Vitamins, Supplements, and Minerals

As you walk around a grocery store you may have noticed the advertising currently used on today's food labels, cereal boxes with over 20 vitamins and minerals, enriched bread, calcium and vitamin d fortified orange juice, and new energy drinks now fortified with b vitamins. Ever wonder what these vitamins actually do for you? Ever wonder if your body really needs them or if you are getting enough vitamins and minerals?

First off, what are vitamins and minerals?
Vitamins and minerals help your body to function properly. Most vitamins and minerals are found in your everyday foods and some have more than others and some have less than others. Vitamins are known as either fat soluble or water soluble. Fat soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, and E dissolve in fat and can be stored in your body. Water soluble vitamins like your B vitamins or vitamin C need to dissolve in water before your body can absorb them, this type of vitamin can't be stored in your body and anything the body doesn't use will pass through the system and be lost, which is why water soluble vitamins need to be replenished every day.

Vitamins are made by plants and animals because they are considered an organic substance. Minerals are inorganic meaning they are found in water and soil and need to be absorbed by plants or eaten by animals. Some minerals are needed in larger quantities like calcium in order to grow strong bones and teeth. Some minerals called trace minerals are needed in small quantities each day such as zinc, iron, and copper.

Does your body really need vitamins and minerals?
Vitamins and minerals are needed to support your body in many different ways. They help boost your immune system, support your natural growth and development, and help your cells and organs do their jobs. For example, vitamin K, which can be found in green leafy vegetables or oatmeal, is needed to help your body to clot blood for cuts or scrapes so the bleeding can stop quickly.

For more on what vitamins can do for you check out this vitamin chart.

Different amounts of vitamins are also needed at different stages of your life. Children have different requirements than adults do. Children are smaller and tend to have more fat and therefore need less vitamins than an adult. Children also need less iron than an adults and can suffer from iron overdose since it is fat soluble and can be stored in the extra fat children tend to have. The RDA or recommended daily allowance, which will soon be the Dietary Reference Intake DRI, can be different for children ages 4-6, children ages 7-14, teens 15-18, adults 19-24, adults 25-50, and seniors 50+.

Eating a variety of foods is the best way to get all the vitamins and minerals you need including a balanced diet of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. A mixture of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy products, and lean proteins are the best way to get all the required daily vitamins and minerals needed. Other foods should such as candy, potato chips, and French fires should be eaten in moderation, but realize these are high fat, high calorie foods that add little nutrition to your diet. Learn to make better food decisions when eating out like milk or fruit juice instead of soda or frozen yogurt instead of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Also choices like lean meat sandwiches, vegetable pasta or pizza, fish, or fajitas are a great way to eat out and get more vitamins and minerals in your diet.

If you have diet restrictions like being a vegetarian or being diabetic you will need to plan out your meals more carefully to ensure you are eating a well balanced diet.

Wondering whether or not you are or aren't getting enough vitamins?
Here are the current [RDI standards]

If you aren't eating a well balanced diet of whole grains, lean meats, dairy and about 7 serving of fruits and vegetables a day then you are most likely not getting the correct amount of vitamins and minerals your body needs, which is where multivitamins and supplements come in. Taking multivitamins or supplements, like Vitagizer complete daily multivitamins, can help you make up for what is lacking in your diet.

It is important not to exceed the RDI daily allowance of vitamins, but also remember that different genders and different circumstance may require a slight adjustment to your diet. Women tend to need more iron than men because they lose iron during their menstrual cycles, women in menopause need more calcium and vitamin d as they tend to lose muscle mass and therefore bone density. If you are an adult, dieting, or exercising longs hours you may also need more of certain vitamins and minerals.

It is also important that you don't allow yourself to build up vitamin or mineral deficiencies as this may cause diseases to develop. For example, vitamin D deficiency can lead to bone softening diseases or rickets in children. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to night blindness and a diminished ability to fight infections. Vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to severe and irreversible damage to the nervous system.

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