble vitamins, the body directs them to be stored in the body fat tissues and they can be stored there for long periods of time, then used, as the body needs them. Vitamin A for example, can be stored in the liver for up to a year. Other vitamins can be stored for up to 6 months. As the body has need, special carriers remove them from storage and transport them to the needed location in the body. Some fat-soluble vitamins are Vitamins A, D, E, and K.

To date, scientists have discovered 13 different vitamins:

• Vitamin A

• Vitamin B’s which include; B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and Folic Acid

• Vitamin C

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin E

• Vitamin K

• Pantothenic Acid

• Biotin

The B vitamins have been found embedded in the structures of enzymes that are produced by cells. Each enzyme has to have certain vitamins before it can perform its job. Vitamin C is used in the formation of collagen, without it, collagen could not be produced. Collagen is needed to maintain blood vessel health and healthy gums for the teeth to remain in place.

Long before scientist identified vitamin molecules in food, people knew about how certain foods could maintain good health. The Egyptians for example, knew that eating liver would help prevent night blindness; which we now know the liver stores Vitamin A.