What Are Vitamins?

Vitamins are organic compounds that are required by the body in very small amounts for normal growth and maintenance of good health to occur. Vitamins play vital roles in the metabolic processes of the body and a deficiency state for a particular vitamin will manifest with characteristic symptoms. Vitamins are broadly categorized into two types: Water Soluble Vitamins and Fat Soluble Vitamins.

Water Soluble Vitamins

The water soluble vitamins include Vitamin C and the Vitamin B Complex group. They are so-called water soluble vitamins because they are easily and quickly lost in the urine and are not stored in the body. Consequently deficiencies of water soluble vitamins occur much more rapidly than those of fat soluble vitamins. Conversely, since water soluble vitamins are not stored in the body it is extremely difficult to attain toxic levels.

Fat Soluble Vitamins

The fat soluble vitamins include: Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E and Vitamin K (use the acronym ADEK to remember). These vitamins are classified as fat soluble since they are soluble in fat and are absorbed by the body from the intestinal tract. As they follow the same path of absorption as fat any condition or factor that interferes with fat absorption also interferes with their absorption. Because these vitamins are more readily stored in the body than the water-soluble vitamins, deficiencies occur less frequently and take longer to occur. One drawback of being soluble in fat and thereby readily stored in the body is that toxic levels are more easily attained with these types of vitamins.

Why Supplementing With Vitamins Is Good For You

The American Medical Association (AMA) currently encourages all adults to supplement daily with multi-vitamins. What is of particular note here is the fact that for the past 20 years plus, the AMA has strongly stood against supplementing with vitamins. So why the change? Following a landmark review covering 38 years of scientific research by Harvard researchers, the June 19th 2002 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that although the current North American diet is sufficient to prevent vitamin deficiency diseases (such as scurvy), it is insufficient to promote good health. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that insufficient vitamin intake has a direct correlation to the development of chronic diseases such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as other degenerative diseases.

Anti-Oxidant Activity of Vitamins

Vitamins have several different functions, however detailing the different ways in which each individual vitamin works is beyond the scope of this article. Having said that though, I will touch on the anti-oxidant activity of vitamins because it truly highlights the importance of vitamins.

Energy creation within our bodies (specifically, within cells) occurs through the transfer of electrons from one molecule to the next. The process by which an electron is lost is called reduction and the opposite process by which an electron is gained is called oxidation. The oxidation-reduction (redox reaction) reactions that occur within our cells to manufacture energy are what is known as cell respiration. One of the side effects of cell respiration is leaking of electrons involved in cell respiration from the respiratory centers of the cell. These escaped electrons then react with ambient oxygen to form what are known as free radicals (note, several other factors cause free radical formation including: environmental pollutants, smoking, vigorous exercise, pesticides to name but a few).

What are free radicals? They are molecular fragments that are characterized by having an unpaired electron which makes them extremely volatile. Because of their unstable and volatile nature they react especially aggressively with other molecules from the instant they are created and over time the cumulative damage unleashed by their activity destroys molecular integrity which spreads to the cell, then to tissues, onwards to organs and ultimately affects the entire organism to manifest as degenerative disease associated with aging, as well as accelerated aging process. To date an estimated eighty to ninety percent of degenerative diseases are believed to be linked to free radical activity.

Several vitamins are known powerful anti-oxidants and act as protective buffers within our cells to counter the destructive effect caused by constant free radical activity.

So to summarize, although vitamins have many other essential functions within our bodies, their anti-oxidant activity alone should be reason enough for anyone to seriously consider supplementing with vitamins if they aren't already.

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