Vitamins: What are they and what they do
Vitamins: What are they and what they do
Despite all the talk about vitamins today, few people actually know what they are and why they are so important.
Vitamins are organic food substances- that is, substances that occur naturally only in living things, plants or animals. They exist in foods in minute quantities; they are absolutely necessary for proper growth and the maintenance of health. Plants manufacture their own vitamins. Animals obtain theirs from plants or from other animals that eat plants. Some animals manufacture in their own bodies some of the vitamins they need.
Green leaves of plants are the laboratories in which vitamins are manufactured. So the green leaves and stalks of plants are full of vitamins. Foods that are seeds (beans, peas, kernels of wheat and corn etc.) also contain vitamins which the plant has provided to nourish the next generation of plants. The lean meat of animals contains vitamin; the organs (heart, liver, etc..) contain even more, which the animal’s digestive system has stored there.
Basically there are two classifications of vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins and water-soluble vitamins. These terms refer to a basic structural difference within the two kinds of vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamins are soluble in a solution of alcohol and are more easily stored within the body; water-soluble vitamins will dissolve in water, and are lost much more easily by the body though normal elimination.
The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K. the water-soluble vitamins include all the B vitamins, C Vitamins and the bioflavonoids (also known as vitamin P).
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