Health and Fitness

Vitamins what they do and why you need them

All the vitamins with an explanation of why you need them, recommended amounts and deficiency symptoms.

Vitamin A For healthy eyesight amongst other things.
Vitamin B1 Thiamine A water soluble Vitamin.
Vitamin B2 Plays a major role in the process of cellular oxidation.
Vitamin B6 Pyridoxine One of the most important vitamins among the Vitamin B complex.
Vitamin B12 Helps in the synthesis of DNA.
Vitamin C The most famous vitamin, found in oranges amongst other things.
Vitamin D For strong bones.
Vitamin E Tocopherol a natural antioxidant.
Vitamin K Helps blood clot.
Niacin Essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system, skin, and intestines.
Pantothenic acid An organic acid that serves many physiological functions.

All the above Vitamins help make up a healthy balanced diet.

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Vitamins

Pantothenic acid

Pantothenic acid is an organic acid that serves many physiological functions in the form of coenzyme A. Long standing evidence shows that there is a relation between adrenal cortical function and pantothenic acid. Recent studies confirm the fact that the vitamin has a more specific role in the biosynthesis of corticosteroids.

Pantothenic acid remains stable for long time in the food stuffs and little is destroyed even after cooking. The vitamin gets readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and remains concentrated in the liver, kidneys and the heart. Normally 18 to 35 mg of pantothenic acid per 100 ml of blood is present in the human body and about 3 mg of it is excreted through the urine daily.

Dietary sources

A wide variety of foods contain pantothenic acid. Yeast, wheat, cereals, peanuts, liver and milk have excellent quantity of the vitamin in them.

Deficiency disorders

The deficiency of pantothenic acid hampers various fundamental biological reactions. A diet deficient of this vitamin may cause fatigue, malaise, nausea, headache, somnolence, occasional vomiting, abdominal cramps and flatulence. Pantothenic acid along with other vitamins of vitamin B complex are used therapeutically and as nutritional supplements in post operative measures, rheumatoid arthritis and in various skin lesions like burns, wounds, ulcers.

Daily allowance

The daily requirement of pantothenic acid has been estimated as 10 mg.

Niacin or nicotinic acid

Niacin is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system, skin, and intestines. It is also required by the body for the normal metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. An essential amino acid, tryptophan, serves as the precursor of this vitamin and this is how it differs from the other vitamins of the vitamin B complex groups. Moreover, it does not get excreted in urine and is metabolized in the body.

Dietary sources

Meat, liver, kidney, poultry, fish, groundnuts and legumes are rich in niacin. Although milk is a poor source of niacin, but the milk proteins are rich in tryptophan that is converted into niacin ultimately. Also many cereals like maize contain niacin in bound form and therefore it becomes unavailable to the consumers.

Deficiency diseases

The deficiency of niacin causes pellagra. The disease is mainly prevalent among the poor and the malnourished who subsist on maize diets and consume very little or no milk and foods of animal origin. Pellagra is characterized by diarrhea, dermatitis and dementia. Along with these, stomatitis and glossitis are usually seen. The dermatitis is usually seen among those body parts which are exposed to sunlight. Some mental changes like depression, delirium and irritability may also occur.

Daily requirement

The daily allowance of niacin is 6.6 mg/1000 kcal of energy intake.

A good balanced diet containing milk and or meat provides enough niacin that is required for the treatment and the prevention of pellagra. Also, total dependence on maize to be avoided to prevent the niacin deficiency.

 Vitamin C/Ascorbic Acid

Vitamin C is a water soluble Vitamin. Many mammals can produce their own Vitamin C but you cannot, humans don’t have the ability to make their own vitamin C they need to consume foods which contain it.

Why do you need VitaminC?

Vitamin C or Ascorbic acid (if your a scientist) is a very important vitamin its required for the synthesis of something called collagen, an important structural component of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, and bone. It also plays an important role in your bodies synphesis of something called norepinephrine a neurotransmitter.

Vitamin C can help you lose fat

Vitamin C plays a role in synthesis of something called carnitine, a small molecule that is essential for the transport of fat to cellular organelles called mitochondria, for conversion to energy.

Vitamin C is also a very powerful Antixodant that can help stop you getting heart disease, cancer and scurvy.

A well known and popular source of Vitamin C is Oranges, Oranges taste nice but what other sources of Vitamin C are there?

Here’s a list of other sources and how much Vitamin C in Miligrams

Red Pepper 224 Miligrams of Vitamin C

50g of Strawberries 40 Miligrams of Vitamin C

Kiwi Fruit 40 Miligrams of Vitamin C

Too much Vitamin C however can give you a bad belly but you’d have to eat 4 Red Peppers for that.