Vitamin Information Center

I woke up with a sore throat and a bad attitude last week.

The sore throat was the first symptom, followed soon after by a runny nose and a lot of sneezing. And the raunchy mood resulted when I realized I was coming down with my second cold in less than a month.

I do not have time to be sick!

I went months without any kind of cold, and then to have two within weeks of each other, well, it was very discouraging.

So I immediately began doubling my daily intake of Emergen-C. Normally I take a packet in the morning and a packet at night. Sometimes, after a run of more than six miles or so, I take a packet before and after the run to deal with an occasional post-run headache.

By the second day, the cold was worse, but my resolve to beat it remained. I took six packets a day, in bottles of water, and by the fourth day, the cold had gotten much better. Six days after that first sore throat, I am almost symptom-free.

As I was driving home one night this week, I heard a radio commercial for a vitamin C supplement. What I found interesting is that it cited two studies that found higher doses of vitamin C can lengthen your life, help with PMS, and are a natural anti-inflammatory. Seriously, can this be true? And was it possible to overdose on vitamin C?
So I did some research. At first, I was more confused than ever as different studies and scientists offered different opinions.

But I did find some of what I was looking for. First, if you take more vitamin C than your body needs, you will just get rid of it.

“You really can’t overdose on water-soluble vitamins,” said Ken Hollen of Diet and Sport Nutrition, who has become my go-to guy on supplements. “What will happen is that you will get diarrhea.”

A person would need to take 10,000 to 13,000 mg to get to that point. I was taking six packets of Emergen-C, which has a lot of other vitamins and minerals in it, but that means I was taking 6,000 mg of vitamin C. (In fact, one article I found said it’s best to take vitamin C in conjunction with other vitamins or nutrients because of the synergistic effect that mimics whole food and reduces negative side effects.)

Another article made the point that megadosing any vitamin or mineral can throw your system out of balance, so you should consult a doctor or nutritionist to make sure you don’t create a different problem for yourself.

Hollen also pointed out, as did two of the articles I read, that taking vitamin C with calcium ascorbate can buffer your stomach and make sure you don’t increase the acidity of your system. Unfortunately, many supplements, including my beloved Emergen-C, use ascorbic acid, which can cause increased acidity.

As for all of those fabulous things that infomercial said vitamin C could do for you, there are studies that show significant impacts on health by increasing the intake of vitamin C. The one I was most interested in was the anti-inflammatory properties. Hollen explained to me that because vitamin C is found in the fluid around the joints and ligaments, it removes some of the inflammatory properties, but it’s not significant enough to be taken for that purpose alone.

Interestingly, nearly all of the articles and studies I read said increasing vitamin C even a little bit would most likely make most people feel better.

VITAMINS ARE organic compounds necessary for all metabolic reactions as well as protection for all systems of our body from foreign diseases. These are the essential chemical compounds, which must be present in our daily diet. Each vitamin is required in a very small amount for our body and each vitamin has specific functions and no vitamin is a substitute for other. Our body is unable to synthesise maximum vitamins therefore we need to take them with diet. Vitamins and their derivatives generally act as co-enzymes. Both the hypervitaminosis (except water soluble vitamins) and hypovitaminosis of vitamins in our body systems causes serious problems. All water soluble vitamins like vitamin-B complex and Vitamin-C are excreted out from the body if become excess.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND :
Scientist Casimir Funk in 1912, isolated some active chemical in rice polishing that could be used for the treatment of Beriberi. Since the chemicals are essential for life i.e. vitaland were found chemically amine. Later it was discovered that all such compounds are not chemically amines. In 1920, scientist Sir Jack Drummond coined the term ‘vitamin’ removing the letter ‘e’. As vitamins are made up of different functional groups so giving a specific chemical name was not correct. Since his experiments to isolate vitamin B1, a cure for dietary diseases such as Beriberi, it was found that human beings require 13 different vitamins, which have different functions and chemical structures. They were initially lettered from A to P as they were identified, but F, L, and P were later found not to be vitamins. Vitamin-H (biotin) and Vitamin-G (Niacin) and Vitamin-M (folic acid) are now included under the group of vitamin B-Complex.

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF VITAMINS
1. Vitamins are required in very low amount and they can act in very low concentration.
2. Vitamins are essential for our body to maintain metabolic activities and protection of body from different diseases.
3. Vitamins are present in general foods in low amount.
4. Vitamins are organic catalysts. Some of them are fat soluble and some are water soluble.

Pseusovitamins, Provitamins and Anti-vitamins :
Some organic chemicals are almost structurally equivalent with a vitamin, but not functionally. These are called pseudo-vitamins. For example, methaylcobalamin is a pseudovitamin of Vitamin B12. Many vitamins are synthesised from other chemicals called provitamins. For example, carotene is the provitamin of Vitamin-A. Some chemicals destroy a vitamin and called an anti-vitamin. For example, galactoflavin is the anti-vitamin of Riboflavin.

Discussion on different fat soluble vitamins :

VITAMIN-A or RETINOL
1). RETINOL is also called anti-xeropthalmic vitamin and it is of two types A1 and A2. The molecular formula of vitamin-A1 and vitamin-A2 are C20H29OH and C20H27OH respectively.

2). Food Sources :
a) Plant sources of Vitamin-A are carrot, tomato, spinach, pea pods, cabbage etc.
b) Animal sources of Vitamin-A are Liver extract oil of Cod, Shark, Halibut (very high amount) fishes, milk, egg yolk, fishes, butter etc.
3). Important functions of Vitamin-A are :
a) Helps in the formation of rod cells of retina of eye.
b) Helps in the formation of epithelial tissues.
c) Maintains the activities of nerve tissue and the normal action of bone cells.

4. Deficiency diseases/symtoms :
a) Night blindness or nyctalopia.
b) Drying of cornea or xeropthalmia.
c) Keratomalacia-ulceration and softening of cornea.
d) Degeneration of nerve tissue, renal stone etc.
e) Phrynoderma or toad skin.

VITAMIN-D or CALCIFEROL
1). CALCIFEROL prevents rickets so are also called anti-rachitic vitamin. The molecular formula of Calciferol is C28H43OH

2). Sunlight converts seven-dehydro-cholesterol(in skin) and ergosterol (in vegetable oils) into vitamin-D. These are called provitamins of vitamain-D3 and vitamin-D2 respectively.

3). Food Sources :
a) Plant source of vitamin-D is rare. But it is found in some vegetable oils.
b) Animal sources of vitamin-D are Liver extract oil of cod, shark, halibut (very high amount) fishes, milk, egg yolk, fishes, butter etc.

4). Main functions of Vitamin-D are :
a) Helps in the formation of teeth and bones.
b) Helps in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus.
c)Controls the activity of parathyroid gland.

5). Deficiency diseases/symtoms :
a) Rickets in young and osteomalacia in adults.
b) Prevention in growth of teeth and teeth decaying.

VITAMIN-E or TOKOPHEROL

1). TOKOPHEROL is of three categories, α, β, and γ. The molecular formula of this vitamin is C28H48O2. This vitamin is also called anti-sterility vitamin.

2). Food Sources :
a)Plant sources of vitamin-E are Lactuca, the germinating seed of Wheat, Pea pods, vegetative oils.
b) Animal sources of vitamin-E are rare, but found in egg yolk and milk.

3). Main functions of Vitamin-E are :
a) Controls the normal growth of muscles.
b) increases fertility power of adults.
c) prevents sterility (research works on rats)
d) Its functions are still not properly known in human body.

4). Deficiency diseases/symtoms :
a) sterility and metabolic disorder.
b) decreased lactation.
c) the normal growth of embryo in uterus is hampered.

VITAMIN-K or PHYLLOQUINONE:
1). Scientist Dam discovered this vitamin in 1933. It is of two types, K1 and K2. The molecular formula of this vitamin is C31H46O2. This vitamin is also called anti-hemorrhagic vitamin.

2). Food Sources :
a) Plant sources of vitamin-K are cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, gram, soya bean, leafy vegetables.
b) Animal sources of Vitamin-K are eggs, milk, liver extract oil of pig, fishes etc.

3). Main functions of Vitamin-K are :
a) This vitamin controls the normal amount of prothrombin in blood, so helps in the blood clotting after an injury.

4). Deficiency diseases/symtoms :
Prolonged bleeding after an injury.

Discussion on different water soluble Vitamins :

VITAMIN-C or ASCORBIC ACID
1). Ascorbic Acid is destroyed if heated. It is also called anti-scorbutic vitamin because it prevents Scurvy disease. The molecular formula of Ascorbic acid is C6H8O6.

2). Food Sources :

a) The plant sources of this vitamin are mainly comprises of sour fruits like Guava, Lemon, Orange, Amla, Mango. This vitamin is also found in Papaw, Tomato, germinating gram, green chilly.
b) In animal sources of food vitamin remains in very low amount. In milk (unboiled), egg, fishes this vitamin is present in very low amount. The breast milk of mothers contains this vitamin.

3). Main functions of Vitamin-C are :
a) Helps in the formation of Red blood corpuscles and Platelets.
b) Keeps the gums healthy.
c). Increases immunity power of the body.

4). Deficiency diseases/symtoms :
a) Scurvy occurs due, to which teeth become ugly and spongy, gum bleeding occurs.
b) Wounds do not heal easily and properly.
c) A tendency to be affected by cold easily.
d) sometimes Anaemia occurs.

VITAMIN-B-COMPLEX

1). This is a group of vitamins composed of several vitamins. These are listed below :
a). Vitamin B1 or Thiamine or aneurine.
b). Vitamin B2 or Riboflavin or Lactoflavin.
c). Lipoic acid or thio-acetic acid.
d). Vitamin B3 or Pantothenic acid
e). Vitamin G or Niacin or Nicotinic acid.
f). Vitamin B6 or Pyridoxin.
g). Vitamin-M or Folic acid.
h). Vitamin B12 or Cyanocobalamin.
i). Vitamin-H or Biotin.
j). PABA or Para amino benzoic acid.
k). Inositol.
l).Choline.
m). Vitamin B4 (Helps in the growth of Pigeon).
n). Vitamin B5 (Helps in the growth of Pigeon).

2). Food Sources:
a) General Plant sources of the vitamins of B-complex are pulses, rice processed by husking-pedal, nut, carrot, germinated seeds, yeast, gram, pea pods, soya beans, leafy vegetables etc.
b) General Animal sources of vitamins of B-complex are eggs, milk, meat, goat liver, fishes etc.

3) Main functions of Vitamin-B complex are :
a). Vitamin B1 : Co-enzyme in cellular respiration.
b). Vitamin B2 : Helps in cellular respiration
c). Lipoic acid : Normal growth
d). Vitamin B3 : Helps in growth and nutrition
e). Vitamin G : Mainly helps in normal growth, and skin care.
f). Vitamin B6 : Synthesis of Haemoglobin, metabolism of protein.
g). Vitamin-M : Formation of RBC.
h). Vitamin B12 : Formation of blood cells, synthesis of nucleic acids, regulation of nerve activity, and controlling of normal growth of body.
i). Vitamin-H : Normal growth.
j). PABA : Not properly known.
k). Inositol : Not properly known.
l). Choline : Not properly known.
m).
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Vitamin B4 : Helps in the growth of pigeon.
n). Vitamin B5 : Helps in the growth of pigeon.

4) Deficiency diseases/symtoms :
a). For Vitamin B1 : Beriberi
b). For Vitamin B2 : Stomatitis and ulcer on tongue.
c). For Vitamin B3 or Pantothenic acid : Dermatitis and nerve disorder.
d). For Vitamin G : Pellagra.
e). For Vitamin B6 : Anaemia, Nerve disorder.
f). For Vitamin-M : Anaemia.
g). For Vitamin B12 or Cyanocobalamin : Pernicious Anaemia.

Vitamin B12 In The Body

Vitamin B12 (also referred to as Cobalamin) is vitally important in maintaining several processes of your body. It is an important water soluble vitamin, and accumulates in your kidneys, liver, and other body tissues, unlike other water soluble vitamins which are excreted quickly in the urine. As is the case, a deficiency of vitamin B12 may not even become noticeable until after several years of a diet lacking adequate amounts. B12 works with folic acid in the synthesis of DNA and red blood cells, it is vastly important in maintaining the myelin sheath (the insulation sheath that covers nerve cells). It also helps to convert carbohydrates, fats and proteins from food into energy. In keeping your red blood cells healthy, you are also helping to prevent heart disease. It has also been shown to keep your immune system healthy as well.
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