Vitamin Information Center

Many people consider it unnecessary to take supplements. They believe that we get all the nutrition we need from our food. Maybe that used to be so. Our ancestors didn’t need nutritional supplements. The food they consumed was mostly fresh and unprocessed so, therefore, rich in vitamins, minerals and micronutrients. Continue Reading…

There a number of different specific hair vitamins and minerals that can play a major role in helping a person have a healthy head of hair. If a person does not have sufficient hair vitamins then the deficiencies can lead to thinning hair or even total baldness in the most severe cases. Continue Reading…

Vitamin D is often called the “sunshine” vitamin. It’s been in the news lately because many researchers are concerned about the adequacy and protective factors of the current recommended intake.

First, what is Vitamin D? It’s one of the fat soluble vitamins (the others are A, E and K) found in food or made by the body after exposure to UV rays from the sun. It exists in several forms, each with a different level of activity. The most active form of vitamin D is Calciferol. The liver and kidneys help convert Vitamin D to its active hormone form. So this is how it works:
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Zinc is an essential nutrient that has an important role in the growth and development of many cells, tissues, and the immune system. Zinc is considered a cofactor for over 300 metalloenzymes and one of the symptoms of zinc deficiency is an increased frequency of bacterial and viral infections. The effects of zinc and immune function havebeen well studied. The cellular and molecular effects of zinc on immunity are beyond the scope of this review and the reader is referred to several recent reviews for additional information.
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Unless you are lucky enough to live in a location that enjoys year-round sunshine and mild temperatures, you are likely to experience a drop in your Vitamin D levels during the winter. Getting direct sun on your skin is one of the chief ways in which you get vitamin D. With the colder weather, we spend less time outdoors and when we are outdoors, we try to cover as much skin as possible.
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INDIANAPOLIS · February 18, 2008 / PRNewswire / – Evidence of the critical role vitamin D plays in the body’s overall health and ability to prevent major forms of cancer continues to evolve, according to recent studies.
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Are vitamin pills good for you or not? Forty years ago, I was taught in medical school that they were useless, because you got all the vitamins you needed in a typical diet. What my teachers meant was that you got enough of the vitamins in your diet to prevent well-recognized vitamin-deficiency diseases. For example, you got more than enough vitamin C in your diet to prevent the disease called scurvy. Continue Reading…

The so-called sunshine vitamin is poised to become the nutrient of the decade, if a host of recent findings are to be believed. Vitamin D, an essential nutrient found in a limited number of foods, has long been renowned for its role in creating strong bones, which is why it is added to milk.

Stuart Bradford

Now a growing legion of medical researchers have raised strong doubts about the adequacy of currently recommended levels of intake, from birth through the sunset years. The researchers maintain, based on a plethora of studies, that vitamin D levels considered adequate to prevent bone malformations like rickets in children are not optimal to counter a host of serious ailments that are now linked to low vitamin D levels.
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