Vitamins
The name “Vitamin” comes from the Latin word vita, meaning “life”. Vitamins are essential for life and cannot be synthesized by the body (either at all or not in sufficient quantities), and therefore must be obtained through the diet or from some synthetic source. Today, there are 13 well-known vitamins, four fat-soluble and nine water-soluble.
Fat-soluble vitamins
1. Vitamin A
Specific uses or purposes:
- Helps to maintain eyesight/skin/membranes/(and) immune function (health).
- Helps to provide eyesight/skin/membranes/(and) immune function support.
- Helps to support the immune system.
- (Helps) support eye/skin health.
- Maintains healthy skin.
- Helps in the development and maintenance of night vision.
- Helps to maintain eyesight and in the development and maintenance of night vision.
- Helps in the development and maintenance of bones and teeth.
- Helps to build strong bones and teeth.
- Helps to maintain normal metabolism of iron.
- Helps to maintain healthy skin and/or mucous membranes.
- Healthy skin and/or mucous membranes support.
Symptoms of Deficiency:
Night blindness, dry eyes, eye infection, skin problems, slowed growth, reproductive failure, susceptibility to infection and disease (weak immune system).
Good Natural Sources:
Liver, eggs, butter, dairy products.
Beta carotene is known as provitamin A, meaning that it is an inactive form of vitamin A that the body can use only when it has been converted to its active form. The carotene family is a group of red and yellow pigments found naturally in all green plants. Of all the carotenes, beta carotene is the most active as a vitamin A precursor. Food sources of beta carotene (and thus provitamin A) that can be converted by the body to vitamin A include green, red, orange, and yellow vegetables, mango, and cantaloupe.
2. Vitamin D
Specific uses or purposes:
- Helps in the development and maintenance of bones and teeth.
- Helps in the absorption and use of calcium and phosphorus.
- Calcium intake, when combined with sufficient Vitamin D, a healthy diet and regular exercise may reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis.
- Helps to build strong bones and teeth.
- Helps (to) maintain/support immune function.
- Helps with immune function.
Symptoms of Deficiency:
Rickets, osteomalacia, osteoporosis, joint pain.
Good Natural Sources:
Sunlight, fatty fish, eggs, fortified milk.
Vitamin D is found in different forms in the body. The precursor to this vitamin is manufactured from cholesterol in the skin and is converted to vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) with sunlight. It requires conversion first by the liver and then by the kidneys to become active vitamin D.
3. Vitamin E
Specific uses or purposes:
- Source of/An antioxidant for the maintenance of good health.
- Antioxidant for good health.
- Source of/An antioxidant that protects the fat in body tissues from oxidation.
- Source of/An antioxidant that helps (to): a) fight / b) protect (cells) against / c) reduce (the oxidative effect of/the oxidative damage caused by/cell damage caused by) free radicals.
Symptoms of Deficiency:
Nerve damage, muscle weakness, poor coordination, hemolytic anemia, damage to the retina.
Good Natural Sources:
Vegetable oils, nuts, whole grains, wheat germ, eggs, butter, liver, green leafy vegetables.
Vitamin E is an important antioxidant that is mainly stored in adipose tissue. Vitamin E can be divided into two families: the tocopherols and the tocotrienols. Each family consists of four different compounds (four tocopherols and four tocotrienols), all of which contain alpha, beta, gamma, and delta forms. It appears that the active form of vitamin E in the body comes from the tocopherols, with the most active being alpha-tocopherol.
4. Vitamin K
Specific uses or purposes:
- Helps in the maintenance of bones.
Symptoms of Deficiency:
Bruising, bleeding and hemorrhage, osteoporosis.
Good Natural Sources:
Vegetable oils, green leafy vegetables, meat, cheese, eggs, and soybeans.
The main role of vitamin K is to maintain healthy blood clotting. Vitamin K is also needed to support bone structure. This vitamin is seldom supplemented as our intestinal bacteria manufacture vitamin K, thereby making deficiencies rare.