The ABC’s of Vitamins

Just about every food ad (print or television) has some claim about the number or quality of vitamins their product has. But what does it even mean? How do you know which vitamins you really need, and how much each day? So let’s start with the basics.

Defining Vitamins

According to the Webster’s New World Compact School and Office Dictionary (1994) vitamin is defined as follows, “Any of certain complex substance found variously in foods and essential to good health.” The most important part of this definition is “essential to good health”. Our body requires a variety of vitamins in various quantities to maintain proper body function.

Types of Vitamins

There are many, many, vitamins out there in the world, and what’s worse is many specific vitamins have several common names. Here is a breakdown of the most common and essential vitamins:

• Vitamin A – a fat-soluble (dissolved by fat in the system) alcohol (result of a fermentation of sugar or starch). It can be found naturally in carrots, broccoli spinach, apricots, mangoes, egg yolks and liver oil. There are two forms/names of Vit. A – Retinol found in animal fats and carotenes found in vegetables. Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) 900 µg (micrograms) for men and 700 µg for women. A deficiency of Vit. A can cause poor vision.

• Vitamin B – this is actually a group of eight vitamins that vital to cellular metabolism, maintain healthy skin, and strengthen the immune system. It was originally thought that it was a single vitamin but with advances in technology it was discovered that there were several different forms of a similar form. All forms of Vitamin B can be found in whole or unprocessed foods – liver, tuna, potatoes, bananas, legumes and beans have the highest concentrations.
o B1 = Thiamine – RDA 1.2 mg
o B2 = Riboflavin – RDA 1.3 mg
o B3 = Niacin – RDA 16 mg
o B5 = Panothenic Acid – RDA 5 mg
o B6 = Pyridoxine – RDA 1.3 mg
o B7 =Biotin – RDA 30 µg
o B9 = Folic Acid or Folate RDA 400 µg – especially important for pregnant and lactating women
o B12 =Cyanocobalamin RDA 2.4 µg
• Vitamin C – found mostly in citrus fruits and tomatoes. Also known as L-Ascorbic Acid. It works as an anti-oxidant and is essential to metabolic function. The RDA is 90 mg. Deficiency results in Scurvy (a disease that affects the body’s mucous membranes).
• Vitamin D – another, yet smaller, group of 5 fat-soluble vitamins. The human body produces Vitamin D naturally when exposed to direct sunlight. It can also be found in milk, fatty fishes, and eggs. The RDA is 25 µg and deficiency results in Rickets (a bone-softening disease)
• Vitamin E – a fat-soluble anti-oxidant found in whole grain foods, eggs, spinach, milk, avocado, and asparagus. It is essential to reproductive processes. The RDA is 15 IU.
• Vitamin K – a group of 4 vitamin (one naturally occurring and 3 synthetic) helps with blood clotting and can be found in leafy green vegetable. The RDA is 120 µg. Most adults are not at risk for deficiency although infants are and thus they are given an injection at birth to prevent anemia.

This is just a brief over view of the most vital vitamins. If you are looking for a multivitamin pick a formula that includes each of these and is designed for your gender and age group. If you want to learn more about vitamins please visit www.usda.com