Vitamins: All The Basics

You’ll come across mentions of the various vitamins and minerals all the time if you’re at all curious about nutrition. But do you really know much about them? Maybe it’s time to take a closer look; the more you understand about nutrition and the vital roles certain elements play in it, the better placed you are to make sure you’re eating well. And eating well, i.e. eating enough, and making sure your food contains enough of the right nutrients, is a vital factor in your overall health and fitness.

Incidentally, don’t be put off by the amount of details – you certainly don’t need to memorise them all. This article can act as a permanent reference for you whenever you want to know more about a certain vitamin, such as which foods are particularly rich in it, or how a deficiency might affect you.

Why do we need vitamins and minerals?

Vitamins and minerals are essential in your diet because they perform many and various roles in the body. Getting enough of these nutrients is healthy, obviously, while getting too much or too little can actually be harmful to your health. The key is to eat a balanced diet, preferably including meat, fish, eggs, fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. Failing this, you can top up with supplements, but a healthy diet is by far the best way to get all the vitamins and minerals you need.

Your body continually recreates itself, producing new skin and bone, new muscle tissue and new red blood cells, and carrying out cell damage repairs and repairs to wounds as necessary. It also has to transmit countless nerve impulses along thousands of miles of nerve pathways in both brain and body, and to do it in a precise and faultless manner. It also shuttles chemical messengers from one organ to another, delivering vital instructions that keep you healthy 24/7, even while you sleep. And, of course, it has to break down your food and convert it into raw energy to accomplish all these tasks.

To do this, the body needs certain things, the raw materials of life, you might say; it needs the vital components of a good, healthy diet, and that should include the vitamins and minerals essential for life, but which cannot always be synthesised inside the body.

The main vitamins

Here’s a brief rundown of the main vitamins to help make them more understandable (the minerals are dealt with in a different article).

Vitamin A, also known as retinol.

Its main functions include helping the immune system work properly, aiding night vision, and keeping the skin and the natural linings of some parts of the body, such as the nose, healthy.

Vitamin A is needed to promote growth and to repair body tissues generally, and plays a part in protein synthesis. It also plays a key role in glycogen synthesis, which is important for muscle cell fullness and size, as well as recovery.

The eight B Vitamins:

• Vitamin B1 – thiamine
• Vitamin B2 – riboflavin
• Vitamin B3 – niacin
• Vitamin B5 – pantothenic acid
• Vitamin B6 – pyridoxine
• Vitamin B7 – biotin
• Vitamin B9 – folic acid or folate
• Vitamin B12 – cobalamin

Each of the B vitamins is unique but they all have interrelated functions. The body doesn’t store B vitamins very well (they’re water-soluble), and the need for them is increased by such factors as poor diet, smoking, drug use, alcohol, stress and illness.

They each play important roles in the production of energy, the synthesis and repair of DNA and RNA, and the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. They are important in keeping a healthy nervous system, and can help maintain healthy skin and muscle tone.

Found in: Meat and other foods derived from animals, such as offal, eggs, fish, shellfish and poultry.

Deficiency: Poor diet, alcohol and drug use can result in B vitamin deficiency, even in developed countries. Some of the symptoms are anaemia, fatigue, cognitive impairment, hair loss and dry skin.

Vitamin B1, also known as thiamine

This was the first B vitamin discovered, which is why its name includes the number 1. It is important in that it helps the body break food down into its constituents and releases energy from it. It also helps to keep the nervous system strong and healthy.

B1 is also needed to make ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is a complex organic chemical that provides energy to fuel many essential processes in living cells, including firing nerve impulses and enabling muscle contractions. ATP plays a critical role in the transport of large molecules such as proteins and lipids into and out of the cell.

Vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin

Riboflavin is known to help support adrenal function and maintain a healthy nervous system. It also aids key metabolic processes, including helping release energy from food.

Good sources of Vitamin B2, or riboflavin are: Most animal and plant tissues.

Vitamin B3, also known as niacin

Niacin plays a role in cellular signalling, metabolism and DNA production and repair. Niacin comes in two forms, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, both of which are found in food.

Vitamin B5, also known as pantothenic acid

As well as helping your body derive energy from food, vitamin B5 is also involved in the production of hormones and cholesterol.

Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine

Pyridoxine is involved in the production of red blood cells, in amino acid metabolism, and in the creation of neurotransmitters.

Vitamin B7, also known as biotin

Biotin plays an essential role in carbohydrate and fat metabolism and regulates gene expression. It is needed in only small quantities to help break down fat. The bacteria in your gut can synthesise biotin, so it’s unclear whether any supplementation is needed.

Vitamin B9, also known as folic acid or folate

Folic acid is essential for human growth and development; it encourages proper nerve and brain functioning and is needed for cell growth, amino acid metabolism, the formation of red and white blood cells and proper cell division.

Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin

Cobalamin is necessary for keeping the nervous system healthy, and to help support the production of DNA and red blood cells. It also encourages proper brain functioning.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid

Vitamin C helps you maintain healthy skin, bones, cartilage and blood vessels. It also helps with wound healing. It is important for the correct functioning of the immune system.

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