Essential Water-Soluble Vitamins: Roles, Benefits, and Dietary Importance

Water-soluble vitamins are crucial nutrients that dissolve in water, making them easily absorbed by the body. Unlike fat-soluble vitamins, which can be stored in the liver and fatty tissues, these vitamins are not stored in large quantities and need to be regularly replenished through diet. The key water-soluble vitamins include Vitamin C and the B-complex group, which consists of B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6, B7 (biotin), B9 (folate), and B12.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is essential for collagen synthesis, a protein that supports the structure of the skin, blood vessels, and bones. It is also critical for wound healing and the maintenance of cartilage, bones, and teeth. Additionally, Vitamin C functions as a powerful antioxidant, protecting cells from oxidative damage caused by free radicals, which are associated with aging and chronic conditions like cancer and heart disease.

Each of the B-complex vitamins plays a unique role in the body’s functioning. Thiamine (B1) is vital for energy production, particularly in carbohydrate metabolism. Riboflavin (B2) aids in energy production and supports cell growth and maintenance. Niacin (B3) is important for DNA repair, skin health, and the synthesis of stress and sex hormones. Pantothenic acid (B5) is a precursor to coenzyme A, essential for fatty acid metabolism and energy production.

Vitamin B6 is involved in more than 100 enzyme reactions, mainly in protein metabolism and neurotransmitter production. Biotin (B7) is important for various metabolic processes, including the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Folate (B9) is crucial for DNA synthesis and repair, especially during periods of rapid growth, such as pregnancy. Vitamin B12, one of the most well-known B vitamins, is necessary for neurological function and the formation of red blood cells.

To ensure sufficient intake of these vitamins, it is important to maintain a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Regular consumption is essential for overall health and can prevent deficiencies that may lead to conditions like anemia, neurological disorders, and cardiovascular issues.
Essential Water-Soluble Vitamins: Roles, Benefits, and Dietary Importance

Fat-soluble vitamins

There are two types of vitamins including fat soluble and water soluble, which affects their functions in human body. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are called the fat-soluble vitamins, because they are soluble in organic solvents and are absorbed and transported in a manner similar to that of fats.

Fat-soluble vitamins play integral roles in a multitude of physiological processes such as vision, bone health, immune function, and coagulation.

The body absorbs these vitamins as it does dietary fats. They do not dissolve in water. Despite structural differences between fat-soluble vitamins, they are absorbed and transported similarly due to their low solubility in hydrophilic media.

After absorption into enterocytes, fat-soluble vitamins become packaged into chylomicrons, which then get secreted into the lymphatic system before entering the bloodstream. Chylomicrons are needed to absorb fat-soluble vitamins and carry fats and cholesterol from the small intestine into the bloodstream. Chylomicrons are metabolized by lipoprotein lipase, which causes the release of fat-soluble vitamins into tissues for use and storage.

While water-soluble vitamins are quickly absorbed with the excess being released, fat-soluble vitamins are slower to dissolve, and the excess is stored in the liver. This means that excessive amounts of fat-soluble vitamin supplements can cause problems such as vitamin toxicity.

Human body can get deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins when the fat intake is too low or if body cannot absorb it. Some drugs (weight-loss medications) and certain diseases (cystic fibrosis) can cause these problems.
Fat-soluble vitamins

What are vitamins?

A vitamin is an organic compound, which means that it contains carbon. It is also an essential nutrient that the body may need to get from food. It presents in minute amounts in natural foodstuffs. Vitamins are needed for normal cell function, growth, and development.

In 1912, a Polish chemist named Casimir Funk, proposed that disease may be caused by a missing ingredient that should be in the diet. The major period of discovery began in the early nineteenth century and ended at the mid-twentieth century.

Vitamins are essential dietary substance needed in small amounts to regulate chemical reactions in the body. They include vitamins A, C, D, E, and K, choline, and the B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folate/folic acid).

Vitamins are team players – they help other nutrients work better, e.g., vitamin D enhances the absorption of calcium, vitamin C is needed to absorb iron and B vitamins work together in cells.

Vitamins needed to make enzymes and hormones – important substances of the body use to make all the many chemical reaction for the body to live.

Vitamins are important for proper growth and maintenance of good health, but they appeared to possess no greater properties beyond their basic chemical function.

Vitamins do indeed participate in the chemical reactions that release energy from carbohydrates, and proteins, and fats, but contain no inherent energy themselves.

A vitamin deficiency occurs when human body do not get enough of a certain vitamin. Vitamin deficiency can cause health problems.

Not eating enough fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains and fortified dairy foods may increase the risk for health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and poor bone health.

Vitamins are generally categorized into the following types: fat soluble and water soluble. Solubility confers on vitamins many of their characteristics. It determines how they are absorbed and transported around by the bloodstream, whether they can be stores in the body, and how easily they are lost from the body.
What are vitamins?

Fish - an important source of a variety of nutrients

Fish is a food source comparable to other animal protein foods in nutrient composition. There are dozens of varieties of fish, with a variety of flavors and cooking styles to suit any taste. Fish is filled with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins such as D and B2 (riboflavin). Fish is rich in calcium and phosphorus and a great source of minerals, such as iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium.

The vitamin B12 found in fish is crucial for the growth of healthy red blood cells, DNA reproduction, and nerve function. Consuming enough vitamin B12 is linked to a lower risk of dementia and heart disease.

Seafood is an important contributor of selenium to the American diet and is unique among animal protein foods as a rich source or omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. Eating fish is an important source of omega-3 fatty acids.

These essential nutrients keep human heart and brain healthy. The omega-3 fat docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is especially important for brain and eye development. In this case, it’s often recommended that pregnant and breastfeeding women eat enough omega-3 fatty acids.

Salmon and sardines, in particular are good sources of omega-3 essential fatty acids, while halibut is a great source of protein.

The forms of lipid in fish are triglycerides or triacylglycerols. Triglycerides in pelagic fish contain the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid EPA (eicosapentoic acid) and DHA (docosahexanoic acid), which have many health benefits including normal development of the brain and retina in infants and prevention of heart disease in adults.

Research has linked fish consumption with many health benefits, including a lowered risk for arthritis, heart attacks, high blood pressure, prostate cancer in men and strokes. Many large observational studies show that people who eat fish regularly have a lower risk of heart attacks, strokes, and death from heart disease.

The WHO/FAO in 2003 recommendation on the consumption of fish is that “regular fish consumption (1-2 servings per week) is protective against coronary heart diseases and ischemic stroke and is recommended. The serving should provide an equivalent of 200-500 mg of EPA and DHA.”

Fish are also a great source of protein, which is critical to maintaining healthy muscles, organs, and blood vessels. Protein helps support cell division, hair growth, and even hormone signaling.
Fish - an important source of a variety of nutrients

Deficiency of vitamin K

Human intake of vitamin K comes from two main sources - human diets and synthesis from intestinal bacteria. The dietary essentiality of vitamin K was discovered as the result of a series of experiments carried out by the Danish nutritional bio9chemcist Henrik Dam (1895 – 1976), working at the University of Copenhagen.

Vitamin K deficiency is rare among humans and most other animal species. This is due to the wide occurrence of vitamin K in plant and animal foods and to the significant microbial synthesis of the vitamin that occurs in the intestines. Vitamin K deficiencies can be caused by a variety of factors. These include:

 *Not consuming enough vitamin K from one's diet can contribute to a deficiency. Dietary vitamin K is highest in leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, kale, broccoli and collard greens.

*A diet with high intakes of salicylates can block vitamin K. Salicylates are found in foods such as nuts, fruits, spices and mints. Aspirin is a salicylate. Blocking vitamin K is why aspirin can "thin" the blood - it basically keeps blood from coagulating. This is why too much aspirin can cause stomach and intestinal bleeding.

*Antibiotics can cause bleeding problems from vitamin K deficiencies. Antibiotics drugs can virtually sterilize the lumen of the intestine, thus removing an important source of vitamin K. Prior to surgery, a patient’s vitamin K status is often tested to assess the risk hemorrhaging because antibiotics are frequently part of the treatment regimen.

*Candida (systemic yeast) infections have been linked to vitamin K deficiencies. An overgrowth of Candida albicans or other kinds of yeast can crowd out the helpful bacteria in the digestive tract that make vitamin K. People who eat a lot of sugary foods, an unusually high proportion of alkaline foods and/or take antibiotics tend to be at high risk for Candida infections.

*The vitamin is lipid soluble and is absorbed primarily in the small intestine. A healthy patient usually has a 30-day body store. Vitamin K deficiency occurs with anatomic lesions that bypass the small intestine, malabsorption, intrahepatic or biliary obstruction, hepatic disease, and rarely with inadequate intake.

*Megadoses of vitamins A and E counteract the actions of vitamin K. Vitamin A appears to hamper intestinal absorption of vitamin K and excess vitamin E seems to decrease the vitamin K dependent clotting factor, thus promoting bleeding.

*A variety of antibiotics interferes with intestinal bacteria growth and can impair vitamin K synthesize or interferes with intracellular role of vitamin K.

*The most common cause of fully functional vitamin K deficiency is the therapeutic use of oral anticoagulant drugs of the coumarin family, such as warfarin. Warfarin blocks the action of vitamin K. In turn, vitamin K blocks the action of anticoagulants. That could block blood vessels leading to the heart or brain.

*The bacteria that synthesize vitamin K thrive in an acidic digestive environment. Antacids, if taken in sufficient quantity, may cause a vitamin K deficiency, as well as irritable bowel syndrome and various nutritional deficiencies, because they neutralize the hydrochloric acid in a person's stomach. Hydrochloric acid is needed to digest food and create the acidic environment in which the beneficial bacteria thrive.

*Vitamin K is furnished by dietary intake of plant foods and synthesis by intestinal flora. Some drugs disrupt vitamin K’s synthesis and action in the body: antibiotics kill the vitamin K-producing bacteria in the intestine, and anticoagulant drugs interfere with vitamin K metabolism and activity. When vitamin K deficiency does occur, it can be fatal.
Deficiency of vitamin K

Osteoporosis and the roles of nutrients

Osteoporosis, literally ‘porous bone’ is defined as a reduction in the mass and quality of bone and/or the presence of a fragility fracture.

It is sometimes called a silent disease because people can have osteoporosis without feeling sick or knowing something is wrong with their bones.

Osteoporosis greatly reduces independence and the quality of life of its victims; many die from complications of osteoporosis.

Dairy products are the major sources of calcium in Western diets. Milk provides a good source of many nutrients. Diets low in dairy products is often low in many nutrients. The body needs calcium for proper heart, muscle and nerve function, to maintain blood pressure, and for blood clotting. If the diet doesn't provide enough calcium, it’ll take it from "calcium reservoir" (otherwise known as bones).

If old bone is removed at a rate that is too fast, or if the rate of new bone replacement occurs too slowly, then gradually bones become porous and fragile. For example, 40% of the bone's density can be lost during advanced osteoporosis.

The complications of osteoporosis relate to the fractures that result from the condition and therefore, depend on which bone breaks. The main problems are pain and disability.

Although osteoporosis can attack any bone in the body, the typical sites osteoporosis fractures are the hip, the spine, and the wrist.

A lifelong adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D, as well as phosphorus, zinc, vitamins K and C, copper and manganese, helps bone health by increasing (as much as is genetically possible) the amount of bone formed during youth and early adulthood.

Calcium and vitamin D are available as single nutrient supplements, as components of multi-nutrient supplements, or as calcium plus vitamin D supplements with or without other nutrients (e.g vitamin K, phosphate).
Osteoporosis and the roles of nutrients

β-Carotene (Pro vitamin A)

β-Carotene is a yellow-orange pigment that is converted to vitamin A in the body. The yellow-orange coloring in fruits and vegetables is mainly due to the presence of β-Carotene.

β-Carotene (C40H56) is a fat soluble plant pigment found in bright orange-colored fruits and vegetables such as carrots, pumpkins, peaches and sweet potatoes.

It is a very important antioxidant as it can help prevent damage to tissues by free radicals – extremely reactive damaging forms of oxygen and other chemicals. β-Carotene lowers low density lipoprotein (LDL)O, the undesirable form of cholesterol, and raises high density lipoprotein (HDL), the desirable form.

Vitamin A is essential for the human body in that it boost the body’s immune system and helps battle eye disease, such as cataracts and night blindness, various skin ailments such as acne, signs of aging, and various forms of cancer.

Epidemiological studies have linked high intake of food rich in β-Carotene and high blood levels of the micronutrient to a lower risk of cancer.

Commercially, β-Carotene is used as a safe food coloring. β-Carotene is the most plentiful of the orange-yellow plant pigments in foods, and it has the highest vitamin A activity.

Because of differences in uptake, storage and chemical processing, only about one-sixth of the β-Carotene in a plant food ends up as vitamin A (retinol) in the body.
β-Carotene (Pro vitamin A)

Fat soluble vitamin deficiency in infants

Infants and young children are particularly at risk of vitamins deficiency. It starts with the fact that vitamin deficiencies are present throughout life cycle, and an infant born to a mother with vitamin deficiency will have lower stores some nutrients at birth.

Although it is often difficult to isolate the effects of nutritional deficiencies from other socioeconomic complications, severe vitamin deficiencies have a direct influence on the developing brain.

Fat soluble vitamin deficiency is more common and can be detected biochemically before clinical symptoms, which are obvious only when severe deficiencies appear.

Hypo or hypervitaminosis A can lead to developmental and learning disabilities as well as problems with motor, balance, eye problems and mood and emotional disturbances.

The classical presentation of vitamin D deficiency in infants is rickets. Clinical and radiological rickets may take several months to develop depending on the growth rate.

Deficiency of vitamin E leads to hemolysis, peripheral neuropathy and occasionally visual loss. Vitamin E deficiency can occur in infants with severe forms of fat malabsorption.

Vitamin K deficiency may result in vitamin K deficiency bleeding. Bleeding usually occurs from the umbilical stump or after minor procedures, but serious events such as gastrointestinal and cerebral hemorrhage are also possible.
Fat soluble vitamin deficiency in infants

Vitamin A in general

Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin. It is found only in animals, although a number of plants contain carotene, from which vitamin A can be produced in the body once the plants contain carotene are eaten.

Vitamin A may be formed in the body from the yellow pigments (containing carotene) of many fruits and vegetables, especially carrots.

Vitamin A is required for vision. Epithelial cells (those cells present in the lining of body cavities and in the skin and glands) require vitamin A.

This vitamin also required for resistance to infection.

Where it is the limiting nutrient, vitamin A deficiency causes anemia, growth retardation and xerophthalmia; increases the incidence and/or severity of infectious episodes.

Reduced survival is the most severe and potentially the most widespread consequence of vitamin A deficiency, and the one that has generated the most interest.

Vitamin A deficient animals die much earlier and at a far higher rate than vitamin A sufficient controls.

Under experimental conditions of gradual progression deficiency, mortality begins to take its toll even before the appearance of xerophthalmia.

The situation in humans is far more complex. Vitamin A deficiency rarely occurs as an isolated disturbance; when it does, it is rarely recognized in the absence of severe xerophthalmia, a condition long associated with increased mortality.
Vitamin A in general 

What are food sources of water soluble vitamins?

Vitamin B and C are dissolved by water in the cells of human body. Food sources of vitamin C include primarily fruits and vegetables.

Citrus products are commonly cited as significant secures, supplying about 70 to 80 mg of vitamin C per-serving. A cup of orange juice at breakfast, a salad for lunch, a stalk of broccoli and a potato at dinner easily provide 300 mgs of vitamins C.

Other sources of vitamin C include blackcurrants, oranges, and green leafy vegetates.

blackcurrants

The B vitamins are water soluble so they cannot be stored in the body, and they need to be eaten daily. Foods which are good sources of B groups include whole meal cereals, yeasts, meat, beans and leafy vegetables.

When foods high in the B vitamins and vitamin C are cooked, some of the vitamins are lost in the cooking water and through the eating process.
What are food sources of water soluble vitamins?

Vitamin B of Riboflavin

Riboflavin – vitamin B2 is water soluble. It is one of the essential vitamins, is obtained by the human organism from the diet through small intestine absorption or alternatively, from indigenous bacteria which colonize large intestine.

This vitamin makes up a part of enzyme systems involved in the oxidation and reduction of different materials in the body.

Riboflavin is delivered in form of free vitamin or as its coenzyme, i.e. flavins mononucleotide and adenine dinucleotide, which occurs mainly as a prosthetic group of flavorproteins.

Riboflavin deficiency signs and symptoms had been observed in humans consuming nutritionally poor diet and under experimental conditions. It may result in vision impairment, sealing of the skin, and lesions on mucous tissue. Neuritis is another deficiency effect.

A primary deficiency of dietary riboflavin had wide implication for other vitamin, as flavin coenzymes are involves in the metabolism of folic acid, pyridoxine, vitamin K, niacin and vitamin D. The minimum intake of riboflavin for an adult is about 2.0mg per day.

The liver and kidney of pork, beef, and lamb are excellent sources of riboflavin, and the heart of these animals is a good source. Fair amounts of riboflavin are found in the muscular tissues of pork, beef, and lamb, while more is found in veal.
Vitamin B of Riboflavin

What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is not a vitamin in the strict definition because it can be produced by exposure of the skin to sunlight.

Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin from 7-dehydrocholesterol (provitamin D3 or pro D3) which is derived from cholesterol. 

While a majority of cholesterols are synthesized in the liver, some cholesterol such 7-dehydrocholesterol are made in the skin.

Vitamin D is created when adequate exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet light-B) is available to promote the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin from 7-dehydrocholesterol.

It is a fat soluble steroid hormone precursor that contributes to the maintenance of normal levels of calcium in the blood stream by increasing absorption of calcium from food and reducing urinary calcium loss (reabsorption by the kidneys).

Both effects keep calcium in the body and therefore spare the calcium that is stored in bones. When necessary, vitamin D transfers calcium from the bone into the bloodstream, which does not benefit bones. 

The bones grow denser and stronger as they absorb and deposit the calcium.

Although the overall effect of vitamin D on the bones is complicated, some vitamin D is necessary for healthy bones and teeth.

Other major physiological function is vitamin D is to maintain extracellular fluid concentrations of calcium and phosphorus within a normal range.

Nutritional vitamin D becomes essential when sunlight is insufficient to meet daily needs. This has become particularly acute as more people reside in urban centers where they are exposed to suboptimal level of sunlight.
What is vitamin D?

Vitaminlike substance of coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 is a vitamin substance found in all parts of the body the action of which resembles that of vitamin E. It is also called ubiquinone, is one form o a substance known coenzyme Q that is found in all plant and animal cells.

It may be an even more powerful antioxidant. Coenzyme Q10 protects human body against free radicals the destructive molecular fragment that cause accelerated aging and degenerative disease.

There are ten common substances designated coenzyme Qs, but coenzyme Q10 is the only one found in human tissue.

It is a fundamental ingredient in the energy production that keeps those trillion of cells running smoothly. Coenzyme Q10 is especially well-known for its ability to prevent cellular damage during and following a heart attack – myocardial ischemia and reperfusion.

It aids circulation, stimulates the immune system, increases tissue oxygenation, and has vital anti-aging effects.

Deficiencies of coenzymes Q10 have been linked to periodontal disease, diabetes and muscular dystrophy. Coenzyme Q10 can help reduce muscle damage from oxidation during strenuous exercise and reduce muscle soreness.

Supplemental has ability to counter histamine and therefore beneficial for people with allergies, asthma or respiratory disease.

Coenzyme Q10 is used by many health care professional. To treat anomalies of mental function, such as those associated with schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.

It is also benefiting in fighting obesity, candidiasis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

Coenzyme Q10 is widely distributed in foods, but only in small amounts. Soybeans, walnuts, and almonds, meats, certain fish, nuts, wheat germ, and some vegetables, are the best sources.
Vitaminlike substance of coenzyme Q10

Definition of Vitamin

Among the nutrients required for the many physiologic functions essential to life are the vitamins.

The vitamin are defined as relatively low molecular weight compounds which humans and for matter, any living organism that depends on organic matter as a source of nutrients.

While the vitamins do not serve structural functions nor does their catabolism provide significant energy, , they do furnish the aerials from which the endocrine glands produce their specific secretions, upon which all the psychological function of the body depend.

Traditionally they are classified according to their solubility water and fat. Solubility confers on vitamins many of their characteristics, it determines how they are absorbed into and transport around by the blood stream, whether they can be stored in the body, and how easily they are lost from the body.

Vitamins consist of a mixed group of chemical compounds and are not related to each other as are protein, carbohydrate and fats.

In general however, physiologically function tends to be limited to one active form to which the related forms are converted. It is essential, also usually in minute amounts, for normal physiological function (i.e. maintenance, growth, development, or production.)

Whether a substance must be supplied intact to the cell or can be synthesized by the cell depends on the assortment of enzymes peculiar to the cell species.

With few exception humans cannot synthesize most vitamins and therefore need to obtain them from food and supplements.

Certain vitamin occur in foods in a form known as precursors or provitamins, Once inside the body, these are transitioned chemically to one or more active vitamin forms.
Definition of Vitamin

Functions of vitamin in general

Vitamins are important food substance which are not only essential forth growth, vigor and continued health of the body, and the normal regulation of its glands and other functions, but also for protection of the body from disease.

Vitamins are required in trace amounts – micrograms to milligrams per day, in the diet for health, growth and reproduction.

The vitamins that are soluble in lipid solvents are absorbed and transported by conventional lipid transport processes.

For water soluble vitamins, their respective aqueous solubility coefficients, in part, dictate relative absorption.

They contribute to good health by regulating the metabolism and assisting the biochemical processes that release energy from digested food.

By and large, vitamins functions as coenzymes. Enzymes are essential chemicals that are foundation of human bodily. Enzymes are catalysts or activators in the chemical reactions that are continually taking within the body.

In additions to their role as coenzymes, some vitamins have other functions. For example, vitamin E acts as an antioxidants, and active vitamin D functions as a hormone.

Although vitamins are essential in the diet for normal health, they may have adverse physiological effects when consumed in excessive amounts.

Functions of vitamin in general

Antioxidants to prevent of cardiovascular disease

Most of the scientific studies concern the major antioxidants present in plasma: particularly, lipid-soluble alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), which exerts potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as beta-carotene and water soluble vitamin C.

Recent studies suggest that vitamin D may play a significant role in many aspects of heart and vascular health.

Study by Harvard School of Pubic Health published in New England Journal of Medicine May 20 1993, showed a reduced risk if heart disease for both men and women who took beta-carotene and vitamin E supplements.

Among the 3,000 women in the study who had no prior heart disease but three or more risk factors for it, those who received vitamin C alone or in combination had a 42 percent lower risk of stroke. Smokers taking C also had a 48 percent lower risk.

While the antioxidant role of vitamin E has been attributed to its capacity to protect cells and tissues from free radical effects, by acting as a lipid based, radical chain breaking molecule.

Many cross-sectional, case-control and cohort studies have found an association between antioxidant consumption especially vitamin E and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease; moreover, people who consume a diet rich in fruits and vegetables have lower risks of coronary vascular disease.

Antioxidants to prevent of cardiovascular disease

Vitamin in Food

Vitamins are minor components of foods that play an essential role in human nutrition.

They are food substances contained in all living organisms and as such are absolutely necessary for proper growth and maintenance of health.

Many vitamins are unstable under certain condition of processing and storage and their levels in processed foods, therefore may be considerably reduced.

Synthetic vitamins are used extensively to compensate for these losses and to restore levels in foods. The vitamins are usually divided into two main groups, the water soluble and the fat soluble vitamins.

The occurrence of the vitamins in the various food groups is related to their water or fat solubility.

All vitamins found in liver and eggs are fat soluble, and those that are in fruits and vegetables are water soluble.

Some vitamins function as part of a coenzyme, without which the enzyme would be ineffective as a biocatalyst.

As catalysts vitamins speed up the processes in all living cells, plant and animal.

Some vitamins occur in foods as provitamins - compound but can be changed by the body into vitamins.

Lack of vitamins has long been recognized to result in serious deficiency disease. It can occur not only as a consequence of insufficient supply of vitamins by food intake, but an be caused by disturbances in resorption, by stress and by disease.

Almost all foods contain some vitamins and all the food groups contain foods that are good sources of a variety of vitamins. The sources of vitamins in significant amounts by food groups have been listed below:

*Meats, poultry, fish and beans provide thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, biotin and vitamin B12.

*Milk contains both fat and water soluble vitamins. Milk and milk products provide vitamins A and D, riboflavin, pyridoxine and vitamin B12.

*Bread and cereals provide thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, folate, pantothenic acid and biotin.

*Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins A and K. ascorbic acid, riboflavin and folate.

*Fat and oil provide vitamins A and E.

There are 13 vitamins in all, you need every single one of them, no exceptions.

No one food is a good source of all vitamins and as such a variety of foods should be consumed.

Some foods are very high in selected vitamins whereas some contain precursors or substances at serve as building blocks for many the vitamin in the body.
Vitamin in Food