Vitamins Essay, Research Paper

Vitamins are a natural living compounds required in the diet humans eat for normal growth and maintenance of life. Vitamins function as “cofactors” in metabolisms of products in the body. Vitamins can’t replace food. Vitamins must be supplied in the diet or in the dietary supplement. That’s why doctors suggest taking vitamins with a meal. A well-balanced diet including plenty amounts of fruit and vegetables plus eggs, meat, and fish. Vitamins help regulate metabolisms. They also help convert fats and carbohydrates into energy and assist in building bones and tissue. Most foods we eat contain vitamins. For those who don’t eat certain food that contains the vitamins they need, can buy vitamins in pill and capsule form. Vitamins differ widely in chemical structure. Therefore, there is no common chemical grouping. Vitamins are classified alphabetically. Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in body fat, where they may be combined in amounts that can become toxic. Examples of fat soluble vitamins are vitamins A, D, E, and K. Vitamin A, also called retinol, helps with growth, vision, having healthy tissue, skin, and hair, and helps resistance to getting infections. You can get sources of Vitamin A by involving milk, butter, eggs, liver, and leafy green and yellow vegetables to your everyday diet. Symptoms when you don’t get enough of this vitamin consist of night blindness, itching, dry skin, and the loss of sense of taste. Vitamin D functions with bones, teeth, good calcium, and phosphorus metabolism. You can get sources of vitamin D by eating milk, cod liver-oil, tuna, salmon oil, and eggs. You can also get this vitamin from exposure to sunlight. It is important in pregnancy and for newborn infants. Symptoms when you don’t get enough of this vitamin consist of soft bones and teeth, spontaneous fractures, and bone curvature. Vitamin E helps with protecting cell membrane and tissue, maintains circulatory system, and Antioxidant. You can get Vitamin E through vegetable oil, grains, wheat germ, and lettuce. Symptoms when you don’t get enough of this vitamin, consist of poor muscular and circulatory performance. Vitamin K helps blood clotting. You can get this vitamin from green leafy vegetables, molasses, yogurt, and alfalfa. When you don’t get enough of this vitamin, symptoms can occur, such as diarrhea and increased tendency to bleed. Although its function helps with blood clotting, Vitamin K doesn’t treat Hemophilia. Vitamins C and E act as antioxidants and may prevent LDL cholesterol from clogging blood capillaries. Vitamin K controls the loss of bone calcium in post-menopausal women. Our nutrient needs can depend on our body’s individual variation in the absorption and use of certain nutrients, the nutritional ability of our diet, age, sex, health status, medications, stress, and tobacco and alcohol consumption. The addition of a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement to your daily diet may help build immunity and infection resistance. People taking the supplements have half as many illness days and significantly have fewer days on antibiotics, then those that don’t. Most experts agree that your body can make use of the nutrients in supplements no matter what time of day you take them. It is recommended to take vitamin supplements with your meals for better digestibility and an improved rate at which your intestines engage the nutrients your body needs. Take vitamin supplements at the same time each day (always with breakfast or dinner). This will help you establish a daily healthy lifestyle habit. Without vitamins our body’s wouldn’t be able to do some of the functions it does everyday.