Vitamin:- definition
Any of a group of organic substances that cannot be manufactured by the body essential in varying quantities for a properly functioning body.
Vitamins are vital for health. food grown in soil that lacks minerals and rotted plant matter can contain essential nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates and fats but will be lacking in vitamins, minerals and trace elements that have to be absorbed form the soil. Modern farming methods grow huge crops over and over again, the soil is not allowed to replenish it’s vital natural fertilisers by letting plant matter rot in in it and does not replenish it’s minerals through exposure to rainfall and allowing nitrogen rich grasses to grow.
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Research has been done into some of the Vitamins and minerals, but a lot still needs to be learned and research into trace elements is woefully inadequate.
For general information, here is my first of 3 blogs that cover all the nutrients necessary for good health, which are: Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats, Water, Vitamins, Minerals and Trace Elements. This blog is free and summarises the main benefits of the frst 5 above.
Proteins:
Proteins are fundamental components of all living cells and include many substances, such as enzymes, hormones, and antibodies, that are necessary for the proper functioning of an organism. They are essential in the diet of animals for the growth and repair of tissue and can be obtained from foods such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, and legumes.Proteins are extremely important components of all living organisms. The word protein itself means “primary importance” because of the many essential functions of proteins in cells. Much of our bodies’ dry weight is protein. Even our bones are about one-quarter protein. The animals we eat and the microbes that attack us are likewise largely protein. The leather, wool, and silk clothing that we wear are nearly pure protein. The insulin that keeps diabetics alive and the “clot-busting” enzymes that may save heart attack patients are also proteins. Proteins can even be found working at industrial sites.
Carbohydrates:
Provide the body with fuel it needs for physical activity and for proper organ function, and they are an important part of a healthy diet. But some kinds of carbohydrates are far better than others.
Fats:
Vitamin A:
Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is a fat-soluble vitamin that is readily destroyed upon exposure to heat, light, or air.
This vitamin has a role in the following:
a) Vision and is a component of a pigment present in the retina of the eye.
b) The proper functioning of most body organs
c) The proper functioning of the immune system.
Result of deficiency:
a) Night blindness
b) Loss of sight.
c) Drying and scaling of skin
d) Defective bone and teeth formation.
d) Blurred vision and headache in adults
e) Nausea
f) Coarsening and loss of hair
g) Drowsiness and fatigue.
h) Bone pain
i) Growth failure in children.
j) Nervous irritability in children
k) Enlargement of liver (in ridiculously large doses).
Always stick to the advice on the label as to the dose.
Vitamin B1, Thiamine.
Benefits:
a) Healthy skin.and hair
b) Healthy blood flow.
c) Normal red blood cell count.
d) Improves mental alertness.
e) Decreases the effects of aging.
f) Is said to reduce the effects of lead poisoning.
g) Reduces the fluid retention associated with certain heart disorders.
h) Helps reduce the effects of drugs and toxins in the body.
Deficiency causes:
a) Lethargy and fatigue, a general weakness, headache and irritability.
( If you think this sounds like the symptoms of a hangover, you are right! Alcohol destroys vitamin B1 and this, along with dehydration is a big cause of your morning after the night before feeling).
b) Beriberi.
(Berberi is marked by muscle pain, especially in the calves, nerve degeneration, tingling throughout the body, and poor coordination in the arms and legs. Other types of Beriberi may include heart failure, an enlarged heart and oedema (swelling of the heart)).
c) Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
(This is a rare disease caused by vitamin B1 deficiency. The disease usually occurs in alcoholics and those with a vitamin-deficient diet. Because alcohol prevents the absorption of vitamin B1 and increases the vitamin’s excretion from the kidneys, vitamin deficiency is common in alcoholics. The disease is marked by paralysis of eye muscles, involuntary eye movement, staggering and confusion).
Vitamin B2, Riboflavin.
Vitamin B2 (was first observed in 1879 as a green pigment found in milk). It is not stored in the human body for any period of time and it is therefore important to include a regular dietary source of this vitamin.
Benefits:
a) Converts carbohydrate into energy
b) Promotes normal tissue respiration
c) healthy mucous membranes
Deficiency causes:
a) Cracks in skin at corner of mouth
b) Soreness of lips, mouth and tongue
c) Scaling of skin around nose, mouth, scrotum, forehead, ears and scalp
d) Heightened sensitivity to light
e) Conjunctivitis and watering of eyes
f) Anaemia
Vitamin B3, Niacin
Benefits:
a) Like B1 and B2, vitamin B3 releases the energy from carbohydrates, fats and proteins so they can be used by the body.
b) This vitamin is also involved in controlling blood sugar levels
c) Keeps skin healthy
d) Maintains the proper functioning of the nervous and digestive systems.
e) Helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
f) Has an important role in removing toxins from the body.
Deficiency causes:
Many foods contain this vitamin so it is unusual to have a deficiency, but these are:
a) Skin problems
b) Weakness, fatigue and a loss of appetite.
c) In extreme cases, a condition called pellagra develops, which is mainly seen in third world countries. This is characterised by weight loss, skin problems, diarrhoea, depression and in severe cases, dementia.
Stick to the dosages on the label or as advised by your health practitioner if being used for high cholesterol etc. Can cause hot flushing and nausea which can be severe and unpleasant. If taken in correct doseage this is harmless and will pass quickly if plenty of water is drunk. This side effect gets less pronounced over time. Niacin comes in another form Nicotinimide which has health benefits but does not lower cholesterol when taken in this form.
Vitamin B4, also known as adenine.
Was once classed as a vitamin but is no longer so, this is because it can be manufactured by the body.
Is contained in all living cells, both plant and animals. It is also produced in the intestinal tract by bacteria (probiotics).
Benefits:
a) Assists in the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fatty acids
b) Essential for cell metabolism
c) Works in the synthesis of cholesterol metabolism, hormone production and haemoglobin
d) Vitamin B5 is active in the formation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which can be involved in mood and wellbeing of the individual..
Deficiency causes:
a) Depression
b)_ Fatigue
c) Allergies.
Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin, exists in three major chemical forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine
Benefits:
a) Is needed for more than 100 enzymes involved in protein metabolism
b) Essential for red blood cell metabolism
c) Essential for nervous and immune systems
d) Needed for the conversion of tryptophan (an amino acid) to niacin
e) Your body needs vitamin B6 to make haemoglobin. It helps increase the amount of oxygen carried by hemoglobin.
f) Vitamin B6, through its involvement in protein metabolism and cellular growth, is important to the immune system.
g) Helps maintain the health of lymphoid organs (thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes) that make your white blood cells.
h) Helps maintain your blood glucose (sugar) within a normal range. When caloric intake is low your body needs vitamin B6 to help convert stored carbohydrate or other nutrients to glucose to maintain normal blood sugar levels
Animal studies show that a vitamin B6 deficiency can decrease your antibody production and suppress your immune response.
Deficiency causes:
a) Dermatitis (skin inflammation)
b) Glossitis (a sore tongue)
c) Depression, confusion, and convulsions.
d) Vitamin B6 deficiency also can cause anemia.
e) Impaired immune system function.
Vitamin B7, Biotin, also known as vitamin H
Benefits:
a) Biotin is involved in carbon dioxide transfer and therefore essential to the metabolism of carbohydrate and fat.
b) Essential for metabolic reactions involving carbohydrates.
c) Biotin plays a central role as a CO2-carrier in important metabolic reactions such as gluconeogenesis, synthesis of fatty acids and metabolism of amino acids
d) Biotin helps in the synthesis of fatty acids and energy metabolism,
e) Aids in the synthesis of amino acids and glucose .
f) Biotin is used for the breakdown and utilization by the body of food
g) Biotin serves as an essential coenzyme in the four carboxylase enzymes, each of which is important in metabolism. H) Biotin is an important vitamin for helping certain other enzymes in the body.
i) Biotin promotes normal health of sweat glands, bone marrow, male gonads, blood cells, nerve tissue, skin, hair
k) Biotin is utilized to synthesize intracellular carboxylase enzymes.
l) Essential for normal skin and hair growth.
Deficiency causes:
a) Skin inflammation
b) Membrane Inflammation
c) Depression
d) Muscle pains
e) Hair loss.
Vitamin B8, Inositol
This has an unclear status as a B vitamin but much has been learned about it benefits.
Benefits:
a) Necessary factor for the normal growth and survival of organisms.
b) Large amounts of the compound inositol can be found in the skeletal and heart muscles, in organs like the lungs, liver and brain, in blood milk and related dairy products, in urine and in eggs. The actual metabolic role of the compound inositol in these tissues and the other types of tissues is still a mystery.
c) Helps in the prevention of the decrease in motor nerve conduction resulting from degeneration in the nerve insulation as a symptom of diseases such as diabetes.
d) Nerve conduction is the lowest whenever people consume a diet that is deficient in levels of inositol.
e) Potential of using supplements of inositol against certain forms of cancer affected tissues has also been acknowledged by clinical researchers. During one animal test, the use of intravenous injections of inositol led to the inhibition of tumor growth in laboratory mice.
f) The ability of the liver to resist the infiltration of fatty deposits and to recover from accumulated toxin damage is shown to be improved by doses of inositol. In men and in animals
g) This compound has also been reported to lower cholesterol levels.
Deficiency causes:
a) Eczema
b) Consitipation
c) Eye problems
d) Hair loss
e) Elevations of cholesterol.
Vitamin B9, Folic Acid.
Benefits:
a) Required for DNA synthesis and cell growth
b) Important for red blood cell formation
c) Important for energy production
d) Important for the forming of amino acids.
e) Folic acid is essential for creating heme, the iron containing substance in haemoglobin, crucial for oxygen transport.
f) Important healthy cell division and replication, since its involvement as coenzyme for RNA and DNA synthesis.
g) Required for protein metabolism and in treating folic acid anaemia.
h) Folic acid also assists in digestion, and the nervous system.
i) Improves mental as well as emotional health.
i) This nutrient may be effective in treating depression and anxiety.
j) The early development of the baby’s spinal cord requires a regular good supply of folic acid. So Folic Acid supplements should be taken in early stages of pregnancy.
Deficiency causes:
a) Diarrhoea
b) Heartburn
c) Constipation.
d) Folic acid is very important in the development of the nervous system of a developing foetus.
e) A deficiency of folic acid on an unborn baby may increase the risk of the baby being born with spina bifida and other serious defects of the nervous system.
f) Fatigue
g) acne,
h Sore tongue
i) Cracking at the corners of your mouth (same as deficiency of vitamin B2, vitamin B6 as well as iron).
Long term deficiency may result in:
j) Anemia
k) Osteoporosis
l) Cancer of the bowel and cervix.
Vitamin B10, Betaine.
Benefits:
a) Plays an important role in the health of the cardiovascular system.
b) Helps to reduce potentially toxic levels of homocysteine (Hcy), a naturally occurring amino acid that can be harmful to blood vessels thereby contributing to the development of heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease (reduced blood flow to the legs and feet).
c) May help to prevent the build up of fatty deposits in the liver, which can occur from chronic alcohol use, protein malnutrition, obesity, poorly controlled diabetes, and other cause
d) Improves liver function.
Deficiency causes:
a) May contribute to a heart attack or stroke.
b) Hypochlorhydria (abnormally low levels of stomach acid) affecting digestion.
Vitamin B11, same as Folic Acid.
Vitamin B12, cobalamin
Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, and so is also known as cobalamin. It is exclusively synthesised by bacteria and is found primarily in meat, eggs and dairy products.
Benefits:
a) Vitamin B12 is necessary for the synthesis of red blood cells
b) The maintenance of the nervous system
c) Growth and development in children.
Deficiency Diseases
a) Deficiency can cause anaemia.
b) Vitamin B12 neuropathy, involving the degeneration of nerve fibres and irreversible neurological damage, can also occur.
Vitamin B13 Orotic acid
Used to be classified as a vitamin but is not longet recognized as a vitamin, as it is manufactured by the body by intestinal flora, if you are healthy or take probiotics, you will have enough of this.
Vitamin B14
Not an established vitamin; name originally given to a substance found in human urine that increases the rate of cell proliferation in bone-marrow culture.
Benefits:
The benefits of this vitamin are unproven and there has been little research on it, apart from in Russia. It is claimed that it::
a) Acts to detoxify poisons and free radicals
b) Extends the life span of cells in the body
c) Helps angina and asthma
d) Helps synthesize protein
e) Helps to reduce a craving for alcohol
f) Lowers cholesterol levels
g) Protects against cirrhosis of the liver
h) Stimulates the “anti-stress” hormones
i) Stimulates the carriage of oxygen to the blood from the lungs, and from the blood to the muscles and vital organs of the body
Deficiency causes:
There are no known adverse effects from a deficiency in this vitamin.
Vitamin B16, DMG is now simply a dietary supplement and no longer classified as a vitamin.
Vitamin C, Ascorbic Acid.
Benefits
a) Vitamin C is required for the synthesis of collagen, an important structural component of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, and bone.
b) Vitamin C also plays an important role in the synthesis of the Neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are critical to brain function and are known to affect mood.
c) Vitamin C is required for the synthesis of carnitine, a small molecule that is essential for the transport of fat to cellular organelles called mitochondria which are important for the conversion to energy
d) Recent research also suggests that vitamin C is involved in the metabolism of cholesterol to bile acids which may have implications for blood cholesterol levels and the incidence of gallstones.
e) Vitamin C is also a highly effective antioxidant.
f) Boosts the immune system and may protect against colds and flu.
Deficiency diseases.
a) Severe vitamin C deficiency has been known for many centuries as the potentially fatal disease ,scurvy.
b) Reduced resistance to bacteria and virus attacks.
Vitamin D.
The term “vitamin D” refers to several different forms of this vitamin. Two forms are important in humans: ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3).
Vitamin D2 is created by the action of sunlight on the skin. It is then converted in the liver into vitamin D3, a much more potent form with additional health benefits. Supplement forms are available of both versions.
Vitamin D2.
Benefits:
a) Vitamin D is essential for promoting calcium absorption in the gut and maintaining adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralization of bone and prevent hypocalcemic tetany.
b) It is also needed for bone growth and bone remodeling by osteoblasts and osteoclasts
c) Without sufficient vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen.
d) Vitamin D also helps protect older adults from osteoporosis.
e) Modulation of neuromuscular and immune function
f) Reduction of inflammation.
g) Many genes encoding proteins that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis are modulated in part by vitamin
Vitamin D3
Benefits:
All the benefits of D2, plus
a) Protects against muscle weakness.
b) It lowers the risk of colon, breast, and prostate cancers. Immune system functioning is improved,
c) Regulates Blood sugar
d) Recent research indicates that in high doses it may be a useful treatment for Diabetic Neuropathy.
Deficiencies cause:
a) Rickets
b) osteoporosis,
c) falls and fractures.
d) new research is also associating a lack of this vitamin with increased risk of breast, colon and prostate cancer,
e) multiple sclerosis
f) Type 2 diabetes.
g) reduce cancers is related to its inhibition of cell growth and multiplication and its promotion of normal cell differentiation.
Adequate exposure to natural sunlight on bare skin will usually supply enough of this vitamin. If you live in a climate where there is little sunshine it is advisable to supplement. All of the above conditions are more prevalent in northern climates.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that exists in eight different forms. Each form has its own biological activity, which is the measure of potency or functional use in the body. Alpha-tocopherol (α-tocopherol) is the name of the most active form of vitamin E in humans. It is also a powerful biological antioxidant. Vitamin E in supplements is usually sold as alpha-tocopheryl acetate, a form of alpha-tocopherol that protects its ability to function as an antioxidant. The synthetic form is labeled “D, L” while the natural form is labeled “D”. The synthetic form is only half as active as the natural form.
Benefits:
a) Vitamin E acts as a powerful antioxidant by neutralizing free radicals in the body that cause tissue and cellular damage.
b) Contributes to a healthy circulatory system
c) Aids in proper blood clotting and improves wound healing.
d) Some studies have shown that vitamin E decreases symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and certain types of breast disease.
e) Plays important roles in male sperm production. It is known that a lack of vitamin E inhibits the formation of sperm.
f) Vitamin E helps support the integrity of red blood cells that carry oxygen to the tissues and organs throughout the body.
Deficiency Causes:
a) Damage to nerves.
b) Prevent the absorption of dietary fats and fat-soluble nutrients causing poor health.
c) Low sperm count and infertility if deficiency as a baby.
Vitamin F
Essential fatty acids are sometimes referred to as Vitamin F and are composed of two fatty acids – linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linoleic acid (LNA) – with linoleic acid being the most complete fatty acid. There are two basic categories of EFA’s (essential fatty acids) – omega-3 and omega-6 which include linoleic acid and gamma-linoleic acid. The body is not capable of manufacturing essential fatty acids, while the fatty acid arachidonic acid can be synthesized in the body from linoleic acid.
Benefits: (linoleic acid)
a) Important for healing the body and maintaining good health
b) Prevents clotting and decreases the inflammatory process.
c) Prevents arthritis.
d) Strengthen cell membrane integrity.
e) Repairs cellular and tissue damage.
f) Optimizes neurological transmission and brain function.
g) Help improve heart and circulatory function
h) Help produce supple, moist skin
i) Best sources of Omega 3 oil:
Very best: is Flax seed oil.
Good Source is Evening Primrose Oil.
Deficiency causes:
a) Increased risk of heart disease.
b) Obesity
c) Poor skin
d) Arthritis
e) Lack of energy.
Vitamin G:
This is the name given to Vitamin B2 before it was re-classified as a B Vitamin,
Vitamin H
This is the name given to Biotin before it was re-classified as a B Vitamin.
This is the name given to B7 before it was re-classified as a B Vitamin.
This is the name given to choline before it was re-classified as a B Vitamin.
Vitamin K
Benefits:
a) It is a co-factor in the synthesis of clotting factors II, VII, IX and X.
b) Vitamin K is also very important for bone health.
Deficiency causes:
a) Vitamin K deficiency is thought to cause impaired activation of bone matrix protein osteocalcin, and reduction of osteoblast function, resulting in impaired bone formation.2
b) Impaired blood clotting ability..
c) Deficiency can occur in persons of any age but neonates are at risk of developing haemorrage disease of the newborn. This is because of a lack of Vitamin K reaching the fetus across the placenta, the low level of Vitamin K in breast milk and low colonic bacterial synthesis.
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