Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients because, acting together, they perform hundreds of functions in the body. They help strengthen bones, heal wounds and boost the immune system. They also convert food into energy and repair cell damage. Vitamins and minerals are as essential to life as air and water.
Not only do they keep your body healthy and functional, they protect you from a range of diseases. Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals found in food that nourish your body and help you stay healthy. They are essential for overall health. Like vitamins, minerals also help your body function.
Minerals are elements that our bodies need to function and are found in soil and food. Some minerals, such as iodine and fluoride, are only needed in very small amounts. Others, such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, are needed in larger amounts. As with vitamins, if you eat a varied diet, you are likely to get enough of most minerals.
Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients that the body needs in small amounts to function properly. Most people should be able to get all the nutrients they need by eating a varied and balanced diet. If you decide to take vitamin and mineral supplements, seek advice when necessary. Although diet is the key to getting the best vitamins and minerals, supplements can help.
For example, if you are doing your best to eat healthy foods but are still deficient in some areas, supplements can help. The key is to make sure they are taken along with a healthy diet and nutrient-rich foods. Use supplements only if your health professional has recommended them. Water-soluble vitamins move freely through the body, and excess amounts are usually excreted by the kidneys.
The body needs water-soluble vitamins in small, frequent doses. These vitamins are not as prone as fat-soluble vitamins to reach toxic levels. But niacin, vitamin B6, folate, choline and vitamin C have upper intake limits. Vitamin B6 in high levels over a long period of time has been shown to cause irreversible nerve damage.
Water-soluble vitamins, including B-complex and vitamin C, are mostly only stored for a shorter period of time. Most vitamins must come from food because the body produces little or none. However, studies show that most Americans do not get enough vitamins and minerals in their diet. The human body synthesises the vitamin when it is exposed to sunlight, and sunlight is the best source of vitamin D.
Eating right now is especially important because the body needs a variety of vitamins and minerals to grow and stay healthy. However, there is no evidence that taking large doses of any one vitamin can slow or reverse the effects of ageing. Different vitamins play different roles in the body, and different people need different amounts of each vitamin to stay healthy. The best way to make sure you get a variety of vitamins and minerals, and in the right amounts, is to eat a broad-based healthy diet.
Vitamins and minerals support the immune system, promote normal growth and development, and help cells and organs do their work. The water-soluble vitamins are the eight B vitamins (B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5, B-6, B-7, B-9, B-1 and vitamin C). If you are a vegetarian, you will need to carefully plan a diet that includes the vitamins and minerals you need. For example, humans need to get vitamin C from their diet, while dogs can produce all the vitamin C they need.
Research is ongoing to study the effects of taking vitamin supplements to prevent chronic disease, and the evidence around nutrition and diet is constantly changing. This is due to suggestions from large observational studies comparing healthy adults who consume large amounts of these vitamins with those who do not. In fact, some of the main food sources of vitamin D come from foods to which vitamin D has been added (so-called fortified foods).
