Vitamin Information For Your Health

Vitamin information is not 'essential' to our body, as vitamins are, but it can help us make better choices both in terms of the food we eat. - And in knowing when we need to take vitamin supplements to make up the shortfall.

Whilst vitamins are necessary for our body, as nutrients, and sometimes catalysts to get our metabolic processes going, our body does not make most of its own. Some B vitamins are made in our gut, provided we have a healthy population of good bacteria. But generally, we get our vitamins and minerals from food.

Vitamins are like the foot soldiers in the army. They get about doing their work, but they do so as part of an organized team. Vitamin information describes how we need 13 different types of vitamins to ensure our body works as it should - repairing and making new tissue and cells, supporting the immune system, helping the body's metabolism, and removing waste and metabolic by-products.

Vitamins themselves don't influence things like our heart rate, blood pressure, or glucose levels. But they do go into the making of the things that do - our enzymes and hormones. The body engages complex pathways, a bit like a line of dominos, for the tasks that need to be done. And many vitamins, like vitamin K, are involved in these. Vitamin K for example, takes part in the process by which glucose is stored in our cells, ready for when it's needed.

Vitamin Information - How Much is Enough?

Depending on our age and gender, whether we are breastfeeding or pregnant, we all have different vitamin needs. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) takes into account the different metabolic needs we face at different life stages.

Children, teenagers and infants all have different daily vitamin needs, as do the elderly. They reflect the levels of activity of our developing and declining body systems.

Vitamin Information - Problems Associated with Deficiencies

Because vitamins play such a subtle but important role in our bodies, we may not notice at first that vitamin deficiencies are contributing to the development of diseases. The problems associated with vitamin deficiencies build up over time, our body trying to cope as best it can in the meantime.

For example, not enough vitamin D can lead to weak or deformed bones, that make us susceptible to fractures. Vitamin E deficiencies can lead to the destruction of red blood cells. And not enough vitamin C can affect our immune system, and make us tired, or give us bleeding gums.

A blood test can give us accurate information as to whether we are deficient in certain vitamins. But we should ensure we get what we need as a precaution, either through diet, or vitamin supplements.

The following articles provide more vitamin information on specific vitamins: