What are Vitamins?

What do vitamins do in our body?

Vitamins are essential for life. They contribute to good health by regulating metabolism and aiding biochemical processes that release energy from digested food. They are considered micronutrients because the body needs them in relatively small amounts compared to nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water. Enzymes are essential chemicals that underlie human bodily functions. They are catalysts (activators) in chemical reactions that are constantly taking place in the body. As coenzymes, vitamins work with enzymes, thus allowing all the activities that take place in the body to take place as they should. Of the main vitamins, some are soluble in water, and others are soluble in oil. Water-soluble vitamins need to be taken into the body daily because they cannot be stored and are excreted within four hours to a day. These include vitamin C and B-complex vitamins. Oil-soluble vitamins can be stored for a long time in body fat and liver. These include vitamins A, D, E, and K. The body needs both types of vitamins to function properly.

Dietary supplements can be divided into two groups — synthetic and natural. Synthetic vitamins are produced in laboratories from isolated chemicals that reflect their analogues from nature. Natural vitamins come from food sources. While there are no major chemical differences between a vitamin found in food and a vitamin produced in a laboratory, synthetic supplements contain only isolated vitamins, while natural supplements may contain other nutrients that have not yet been discovered. This is because these vitamins are in their natural state. If you’re deficient in a particular nutrient, the chemical source will work, but you won’t get the benefits of vitamins found in whole foods. Food supplements that are not labeled as natural may also contain coal tar, artificial colors, preservatives, sugars and starches, as well as other additives. You should beware of such harmful elements. However, you should also keep in mind that a bottle of “natural” vitamins may contain vitamins that have not been extracted from a natural food source. You need to read the labels carefully to make sure that the products you buy contain nutrients from food sources, without any of the artificial additives listed above. Studies have shown that protein-related vitamins, such as those found in natural supplements to whole foods, are absorbed, utilized, and retained in tissues better than non-protein-related supplements.

-If you want to learn much more about the impact of vitamins on our health, click on the video…