Table of Contents
What are the types of vitamins?
They are organic compounds essential in tiny amounts to support normal physiological function. We need vitamins because our bodies cannot synthesize them enough to meet our daily needs.
Vitamins found in tiny amounts in all foods of natural origin are necessary to maintain vitality and the general well-being of our body.
Vitamins have three characteristics
- They are natural food components; they are usually present in tiny amounts.
- They are essential for normal physiological function (e.g. growth, reproduction).
- When they are absent from the diet, they will cause a specific deficiency.
When were the 13 vitamins and food sources discovered?
- Vitamin-A : (retinol, carotene) 1913 – cod liver oil
- Vitamin-B1 : (thiamine) 1910 -rice bran
- Vitamin-B2 : (riboflavin) 1920 -meat, dairy, eggs
- Vitamin-B3 : (niacin) 1936 -meat, cereals
- Vitamin-B5 : (pantothenic acid) 1931 -meat, whole grains
- Vitamin-B6 : (pyridoxine) 1934 -meat, dairy
- Vitamin-B7 : (biotin) 1931 -meat, dairy, eggs
- Vitamin-B9 : (folic acid) 1941 – legumes
- Vitamin-B12: 1926 – liver, animal products
- Vitamin-C : (ascorbic acid) 1920 -cítricos
- Vitamin-D : (calciferol) 1920 – cod liver oil
- Vitamin-E : (tocopherol) 1922 -vegetable oils
- Vitamin-K : (filokinone) 1929 – legumes
The types of vitamins are generally classified into the following types:
- Soluble in water
- Fat-soluble
1-Types of water-soluble vitamins
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
- Deficiency – Symptoms include burning feet, limb weakness, rapid heart rate, bloating, anorexia, nausea, fatigue, and gastrointestinal problems.
- Toxicity: unknown.
- Sources: sunflower seeds, asparagus, lettuce, mushrooms, black beans, white beans, lentils, spinach, peas, pinto beans, lima beans, eggplant, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, tuna, whole wheat, soy fertility
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
- Deficiency: Symptoms include cracks, fissures and sores at the corner of the mouth and lips, dermatitis, conjunctivitis, photophobia, glossitis of the tongue, anxiety, loss of appetite, and fatigue.
- Toxicity: Excess riboflavin can increase the risk of DNA strand breakage in the presence of chromium. High-dose riboflavin therapy will intensify the colour of your urine to a bright yellow colour (flavinuria), but this is harmless.
- Sources: Almonds, fertility soybeans/tempeh, mushrooms, spinach, whole wheat, yogurt, mackerel, eggs, liver
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
- Deficiency: Symptoms include dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, and stomatitis.
- Toxicity: Niacin from food is not known to cause adverse effects. Nicotinic acid supplementation can cause skin flushing, itching, impaired glucose tolerance, and gastrointestinal distress. Taking 750 mg daily for less than three months can cause liver damage. High doses of nicotinamide can cause nausea and liver toxicity.
- Sources: Mushrooms, asparagus, peanuts, brown rice, corn, green leafy vegetables, sweet potato, potato, lentils, barley, carrots, almonds, celery, turnips, peaches, chicken meat, tuna, salmon
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
- Deficiency: very unlikely. Only in severe malnutrition can tingling in the feet be noticed.
- Toxicity: Nausea, heartburn, and diarrhea can be noticed with high-dose supplements.
- Sources: Broccoli, lentils, peas, avocado, whole wheat, mushrooms, sweet potato, sunflower seeds, cauliflower, green leafy vegetables, eggs, pumpkin, strawberries, liver
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
- Deficiency: Symptoms include cheilosis, glossitis, stomatitis, dermatitis (similar to vitamin B2 deficiency), nervous system disorders, insomnia, confusion, nervousness, depression, irritability, interference with the nerves that supply muscles, and movement difficulties of these muscles, and anemia. Prenatal deprivation causes mental retardation and blood disorders in the newborn.
- Toxicity: High doses of supplemental vitamin B6 can result in painful bouquet symptoms.
- Sources: whole wheat, brown rice, green leafy vegetables, sunflower seeds, potato, chickpea beans, banana, trout, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, walnuts, peanut butter, tuna, salmon, lima beans, bell peppers, beef chicken
Vitamin B7 (Biotin)
- Deficiency: very rare in humans. Be aware that consuming raw egg whites over a long period can cause biotin deficiency. Egg whites contain the protein avidin, which binds to biotin and prevents its absorption.
- Toxicity: They are not known to be toxic.
- Sources: Green Leaf BOH, most nuts, whole wheat bread, avocado, raspberries, cauliflower, carrots, papaya, banana, salmon, eggs
Vitamin B9 (folic acid)
Folate is the natural form found in food. Folic acid is the natural form found in commercially available supplements and fortified foods. Inadequate folate status is associated with neural tube defects and some cancers.
Deficiency: anemia (macrocytic/megaloblastic), sprue, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, weakness, weight loss, cracking and redness of the tongue and mouth, and diarrhea may be noted. In pregnancy, there is a risk of low birth weight and premature practice.
Toxicity: None of the foods. Vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency can lead to megaloblastic anemia. Large doses of folic acid given to an individual with an undiagnosed vitamin B12 deficiency could correct megaloblastic anemia without correcting the underlying vitamin B12 deficiency.
Sources: Green leafy vegetables, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, citrus fruits, black peas, spinach, Northern beans, whole grains, baked beans, green peas, avocado, peanuts, lettuce, tomato juice, banana, papaya, organ meat
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamine)
Vitamin B12 must combine with intrinsic factors before being absorbed into the bloodstream. We can store a year’s worth of this vitamin — but it must still be consumed regularly. B12 is a product of bacterial fermentation, so it is not present in higher-order plant foods.
- Deficiency: Symptoms include pernicious anemia, neurological problems and drinking fountain.
- Toxicity: Not known from supplements or food. Only a tiny amount is absorbed orally, so the difference in toxicity is low.
- Sources: Enriched cereals, liver, trout, salmon, tuna, haddock, egg
Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid)
Deficiency: Symptoms include bruising, gum infections, lethargy, tooth cavities, tissue swelling, dry hair and skin, bleeding gums, dry eyes, hair loss, joint paint, severe edema, anemia, delayed wound healing, and bone fragility. Long-term deficiency causes scurvy.
Toxicity: Possible problems with massive doses of vitamin C, including kidney stones, rebound scurvy, increased oxidative stress, excess iron absorption, vitamin B12 deficiency, and erosion of tooth enamel. Up to 10 grams/day is safe based on most of the data. 2 grams or more a day can cause diarrhea.
Sources: Guava, pepper, kiwi, orange, grapefruit, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, melon, papaya, broccoli, sweet potato, pineapple, cauliflower, kale, lemon juice, parsley.
2-Types of Fat-soluble Vitamins
Vitamina A (Retinoides)
Carotenoids that the body can convert to retinol are known as provitamin carotenoids.
- Impairment: One may notice difficulty seeing on thin, fair and rough/dry skin.
- Toxicity: Hypervitaminosis A is caused by consuming excessive amounts of preformed vitamin A, not plant carotenoids. Preformed vitamin A is rapidly and slowly absorbed sexually from the body. Nausea, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness, and dry skin can occur. Consuming too much during pregnancy can cause congenital disabilities.
- Sources: Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green leafy vegetables, squash, cantaloupe, bell pepper, Chinese cabbage, meat, eggs, peaches
Vitamin D
Deficiency: In children, a vitamin D deficiency can result in rickets, deformed bones, retarded growth, and soft teeth. In adults, a vitamin D deficiency can result in osteomalacia, softened bones, spontaneous peculiarities, and tooth decay.
Those at risk for deficiency include infants, the elderly, dark-skinned individuals, those with minimal sun exposure, fat malabsorption syndromes, inflammatory bowel diseases, kidney failure, and seizure disorders.
Toxicity: Hypervitaminosis D is not the result of sun exposure but of chronic supplication. Overuse of supplements will raise calcium levels in the blood and cause loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, urination, itching, muscle weakness, joint pain and disorientation. Soft tissue calcification can also occur.
Sources: sunlight, fortified foods, mushrooms, salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna, eggs
Vitamin E (tocopherol)
- Deficiency: only noticed in those with severe malnutrition. However, suboptimal consumption is relatively standard.
- Toxicity: Minimal copy effects have been observed in adults taking supplements at doses less than 2000 mg/day. There is a potential risk of impaired blood clotting. Babies are more vulnerable.
- Sources: BOH leafy greens, almonds, sunflower seeds, olives, blueberries, most nuts, most seeds, tomatoes, avocado
Vitamin K (tocopherol)
Deficiency: Tendency to bleeding or hemorrhage and anemia.
Toxicity: May interfere with glutathione. High-dose toxicity is not known.
Sources: Broccoli, green leafy vegetables, parsley, watercress, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, green beans, green peas, carrots
Mineral
Dietary elements (commonly known as dietary minerals or mineral nutrients) are the chemical elements required by living organisms, distinct from the four elements of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen in common organic molecules.
The types of vitamins are generally classified into:
- Types of vitamins: Macrominerals
- Types of vitamins: Microminerals
1-Macrominerals
Football
- Deficiency: Long-term inadequate intake can result in low bone mineral density, rickets, osteomalacia, and osteoporosis.
- Toxicity: will cause nausea, vomiting, constipation, dry mouth, thirst, increased urination, kidney stones and soft tissue calcification.
- Sources: BOH leafy greens, legumes, tofu, molasses, sardines, okra, perch, trout, Chinese cabbage, rhubarb, and sesame seeds.
Match
- Deficiency: very rare. Those at risk are premature babies, those using antacids, alcoholics, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, and refeeding syndrome.
- Toxicity: very rare. It can result in soft tissue calcification.
- Sources: Legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, eggs, fish, buckwheat, shellfish, corn, wild rice
Potassium
- Deficiency: not the result of insufficient dietary intake. A loss of protein causes it. Diuretics can also cause excessive loss of potassium in the urine. Low potassium in the blood can lead to cardiac arrest.
- Toxicity: occurs when potassium intake exceeds the elimination capacity of the kidneys. He encountered kidney failure and potassium-sparing diuretics. Oral doses greater than 18 grams can lead to toxicity. Symptoms include tingling in the limbs and muscle weakness. High doses of potassium supplements can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
- Sources: Sweet potato, tomato, green leafy vegetables, carrots, plums, beans, molasses, squash, fish, bananas, peaches, apricots, cantaloupe, potatoes, dates, raisins, mushrooms
To live, we have to extract the necessary vitamins from natural food.
When I say vitamins, most of us immediately think about pills, and here is the confusion with drugs and medications.
What “NO” are vitamins?
They are neither pills with an energizing effect nor substitutes for daily meals. Many people imagine that vitamins can replace food. False; they cannot replace proteins, or any other nutritional element, such as minerals, carbohydrates, water, etc.
In reality, they cannot be assimilated without ordinary food, and they are not energy drugs and have no caloric or energy value of their own.
How do they work?
We could get an idea of how these reproductive nutrients work if we compare the human body to an internal combustion engine and consider vitamins as spark plugs.
Vitamins regulate metabolism through enzyme systems. A single vitamin deficiency can de-regulate the entire body.
Vitamins are components of enzymatic systems acting as sparks that stimulate and regulate metabolism, guaranteeing the functioning of the entire set with the highest parameters.
Life can only exist in the presence of all essential vitamins.
Because when they were discovered, the chemical composition was unknown and could not be given a scientific name, so most vitamins were designated by a letter of the alphabet.
Vitamin deficiency manifests in fatigue states, increased risk of infections, irritability, muscle pain, insomnia, and growth disorders.
Adequate intake of vitamins and minerals is in the daily diet, but that is not entirely possible due to lifestyle alert that does not include all kinds of nutrients.
The fruits and vegetables available in the market are lower in vitamins and minerals than organic ones.
Under these conditions, the pharmaceutical market offers more natural or identical remedies, convincing consumers that they will be healthier and more energetic if they take their daily ration of pills,
What are the differences between natural vitamins and vitamin supplements?
The vitamins are obtained by chemical synthesis, fermentation or extraction from natural sources, eventually yielding a product chemically equivalent to the corresponding substances isolated from plants.
Did you know that vitamins represent around 97% of the Spanish supplement market, much cheaper than natural ones? Natural vitamins are not individual molecular compounds but biological complexes whose action depends on many variables.
These biochemical complexes act like vitamins only in the presence of all the factors and components that make them up. We can associate the natural vitamin with the highly complex human body, within which each apparatus, tissue and cell functions precisely.
But the results can be expected if we separate an organ from the body, making it perform outside of it. Natural vitamins are assimilated in a proportion of 98%.
Vitamins are not individual molecular compounds but biological complexes whose action depends on many variables.
These biochemical complexes act like vitamins only in the presence of all the co-factors and components that form them.
Vitamins found in their natural state in fresh vegetables and fruits have an absorption of up to 98%. Vitamins are assimilated in the proportion of only 10-20%.
Less than 10 or 20 percent of the nutrients in a capsule reach the cellular level, meaning that 80-90 percent are removed from the body, which is harmful to the liver and the immune system.
Financially speaking, of a sum of money spent on vitamins, more than half end up in the bathroom. The nutrients in a pill are absorbed in a percentage of 10-20% compared to the natural ones, absorbed at 98%.
An experiment on two batches of mice showed that the group given synthetic vitamins lived less than the group that did not receive food; basically, hunger was less lethal than synthetic vitamins. Natural vitamins are living complexes.
Another difference arises from individuals’ compliance with the treatment—many struggle to swallow several pilldailyay to provide the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Any isolated part of a natural vitamin does not work as well as the vitamin itself would. For example, taking vitamin E requires zinc absorption, but taking zinc requires vitamin C.
In 1930, Dr. Szent-Gyorgy won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of vitamin C in his attempts to find a cure for scurvy.
Szent-Gyorgy treated scurvy using concentrates from foods rich in vitamin C: lemon, bell pepper, and green lemons.
It was then that he thought of isolating the compound, which, in his opinion, worked against scurvy – and thus discovered the molecule of ascorbic acid.
When he started treating people suffering from scurvy with ascorbic acid (the isolated molecule in the vitamin C complex), he realized that the treatment did not work.
Following these records, he pointed out that the only effective and safe form of vitamin C is natural, from whole foods, and that isolated ascorbic acid should be considered a medicine.
Despite this, we are putting an equal sign between ascorbic acid and vitamin C, but ascorbic acid is not vitamin C.
The benefit is that vitamin C can be derived from a phytonutrient compound found only in whole-natural foods.
Natural sources of vitamin C: vitamin C bioflavonoids, anthocyanins, heart vessels, such as catechins, tyrosinase, etc.
All of this works synergistically, and the role of ascorbic acid is to prevent the rapid oxidation of all the other bioflavonoids in the vitamin C complex.
The ascorbic acid in Bills is just one copy of the ascorbic acid naturally found in the biologically active complex called vitamin C, which is just a part of vitamin C.
The vitamin is a biochemical complex, and its activity refers to the biological changes that occur at the cellular level in the presence of that active vitamin. Thus, it is easy to understand that vitamins represent much more than the sum of their constituent parts.
Vitamin overdose and its side effects
The vitamins have positive effects, yet studies, surpassing the dose needed by the body has caused many diseases and adverse effects that occur in the case of vitamins:
Vitamin A: excess causes nausea, vomiting, headache, even visual impairment, thickening of the skin or osteoporosis.
B vitamins: it is recommended that the management of the whole group, the administration of one vitamin can also lead to obstruction of the absorption of the other vitamins from the overdose of group B,
Vitamin B1 (thiamine) affects the thyroid gland and insulin secretion, leading to a deficiency of other B vitamins.
Vitamin B6: Overdoses of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) lead to increased skin photosensitivity with the appearance of erythema, itching, burning, or tingling, especially if other antioxidants are not taken in parallel.
Vitamin B6: in large quantities, it can cause neurological disorders; it is recommended to take in equal proportions with vitamins B1 and B2.
Vitamin C: although it is a water-soluble vitamin and the body eliminates excess amounts, increased doses can cause the development of uric and oxalic acid stones and change the values of specific laboratory tests.
Excess vitamin D causes a severe hyperlocal imbalance in the calcium-potassium ratio, and symptoms cause a feeling of insatiable thirst, frequent urination, nausea, vomiting, and accelerated transit.
Vitamin E: in hypertensive patients, it can cause arterial hypertension, and its administration requires caution in people with diabetes or thyroid hyperfunction.
Vitamin K: excess leads to the destruction of blood cells invisible with the development of anemia
What are nutrients?
Many people believe that nutrients and vitamins are expropriated perfectly; they do not.
There are six essential nutrients.
- Carbohydrates,
- Proteins (made up of amino acids),
- Fats,
- Minerals,
- Vitamins
- Water.
Nutrients are components of food necessary for the health of the body.
Nutrients play a vital role: it is essential for the functioning of internal organs, food processing, energy generation, and supporting the development of people.
How do nutrients work?
To use them, the rhythm breaks down the nutrients. In principle, the nutritional elements act through digestion.
Digestion is a continuous chemical breakdown of substances that enter the body.
These substances are broken down by enzymatic action into tiny fragments that can be absorbed through the walls of the digestive tract tube more than 10 meters long at both ends.
My name is Ellie Lauderdale, MD and I am USA based professional Nutritionist .
I am a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and board certified specialist in sports dietetics who is trained in integrative medicine. I have worked with hundreds of clients, from those suffering with chronic disease to professional and olympian athletes. My goal is to help optimize you from the inside so that you can feel, perform, and look your best on the outside.