Health and Supplements – Do They Make a Difference?

It is well known that the body requires vitamins and minerals in order to function properly. Each one has a different effect on your health and supplements can be a good idea if your diet doesn’t provide you with sufficient quantity. Here’s some information about the most common vitamins which you need for your health and supplements which you can take if you need to:

Vitamin C: Vitamin C is necessary to maintain the immune system (can help to ward off common ailments such as colds and ‘flu as well as more serious diseases), cardiovascular disease and eye problems. Vitamin C is found in many fruits, particularly citrus fruit, tomatoes and green vegetables. Recommended daily dose is 75 – 90mg but some research suggests that a much higher amount is needed to significantly alter health. Vitamin C is commonly found as part of a multi-vitamin tablet or can be bought separately as pills or effervescent tablets.

Vitamin B: There are a number of B vitamins – B1 (thiamine), B2 (ribovflavin),B3 (niacin) and biotin, all needed for energy production, B6 needed for amino acid metabolism and B12 and folic acid which help cell division. All these collectively are known as Vitamin B Complex and while they are all necessary, they don’t all work at the same time. B Complex tablets are available but the daily requirements for each individual vitamin varies tremendously so there is a school of thought which says that while B Complex are good for health and supplements will help boost levels, eating B vitamins in food is preferable. There are plenty of choices as many of these vitamins can be found in lots of different fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, fish, wheat, oats and many other natural products.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D is needed to help the body absorb calcium and magnesium and is produced by the body after exposure to the sun. Just fifteen minutes exposure three times a week will give the body sufficient Vitamin D. It is also present in most proteins (except nuts) so a supplement of this vitamin should not be necessary as only 5mcg is needed daily

Vitamin E: Present in many fruits, particularly berries as well as root vegetables Vitamin E is an antioxidant and essential for the production of red blood cells. It can also be helpful in the healing of wounds. The recommended daily dose is 22.5mg and will feature as part of a multi-vitamin tablet.

Vitamin K: This is needed to regulate the levels of calcium in the blood and has an important part in clotting and indirectly, healthy bones. 60 – 80mcg is required daily and can be obtained from many fruits, vegetables and some proteins including red meat.

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