Vitamins

The word vitamin derives from "vita" (life) and the chemical term "amine". Vitamins are organic substances that are required in small, yet significant, amounts, to support and maintain life. Most of them must be supplied in our food, as our bodies cannot synthesize them.

Vitamins are either fat-soluble or water-soluble. The water-soluble ones, B and C, are more easily destroyed by cooking, thus I encourage you to eat raw foods often.

Vitamins help to regulate various processes in the body, and a shortage of the required vitamin will thus decrease the activity, leading to various health problems. Do pregnant women need more or different vitamins? Click to read the article, "Pregnancy and pre-Natal Vitamins".

Are we getting enough vitamins from the food we eat? See this article for an opinion.

See the articles for each individual vitamin for more details on health problems that a lack of that vitamin causes.

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Note that the contents here are not presented from a medical practitioner, and that any and all health care planning should be made under the guidance of your own medical and health practitioners. The content within only presents an overview of the topics and does not replace medical advice from a professional physician.

Where I have listed the nutritional contents of foods, that information is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2005. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page.

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