Vitamins And Their Role In Our Lives
Vitamins, like minerals, are an essential part of the function
and health of the body system. While many vitamins serve
individual purposes, the more common way for vitamins to
function properly is as cofactors to or in partnership with
other vitamins, minerals, nutrients and other substances in the
body such as enzymes. Some of the most important processes in
the body are the result of Vitamins partnering with each other
to achieve certain affects, processes or functions.
Two of the most essential and most powerful vitamin partnerships
are the group of eight vitamins that make up the nutritional
powerhouse that is collectively known as the Vitamin B complex
and the group of three vitamins that are known as the
antioxidant vitamins. In addition to these, there are varieties
of other combinations of vitamins that serve essential purposes
within the body thus preserving health and enhancing function.
The vitamins that make up the Vitamin B complex include Vitamin
B1 (Thiamin), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B3 (Niacin),
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine), Vitamin
B9 (Folic Acid or simply Folate), Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) and
Biotin (Vitamin H).
The degree to which the Vitamin B complex affects bodily
function and health, as well as the function and health of the
mind in terms of cognitive processes and emotional balance and
stability is nothing but amazing. The Vitamin B complex is at
work in and is essential to every major system of the body and
is a part of almost every important function and process.
The group of vitamins that is known as the antioxidant group is
made up of Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Vitamin A. Each of these
vitamins are powerful agents on their own, serving individual
essential purposes in the body. But they are their most powerful
and useful when they combine their strengths thus serving as
antioxidants. They function to rid the body of the cell and
tissue damaging free radicals that have been associated with a
variety of degenerative processes and diseases including the
effects of the basic aging process and the declining abilities
of the mind. Some studies have suggested connections between
free radicals and such infirmities as heart disease and
Alzheimer's disease.
Free radicals are destabilized molecules, created when a
weakened molecule splits and leaves the free radical without one
of the electrons it needs. Weakened molecules can result from
the body's natural metabolic processes as well as from
environmental contaminants such as pollution. The free radicals
attack other molecules in the effort to take the electron that
it is missing. This damages the attacked molecule, making it a
free radical too. When enough free radicals emerge in a cell, it
can cause cellular damage, which, as more free radicals continue
to be produces, can cause tissue damage. Antioxidants bring
these free radicals under control by giving them the electron
that they need, bringing to an end their aggressive behavior
against other molecules. Because of this, antioxidants are
sometimes even coined as the Fountain of Youth of the New Age.
Nutritional supplements can ensure that your body has enough of
the nutrients it needs to support these important partnerships.
Attention to nutrition is one of the most important things you
can do for the overall health of mind and body.