Functions: Essential for growth and maintenance of all cells and tissues; promotes the absorption of iron in the intestines; and acts as a water-soluble antioxidant in the body.

Sources: Many fruits and vegetables, including citrus fruits, cantaloupe, strawberries, tomatoes, green and red peppers, kale, collards, mustard greens, broccoli, cabbage, and potatoes.

Deficiency: Signs of deficiency include delayed wound healing; increased susceptibility to infection; and scurvy, a condition characterized by bleeding under the skin, anemia, joint tenderness and swelling, poor wound healing, weakness, and such oral disorders as bleeding gums, tooth loss, and gingivitis.

However, because vitamin C sources are plentiful in the U.S. food supply, deficiency is rarely seen; it mainly occurs n infants fed cow’s milk only, or in people whose diets lack adequate sources of vitamin C. In addition, cigarette smokers have lower blood levels of vitamin C than nonsmokers. As a consequence, the National Research Council recommends that smokers consume at least 100 milligrams of vitamin C per day.

Excess: High intakes of 1 gram or more per day may cause nausea, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea in some people.

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1. Vitamin K
2. Vitamin A
3. Vitamin E

Function: Prevents potentially harmful oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the body, which would lead to cell damage; important in protecting red blood cell membranes from oxidation.

Deficiency: Vitamin E deficiency can cause anemia, as a result of red blood cell destruction, and nerve damage. However, deficiency is rare and mainly occurs in premature, very low-birth-weight infants and people with fat absorption disorders, such as cystic fibrosis.

Excess: Some evidence suggests that large intakes may cause increased levels of blood cholesterol and lipids.

U.S. Recommended Daily Allowances

Infants (0-12 mo.) – 5IU*
Children (1-3 years) – 10IU
Adults and Children 4 Years+ – 30IU
Pregnant or Nursing Women – 30IU

*IU= International Units

(The U.S. RDA amounts are sufficient to meet the needs of practically all healthy people.)

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Function: Essential in the formation of prothrombin, a substance necessary for proper clotting of blood, and at least five other blood-clotting factors.

Sources: All green leafy vegetables (including lettuce, spinach, kale, and cabbage), eggs, meats, cereal grain products, fruits, and milk and dairy products.

Deficiency: Vitamin K deficiency may cause bleeding disorders in premature infants with inadequate amounts of stored vitamin K, and in people on blood-thinning medications and those with fat malabsorption syndromes.

Excess: Natural forms have no known toxic effects; large doses of the synthetic version, menadione, and its derivatives cause anemia and kernicterus, a condition characterized by jaundice, in infants.

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Function: Essential for growth and for keeping skin and other tissues healthy; helps eyes to adapt to dim light and perceive colors; essential for normal tooth development.

Sources: Beef, chicken and pork livers; whole and vitamin A-fortified milk; cheddar cheese; butter; margarine; egg yolk; deep green, yellow or orange vegetables and fruits (including carrots, spinach, collards, broccoli, kale, nectarines, apricots, mangoes, cantaloupe, pumpkins, winter squash, turnip greens, sweet potatoes, and watermelon).

Deficiency: Vitamin A deficiency is rare in the United States; it mainly occurs among some people in developing countries. Some signs include skin changes, stunted growth, night blindness, and serious eye problems (such as drying, thickening, wrinkling, and muddy pigmentation of the mucous membrane lining the eyelid and eyeball, which eventually can destroy the eye). Inadequate intakes of foods containing vitamin A have been associated with some types of cancer, but the effect, if any, appears related to lack of carotene.

Excess: Because vitamin A is fat soluble, it is stored in the body. As a result, continued high doses (several times the U.S. RDA) have toxic effects. Signs of toxicity include dry and itching skin, headaches, and nausea and diarrhea. High vitamin A intake during pregnancy also may cause birth defects, but it is not known at what level this can occur. Excessive amounts of carotene are not known to be toxic, but will cause the skin to turn deep yellow. The color disappears when the amount of carotene in the diet is decreased.

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But what exactly is an Enzymes and Hormones?

Enzymes are chemical compounds your body makes from various combinations of proteins, vitamins and minerals. Enzymes speed up chemical reactions in your body.

Hormones are chemical messengers your body makes to tell your organs what to do. Hormones regulate many activities including your growth, blood pressure, heart rate, glucose levels, and sexual characteristics.

It is the responsibility of the vitamins and minerals to produce thousands of enzymes and hormones to keep your body working.

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METHODS. The study population consisted of 17,744 participants in the Physicians’ Health Study, a randomized trial of aspirin therapy and beta-carotene among US male physicians 40 to 84 years of age in 1982 who did not report cataract at baseline and provided complete information about vitamin supplementation and other risk factors for cataract. Self-reports of cataract and cataract extraction were confirmed by medical record view.

RESULTS. During 60 months of follow-up, there were 379 incident cataracts and 109 cataract extractions. In comparison with physicians who did not use any supplements, those who took only multivitamins had a relative risk of cataract of 0.73 after adjustment for other risk factors. For cataract extraction, the corresponding relative risk was 0.79. Use of vitamin C and/or E supplements alone was not associated with a reduced risk of cataract, but the size of this subgroup was small.

CONCLUSIONS. These data suggest that men who took multivitamin supplements tended to experience a decreased risk of cataract and support the need for rigorous testing of this hypothesis in large-scale randomized trials in men and women.

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A team of researchers from the University of Washington report that daily use of multivitamins over a 10-year period may reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 16%.

Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington recently analyzed the use of multivitamin supplements, vitamin C, and vitamin E over a ten year period. Correlations between 5-year total mortality and death from cancer or cardiovascular disease (CVD) were assessed.

Data from 77,719 Washington residents aged 50 to 76 were obtained by questionnaire. A series of analyses showed that use of multivitamins was associated with a 16% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease (95% CI: 0.01-0.3). Intakes of vitamin E over 215 milligrams per day over the course of ten years were also associated with a 28% reduction in the risk of death from CVD (95% CI: 0.12-0.31).

Multivitamin use alone was not associated with a decreased risk of total mortality, but both vitamin C and E were associated with decreases in risk of total mortality. Similarly, vitamin C did not correlate with a reduced risk of death from CVD while both multivitamins and vitamin E did.

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The symptoms of vitamin deficiency will normally present themselves when the lack of vitamins is at an advanced level.

Those who don’t get enough of vitamins A, B1, and B2 for example, will always feel tired, along with a loss of appetite. Other symptoms include mental and emotional stress, chapped lips, and other annoying or painful habits.

The most common causes of deficiency include a poor diet, alcoholism, stress, a lack of vitamins, or medicine that interferes with your ingestion of vitamins. If you are always feeling tired or feeling a lack of energy, you are probably short on the vitamins that your body needs to have on a daily basis. If you visit your doctor and tell him the problem, he will probably recommend vitamins and supplements that will give you want you need. Whatever you do, you should never overdo it and try to catch up on what you’ve been missing – as this will do you more harm than good.

Even though you may be following a healthy diet, you’ll still need to take vitamins and supplements. No matter how healthy you eat, you should still use the right vitamins and supplements to give your body what it needs. Vitamins are a great back up source, as they will provide your body with the minerals and nutrients it needs in the event of your diet failing you.

Before or after every meal that you consume, you should take vitamins or supplements. If you have a deficiency in a certain vitamin or vitamins, you should make sure that you never miss taking the vitamin you need. Even though you may not realize it, being deficient in a vitamin can greatly damper your performance as well as the overall health of your body.

When you look for supplements, you should always look for those that contain vitamins B6, B12, D, E, and folic acid. Along with being considered dietary supplements, these well known vitamins will help to fight cancer and help your heart remain healthy. The combination of these vitamins will help your body to remain healthy, boost your immune system, and keep you feeling refreshed.

To remain healthy and keep your body operating as it should, you’ll need to invest in vitamins and supplements. You can find them online or at local nutrition stores, many of which won’t cost you much money at all. No matter what your age may be, you’ll need to ensure that you are eating the right foods and taking the right foods. Keep in mind that you should never replace food with vitamins, as they are more less meant to give you additional nutrients and minerals.

Anytime you aren’t able to eat the right food, you should always turn to vitamin supplements to give your body what it needs. Supplements and vitamins are one of the best investments you can make, as everyone needs vitamins in their body. Even though the costs may add up over time, it is more than worth it when you think about. For what you spend in vitamins and supplements, you’ll be keeping your body healthy – and preventing a deficiency in vitamins. Although vitamin deficiency is very common these days, it doesn’t have to be.

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Don’t be fooled by his clever disguise. D is no vitamin. He’s a steroid hormone, slipping through your body under guise of a vitamin. And he doesn’t have dozens of functions, like vitamin C or vitamin E, just one vital mission – to mineralize your bones!

Mineralization is a key objective of every body. Imagine if we all had flabby bones. The world would look like a Salvador Dali nightmare. Vitamin D saves us from having flabby bones.

More importantly, vitamin D saves us from having brittle bones. He prevents us from rickets and osteomalacia by balancing the calcium and phosphorous in our blood. Ooh, that D is a clever one. Not only is he a master of disguises, but he is a master chemist, constantly monitoring, measuring and balancing the mix so it just right to ensure everybody has strong and healthy bones.

Word on the grapevine is that 30% to 40% of hip fractures in elderly people are the result of insufficient vitamin D. So we caught up with D, and managed to slip away with a rare interview transcript:

“D, some of your fans can’t get enough of you. What should they do?”

“Get plenty of sun. That is the key. Where the sun touches your skin, that’s where I will be.”

“But, D, what about people who can’t? What about people in the far north, or those who wear head-to-toe clothing or who are stuck indoors?”

“If you find yourself overdressed in a dungeon in Mongolia, get a good multi-vitamin supplement.”

“D, that’s a wonderful idea.”

“Or drink lots of milk, fortified with me, of course. Some breakfast cereals are fortified with me, too. I also hang out in a lot of saltwater fish, like tuna and sardines and herring and salmon. And I love to slip around in the ol’ cod liver oil.”

“So if we can’t get enough sun, milk and fish will do the trick.”

“That’s right, but be careful about milk products. Not all of them are made with fortified milk. I make no commitment to be there if they are not.”

“What about the supplements, D?”

“A good multivitamin supplement should do it for most people. Get a liquid supplement, cause those pills just don’t digest. You just end up flushing me down the toilet…ooh, I hate that feeling.”

“Yuck.”

“And you shouldn’t need a specific vitamin D supplement, because it is possible to overdose. And you wouldn’t want too much of a guy like me around.”

That was all we could slip through the lines. But I think we learned a lot about what it is like to live the life of a secret vitamin. To our hero, vitamin D, we offer our best wishes. May everybody get plenty of vitamin D to keep their bones strong and healthy for many years to come.

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The foods of today often do not contain enough of the nutrients that your body needs to be in your best physical shape. While a diet that is full of nutrient rich food should not be replaced, it may sometimes need additional supplementation to take it to the best level it can be at.

What do you take? First of all, find a good quality multivitamin and take that as directed. Multivitamins are a good starting point
because they provide a decent dose of essential supplements that just about everyone needs. Multivitamins give you what your food doesn’t and they are affordable solutions to your needs.

In addition to this, find out what type of supplements you can take for your individual needs and problems.

For example, if you have a need to lose weight, look for supplements that can offer weight loss benefits.

If you have heart problems, problems with gaining weight or other conditions, you can probably find a supplement or several that can
address those problems for you as well.

How do you know how much to take? That’s a trickier question. There are two routes to take. First, you must realize that doctors
don’t always use supplementation in their practices and they may not be educated in prescribing this type of help to you.

Start by finding a health food store or a vitamin supplier. Quality is very important if you want to see benefits from supplementation.
Therefore, it is just as important to make sure that you have a reliable source. These individuals can also help provide you with the
information you need regarding improving your conditions.

Another source for information is the web. Finding a reputable website that offers help for supplementation will help you to increase your overall well being through tackling individualized problems. Again, quality is essential to success here. Don’t assume that any information that you find is reliable. Get another opinion!

Supplements can help to improve your body’s function because you are giving your body exactly what it needs to do the work right. It’s like always giving your car premium gas and oil to do its job even better!

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