Vitamins: Get Some Down Your Neck.

A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient by humans. Thirteen vitamins are presently universally recognized.

Vitamins have various biochemical functions. Some have hormone-like functions as regulators of mineral metabolism, like vitamin D, or regulate cell and tissue growth and differentiation like vitamin A. Others are antioxidants, like vitamins E and C. The B complex vitamins help enzymes act as catalysts in metabolism

These nutrients make your body function at its best.

They build strong bones, improve cognitive function, mood, and memory, and help your immune system keep you well.

Should you be taking a supplement to make sure you’re getting all the vitamins your body needs? Well…it’s a tricky question.

The answer depends on a number of factors. Do you eat a healthy, varied diet? Do you smoke, or drink alcohol daily? Are you stressed, overworked, pregnant? Are you a woman who takes an oral contraceptive? If you’re doing anything that might have a long term effect on your health, a low dose multivitamin might not be a bad idea. Avoid taking single supplements, as it’s easy to overdose with these.

There was a trend in the 70s for taking huge doses of vitamins to supplement your diet, but this can lead to vitamin poisoning.

Also known as hypervitaminosis or vitamin overdose, this is when an excessive vitamin intake leads to toxic symptoms.

Too much of a good thing can have bad consequences. Like people who drink lots of carrot juice, rich in beta carotene, only to have the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet turn orange. The carrot-juice syndrome is harmless and reversible, but overdosing on some other vitamins and minerals can have serious side effects.

Generally, toxic levels of vitamins are achieved through high supplement intake and not from dietary sources. Excess vitamin side effects usually disappear when supplement intake is reduced or stopped.

Death from vitamin poisoning is rare.

In the United States, 62 562 people overdosed on vitamins in 2004, leading to 53 life- threatening outcomes and 2 deaths. Compare this to the 19 250 people who died of poisoning of all kinds in the U.S. in the same year. There are typically more deaths from people eating laundry
products than from vitamin poisoning.

Verdict? Take a multivitamin, eat a varied and balanced diet, and you’re covered.

Filed under: Healthy Eating by admin