A healthy balanced diet is one very important component of your overall health. A healthy balanced diet will keep you trim, give you lots of energy and lower your risk of certain disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and some cancers. Theoretically, if one eats a healthy diet with lots of whole foods and the correct balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, he or she should be fine. If his diet isn’t so good, he certainly would want to add some vitamins and minerals.
However, even if his diet is good, there are several reasons why he might want to add vitamin and mineral supplements to his daily health routine. Vitamins are organic nutrients of various forms that the body requires in small amounts. Although they are found in all major food groups, no one food contains all the required vitamins. Most vitamins function as coenzymes; that is, they act with an enzyme to accomplish a particular type of catalysis. Thus, when vitamins are lacking in the diet, metabolic deficits result.
There are several reasons why, even normal people, should take in vitamins and minerals. First, if an individual is stressed. Being in constantly stressful situations due to work, family, relationships, or for any reason, may cause the adrenal glands to work overtime. Eventually this will result in fatigue and headaches. Second, if a person has a family history of osteoporosis, he has to supply his body with minerals that are stored in the bones for prevention.
Third, because of the too much pollution in the environment, a person may need to boost his immune system to guard him from infections and other respiratory problems. For persons who smoke, the level of Vitamin C is used up as it is one of the adverse effects of smoking. That person should then take in added Vitamin C supplement as well as anti-oxidants to free his body from free radicals. Fifth, if an individual takes a lot of sugar or starches, there is a greater need for him/her to take in a higher dose of B complex vitamins for health metabolism of sugar.
There are still a number of reasons why an individual should take in extra vitamins even if he/she received the right amount of nutrient, depending on his/. her environment, lifestyle and culture. Question # 2 Vitamins are generally classified as fat-soluble or water-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and B-complex vitamins: B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin or nicotinic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B9 (folic acid), B12 (cobalamin), pantothenic acid and biotin. Fat-soluble vitamins include Vitamin A, D, E and K.
The body cannot store the water-soluble vitamins; thus people must get a daily supply in the diet. The digestive system absorbs these two types of substances differently. Water-soluble substances cross the intestinal and vascular walls directly into the blood, but fat-soluble substances are handled laboriously. Except for the short-chain fatty acids, fat-soluble substances must be emulsified and carried across the membranes of the intestinal cells associated with fat and often with bile.
They cannot cross the blood vessels to enter the lymph which they later enter the bloodstream. Water-soluble vitamins are absorbed into the blood while fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed in the lymph with fat. Water-soluble vitamins travel freely dissolved in blood; fat-soluble vitamins must be made soluble by water by being attached to protein carriers. Excess water-soluble vitamins are excreted by the kidneys while excess fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body: http://nutrition.about.com/od/vitaminssupplements/f/whyvitamins.htm