Vitamins & Minerals

Vitamins are organic chemicals you get from plants and animals that can be classified as either fat- or water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) dissolve in fat and thus tend to build up in the body. Water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and B-complex vitamins like B6, B12, and folate) must dissolve in water before they are absorbed by the body and so cannot be stored. Any water-soluble vitamins that the body does not consume are mostly excreted in the urine.

Minerals are inorganic components found in soil and water that are absorbed or ingested by plants and animals. While you’re probably familiar with calcium, sodium, and potassium, there are a variety of additional minerals, including trace minerals (such as copper, iodine, and zinc), that are required to consume in minute amounts.

List of additional minerals:

Fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) are found mostly in:

• Fats from animals

• Veggie fats

• Dairy products, liver, and oily fish

Although your body needs certain vitamins to function effectively, you do not need to consume them on a daily basis.

Vitamins that are water-soluble

• Water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C, B vitamins, and folic acid) are found mostly in:

• Grain fruits and vegetables

• Milk and dairy products

Because these vitamins are not kept in the body, you must consume them more regularly. If you have more vitamins than you need, your body excretes them when you urinate. 

Minerals include calcium and iron, among many others, and may be found in:

• Meat\scereals

• Dairy products and fish milk

• Fruits and vegetables

Minerals are required for three major reasons:

• Creating strong bones and teeth

• Regulating body fluids inside

• Outside cells convert food into energy

Micronutrients that play an important function in the body

Because your body requires adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals, they are referred to as micronutrients. However, failure to obtain even those trace amounts may lead you to sickness.

Here are a few disorders that can be caused by vitamin deficiencies:

• Scurvy

Scurvy causes bleeding gums and listlessness when sailors go months without eating fresh fruits or vegetables, which are the major sources of vitamin C.

Blindness. People continue to go blind as a result of vitamin A deficiency in several impoverished nations.

• Rickets

A vitamin D shortage can result in rickets, a disorder characterised by soft, weak bones that can lead to skeletal abnormalities such as bent legs. Since the 1930s, the United States has fortified milk with vitamin D, primarily to prevent rickets.

Just as a shortage of important micronutrients may cause significant harm to your body, enough amounts can bring significant benefits. 

Here are some instances of these advantages:

• Bones that are strong

• Calcium, vitamin D, vitamin K, magnesium, and phosphorus work together to preserve your bones against fractures. 

• It protects against birth malformations. 

• Taking folic acid supplements early in pregnancy aids in the prevention of brain and spinal birth abnormalities in children.

• They help shore up bones, heal wounds, and bolster your immune system. 

• They also convert food into energy and repair cellular damage.

What is the distinction between vitamins and minerals?

Although they are all classified as micronutrients, vitamins and minerals vary fundamentally. Vitamins are organic compounds that can be degraded by heat, air, or acid. Minerals are inorganic substances that retain their chemical structure.

So, why is this important? It implies that minerals in soil and water may easily enter your body via the plants, fish, animals, and fluids you ingest. However, transporting nutrients from foods or other sources into your body is more difficult since cooking, storage, and even simple contact with air may inactivate these more delicate components. It should also be noted that Magnesium plays many crucial roles in the body, such as supporting muscle and nerve function and energy production. Low magnesium levels usually don’t cause symptoms. However, chronically low levels can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.

Conclusion

Since its discovery during the 1800s, vitamins and their precise needs have been a source of contention. Epidemiologists, doctors, chemists, and physiologists collaborated to develop our modern knowledge of vitamins and minerals. After hours of analysis, tests, and trial and error, scientists were able to determine that several ailments were caused by vitamin deficiencies rather than viruses or poisons, as was widely assumed at the time. Chemists attempted to determine the molecular structure of a vitamin so that it might be duplicated. Soon later, researchers identified the precise quantities of vitamins required to avoid deficiency illnesses.