Vitamins are necessary for optimal bodily function. While eating a healthful, balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables should provide sufficient vitamin intake, some individuals may require taking additional supplement.
Some of the essential vitamins include magnesium, vitamin C (which may boost immune function and decrease duration of colds), calcium and cobalamin (vitamin B12). Learn more about each one and how you can incorporate them into your diet.
Magnesium
Magnesium is another mineral essential to health. It plays a key role in bone health, cell function, blood pressure control and glucose regulation – as well as being linked with lower risks of stroke and ischemic heart disease in observational studies. More research needs to be conducted before this can be confirmed definitively.
Magnesium can be found in beans, spinach, nuts (especially almonds), whole grains and fortified breakfast cereals. Some people may need magnesium supplements – particularly elderly people or those taking antibiotics or diuretics.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A (also referred to as Retinol) is a fat-soluble vitamin found in our bodies’ fatty tissues and helps protect vision, aid the immune system, and play an essential part in bone formation. You can find Vitamin A in food sources like egg yolks, salmon, apricots and spinach.
Water-soluble vitamins – such as Vitamin C and all the B vitamins – don’t stay stored in your body; instead they pass out through urine. Water-soluble vitamins are vital for good health as they help convert carbohydrates, fats and proteins into energy sources such as broccoli, squash, apricots, cantaloupe orange juice or milk products.
Vitamin B Complex
The B-group vitamins are water-soluble and cannot be stored by our bodies, therefore needing to be consumed daily through foods like chicken, fish, eggs, meats and dairy products, leafy green vegetables beans and many cereals.
Vitamins in the B Complex range from Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Pyridoxyine Biotin Cobalmin. Together these vitamins work to convert carbohydrates, fats and proteins into energy for fueling our bodies.
B-complex vitamins may also help lower homocysteine levels and therefore lower the risk for cardiovascular disease, since high homocysteine levels have been linked to arterial damage.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C helps strengthen immunity and act as an antioxidant, potentially providing protection from and treating common cold symptoms, aiding wound healing, protecting against certain cancers, lowering cholesterol levels and decreasing risks associated with certain eye diseases.
Oranges, kiwis, strawberries, watermelons and papayas all contain vitamin C; green leafy vegetables containing red and yellow peppers, broccoli and tomatoes as well as dairy products, fortified cereals and juices also contain this nutrient. Also consume foods rich in B vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid pyridoxine biotin cobalamin which help convert carbohydrates, fats and proteins to energy for fuel production.
Vitamin D
Vitamins are vital essential nutrients that play many essential roles, from building strong bones to supporting the immune system. Vitamin-rich food sources transform into energy for use as fuel in healing wounds quickly while simultaneously protecting soft tissues in our skin and soft tissues from damage.
Vitamin D, commonly referred to as the “sunshine vitamin,” plays an integral part in calcium absorption from food sources and bone health in general. Without enough Vitamin D intake, osteomalacia (soft bones) and rickets (bowed or bent bones) in children could occur.
Studies conducted over time have concluded that serum 25(OH)D concentrations less than 125nmol/L have an association with increased cardiovascular disease risk, cancer risk and death [123]. You and your healthcare provider should discuss what constitutes an appropriate dosage level.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is an essential nutrient found naturally in plant oils, nuts and seeds as well as supplements in pills, tablets and softgels. When consumed in high doses it may increase risk for lung and pancreatic cancers.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant that can protect tissues from damage by scavenging excess electrons from the body’s tissue cells, improving immune function, and preventing clot formation in heart arteries. Studies and trials conducted suggest taking vitamin E supplements may be effective at warding off certain diseases; however, most randomized trials do not demonstrate their heart-protective abilities in healthy people with low risk for heart disease.
Vitamin K
Vitamin K plays an essential role in blood clotting and wound healing, but also appears to protect against heart disease. According to Nurses’ Health Study data, consumption of phylloquinone (Vitamin K1) was negatively associated with hip fracture and hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases.
Leafy green vegetables are the primary dietary source of vitamin K, providing various menaquinones (MKs), from MK-4 to MK-13. Consuming foods rich in fat improves absorption; longer chain MKs such as MK-7 are typically assimilated more readily by our bodies than shorter-chain phylloquinones.
