There are two groups of vitamins:

1- Fat soluble vitamins E, D, K and A

2- Water soluble vitamins like group B vitamins and vitamin C

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that some people call it youth vitamin. Antioxidant is a molecule that neutralizes toxins and waste products in body cells. These waste products are called free radicals in medical terms. They are highly active molecules and can damage cells wall and over time makes body look older than it really is.

Fruits and green vegetables have lots of vitamin E. So eating them daily helps your body fight toxins and free radicals effectively. Vitamin E supplements are widely used by many people. It comes in different brands with different dosage. Until recently it was believed that eating non organic vitamin E has the same effect as organic vitamin E. Many researches were done. It was shown that Vitamin E supplements are not the same as the organic counter part and they might even hurt body. Now the recommended dose is reduced until further tests are done.

Sources of vitamin E:

Particularly high levels of vitamin E can be found in the following foods:

• Asparagus
• Avocado
• Egg
• Milk
• Nuts, such as almonds or hazelnuts
• Seeds
• Spinach and other green leafy vegetables
• Unheated vegetable oils
• Wheat germ
• Wholegrain foods

check this link to get more information about vitamin E.(http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/126268-overview). As i said Many aspects of vitamin E potentials are still under research.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is another fat soluble vitamin. Food’s Vitamin D is transfered to skin and then sun light converts it to the active form which is “vitamin D3″. Vitamin D important role is in bone making. It regulates body calcium and phosphorus in concert with two hormones calcitonin and parathormone. Calcium is a mineral used in bones and muscle contraction. Calcium level in blood is regulated very carefully otherwise heart rhythm might be disturbed.

I really want to mention the importance of vitamin D and calcium especially in young girls and in menopause women. Estrogen and progesterone are two main women hormones. They have a protective effect on heart and blood vessels as well as bones. After menopause ovaries don’t produce hormones anymore and the protective effect wears off. It is said, if a lady consumes dairy products and milk regularly and enough in young age she would only lose 1% of her bones per year after menopause. If she does not take enough milk and dairy products at that age she would lose 5% of her bone for first 5 years after menopause and 1% bone every year after.This shows the importance of having milk and milk products in our diet especially in young age.

There are many different calcium and vitamin D supplements in the market and they are recommended by physicians as they help maintaining the bone health especially in women. In June 2007, the Canadian Cancer Society said that based on current research adults should consider increasing their daily dosage of vitamin D. The society said Canadians should now consume 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily during the fall and winter months, in consultation with a health-care provider.”

No need to say that daily need is changed according to situation. Bone health aside, vitamin D has a protective effect against cancer and cardiovascular (means heart and blood vessels) problems. It is said that vitamin D is one of the immune system regulators and has a role in protecting us against infectious diseases.

Sources of vitamin D:

Natural sources of vitamin D include:

• Fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil, 1 Tbs. (15 ml) provides 1,360 IU (one IU equals 25 ng)
• Fatty fish species, such as:
  • Herring, 85 g (3 ounces (oz)) provides 1383 IU
  • Catfish, 85 g (3 oz) provides 425 IU
  • Salmon, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz]) provides 360 IU
  • Mackerel, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz]), 345 IU
  • Sardines, canned in oil, drained, 50 g (1.75 oz), 250 IU
  • Tuna, canned in oil, 85 g (3 oz), 200 IU
  • Eel, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz), 200 IU
• A whole egg, provides 20 IU
• Beef liver, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz), provides 15 IU
• UV-irradiated mushrooms (Vitamin D₂)

IU means unit and oz is ounce.

Vitamin K

Vitamin K role is mainly in blood coagulation. It is made partly in our intestine by bacteria residing there (microbes that live there and don’t hurt us). The rest comes from food. In vitamin K deficiency we would have bleeding and bruise problems. Vitamin K is stored mainly in liver.

Vitamin K₁ is found chiefly in leafy green vegetables such as spinach, Swiss chard, and Brassica (e.g. cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels); some fruits such as avocado and kiwifruit are also high in Vitamin K. By way of reference, two tablespoons of parsley contain 153% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin K. Some vegetable oils, notably soybean, contain vitamin K, but at levels that would require relatively large caloric consumption to meet the recommended levels.

Vitamin K in green plants has poor absorption in body. For example, cooked spinach has 4% absorption. However when one adds butter to the spinach, the absorption increases to 13% due to the increased solubility of vitamin K in fat.

Vitamin K is found in meat, eggs, dairy, and natto (is a traditional Japanese food made from soybeans fermented with a bacterium. It is popular especially as a breakfast food. As a rich source of protein, natto and the soybean paste miso formed a vital source of nutrition in Japan

Vitamin A

Vitamin A has an important role in body. It keeps our skin healthy and helps our eyes to see sharp especially at night. Here is vitamin A participates in :

• Vision
• Gene transcription
• Immune function
• Embryonic development and reproduction (
• Bone metabolism
• Haematopoiesis (making blood)
• Skin health
• Antioxidant Activity

Vitamin A sources are:

• liver (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish)
• carrot
• Broccoli leaf According to medical information’s broccoli florets have much less.^[11]
• Sweet potato
• Kale
• Butter
• Spinach
• Pumpkin
• Collard greens
• Cantaloupe melon
• Egg
• Apricot
• Papaya
• Mango
• Pea
• Broccoli

Liver has the most and broccoli has the least amount of vitamin A. I have to mention that these EDKA vitamins are fat soluble. It means their absorption depend on the fat you eat with them. They need bile secreted from liver and released by gall bladder too.

So when you are on diet and you use pills that bind to fat you are already limiting the E, D, K and A vitamins reaching your body. It is a problem doctors have when trying to lower blood cholesterol and fat bile acid sequesterants. These drugs attach to bile and neutralize it. Fat can’t be absorbed effectively and fat soluble vitamins with as well. The other issue is toxicity potential of these four vitamins. Consuming more than recommended dose will causes severe adverse effects. Disposing fat soluble vitamins is much harder than water soluble ones. We have plenty of water that come and goes every day, so disposing excess vitamin C and B is much easier and the risk of toxicity is minimal.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is probably the most famous vitamin. It is a very powerful antioxidant and participates in many body functions. It helps our skin build collagen (smokers destroy their vitamin C, so their skin losses its beauty over time) and It also helps our immune system to fight infectious diseases. it participates in making some of the important hormones our body needs.

In old times sailors got a disease named scurvy. A disease that is caused by vitamin C deficiency and is manifested by formation of red spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from all mucous membranes including mouth. sailors learned that eating lemon can protect them from scurvy in their long voyages.

Sources of vitamin C are:

Name	Amount mg/100gram	Name	Amount mg/100gram	Name	Amount mg/100gram
Kakadu plum	3100	Orange	50	Apricot	10
Camu	2800	Lemon	40	Plum	10
Rose hip	2000	Melon, cantaloupe	40	Watermelon	10
Acerola	1600	Cauliflower	40	Banana	9
Seabuckthorn	695	Garlic	31	Carrot	9
Jujube	500	Grapefruit	30	Avocado	8
Indian gooseberry	445	Raspberry	30	Crabapple	8
Baobab	400	Tangerine	30	Persimmon – fresh	7
Blackcurrant	200	Mandarin orange	30	Cherry	7
Red pepper	190	Passion fruit	30	Peach	7
Parsley	130	Spinach	30	Apple	6
Guava	100	Cabbage raw green	30	Asparagus	6
Kiwifruit	90	Lime	30	Beetroot	5
Broccoli	90	Mango	28	Chokecherry	5
Loganberry Redcurrant	80	Blackberry	21	Pear	4
Brussels sprouts	80	Potato	20	Lettuce	4
Wolfberry (Goji)	73	Melon, honeydew	20	Cucumber	3
Lychee	70	Cranberry	13	Eggplant	2
Cloudberry	60	Tomato	10	Raisin	2
Elderberry	60	Blueberry	10	Fig	2
Persimmon	60	Pineapple	10	Bilberry	1
Papaya	60	Pawpaw	10	Horned melon	0.5
Strawberry	60	Grape	10	Medlar	0.3

I hope this table helps you choose wisely when it comes to vitamin C. Greens must be fresh. Heat destroys vitamin C, so steaming or frying or any kind of heat will kill vitamin C. stomach acid destroys vitamin C too, so if you want to have maximum absorption of vitamin C don’t eat it with meals. Try to take it with empty stomach that has less acid. Animal sources of vitamin C are mostly in the liver. They range from 36 mg/100gr to 2 mg/100cc in cow milk.

Vitamin B group

We have a long list of vitamin Bs. Most important ones are vitamin B1-3 , B5-7 , then vitamin B9 and finally B12. Here a brief list of what this vitamin group does:

• Support and increase the rate of metabolism
• Maintain healthy skin and muscle tone
• Enhance immune and nervous system function
• Promote cell growth and division—including that of the red blood cells that help prevent anemia.
• Reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal forms of cancer, when consumed in food, but not when ingested in vitamin tablet form.

As I said all B vitamins are water soluble, and are dispersed throughout the body with water. Most of the B vitamins must be replenished regularly, since any excess is excreted in the urine.

The deficiency of vitamin B group causes a wide range of medical problems. Here is the table explaining this. Remember that vitamin B group has their individual names as well:

Vitamin	Name	Deficiency effects
B1	Thiamine	Deficiency causes beriberi. Symptoms of this disease of the nervous system include weight loss, emotional disturbances, Wernicke’s encephalopathy (impaired sensory perception), weakness and pain in the limbs, periods of irregular heartbeat, and edema (swelling of bodily tissues). Heart failure and death may occur in advanced cases. Chronic thiamine deficiency can also cause Korsakoff’s syndrome, an irreversible psychosis characterized by amnesia and confabulation.
B2	Riboflavin	Deficiency causes ariboflavinosis. Symptoms may include cheilosis (cracks in the lips), high sensitivity to sunlight, angular cheilitis, glossitis (inflammation of the tongue), seborrheic dermatitis or pseudo-syphilis (particularly affecting the scrotum or labia majora and the mouth), pharyngitis, hyperemia, and edema of the pharyngeal and oral mucosa.
B3	Niacin	Deficiency, along with a deficiency of tryptophan causes pellagra. Symptoms include aggression, dermatitis, insomnia, weakness, mental confusion, and diarrhea. In advanced cases, pellagra may lead to dementia and death.
B5	Pantothenic acid	Deficiency can result in acne and paresthesia, although it is uncommon.
B6	Pyridoxine	Deficiency may lead to anemia, depression, dermatitis, high blood pressure (hypertension), water retention, and elevated levels of homocysteine.
B7	Biotin	Deficiency does not typically cause symptoms in adults but may lead to impaired growth and neurological disorders in infants.
B9	Folic acid	Deficiency results in a macrocytic anemia, and elevated levels of homocysteine. Deficiency in pregnant women can lead to birth defects. Supplementation is often recommended during pregnancy. Researchers have shown that folic acid might also slow the insidious effects of age on the brain.
B12	Cobalamin	Deficiency results in a macrocytic anemia, elevated homocysteine, peripheral neuropathy, memory loss and other cognitive deficits. It is most likely to occur among elderly people as absorption through the gut declines with age; the autoimmune disease pernicious anemia is another common cause. It can also cause symptoms of mania and psychosis. In rare extreme cases, paralysis can result.

Again,Like vitamin C this group of vitamins are water soluble and because of that risk of toxicity is really low even in overdose. B vitamins are found in all whole, unprocessed foods. Processing, as with sugar and white flour, tends to significantly reduce B vitamin content. B vitamins are particularly concentrated in meat and meat products such as liver, turkey, and tuna. Other good sources for B vitamins are potatoes, bananas, lentils, chile peppers, tempeh, beans, nutritional yeast, brewer’s yeast, and molasses. Marmite and Vegemite bill themselves as “one of the world’s richest known sources of vitamin B. As might be expected, due to its high content of brewer’s yeast, beer is a source of B vitamins, although this may be less true for filtered beers and the alcohol in beer may impair the body’s ability to absorb certain vitamins.

The B-12 vitamin is of note because it is not available from plant products, making B-12 deficiency a concern for vegans. Manufacturers of plant-based foods will sometimes report B-12 content, leading to confusion about what sources yield B-12. The confusion arises because the standard US Pharmacopeia (USP) method for measuring the B-12 content does not measure the B-12 directly. Instead, it measures a bacterial response to the food. Chemical variants of the B-12 vitamin found in plant sources are active for bacteria, but cannot be used by the human body. This same phenomenon can cause significant over-reporting of B-12 content in other types of foods as well.

Vitamin B may also be delivered by injection to reverse deficiencies.

Another popular means of increasing one’s vitamin B intake is through the use of dietary supplements purchased at supermarkets, health centers, or natural food stores. B vitamins are also commonly added to energy drinks. Many energy drinks have been marketed with large amounts of B vitamins (5-Hour Energy contains an astounding 8,333% of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin B-12 and 2,000% of the RDA for vitamin B-6. Red Bull offers 360% of the RDA for vitamin B-6, 120% of B12, 140% of niacin (vitamin B3) with claims that this will cause the consumer to “sail through your day without feeling jittery or tense.” Nutritionists dismiss these claims as of course it’s brilliant marketing, but it doesn’t have any basis.

So the best choice for you is to stick to fresh and unprocessed food as well as green vegetable and drink less of energy drinks. B group vitamins store in liver. Most of them have high storage amount so dietary deficiency is really unlikely. Acid folic is different. Reserves last only for three months, so dietary deficiency can occur if unchecked. Acid folic is very important in pregnant women as it helps the embryo to develop with lower risk of congenital anomalies.

List of group B vitamin is larger than what I showed you here. Many of them does not known to have nutritional value and the others are not essential in humans. Examples are vitamin Bt that is L-Carnitine and B4 which is adenine. adenine is used in gene production in human body.

Minerals

This group is mostly a facilitator in body functions. Some like iron, calcium and copper used as structural components with special duties. Others like potassium, sodium and chlorate help maintaining water balance in body. Zinc helps immune system and molybdenum has a role in sugar regulation. I just give you a brief explanation about important ones.

Iron probably is the most important one from clinical view. Iron deficiency anemia (low blood capacity to carry oxygen) is very common in menstruating women. Vitamin B12 deficiency causes another kind of anemia if you remember from previous section. But iron deficiency is much more common. Anemia makes every function in body sluggish. Shortness of breath, getting tired after a little activity, heart racing, bad sleep and weakness in a woman with no other medical problem must raise the suspicion of iron deficiency anemia. It might go unnoticed for a long time and becomes really disturbing, before doctors can make a diagnosis. Iron is found in greens and animal sources. It needs a chemical from stomach to be absorbed completely. Vitamin C increases the absorption rate dramatically and drinking tea after meal compromises the process (so try not to drink tea right after meal if you have iron deficiency). Animal source iron absorbed better than plant source iron. best source of iron is red meat. In iron deficiency anemia and after diagnosis iron pills are recommended, because eating red meat as treatment is not enough. in iron pills look at the elemental iron and not the total iron. The elemental iron is the active part, so when buying iron supplements pay attention to label and check the elemental part. Most iron supplements has a low dose of elemental iron and are useless in iron deficiency anemia.

When iron enters the blood it goes to liver and then enters bone marrow. It is stored in bone marrow and is used for making blood elements.

Calcium is the other mineral that we talked about before. It is used in bone structure and also has a very important role in muscle contraction. Potassium and sodium are very important in water balance along with chlorate. Potassium has a role in muscle contraction especially in heart. Along with calcium it helps the heartbeat to have a regular rhythm. Copper stored mostly in liver (see how important the liver is!), muscle and bone. Copper is mostly used in various types of enzymes. Most important one is cytochrome c oxidase and the enzyme superoxide dismutase (containing copper and zinc). enzymes are like mechanical tools. Help body works smoothly. It is also used in cell function and helps the cell to use oxygen to “breath” normally. Arsenic and cyanide stop these enzymes and interrupt cell breathing, so are lethal to human body.

I want you to know that in the contrary to this assumption in the 5 groups of food ingredients only the first three are responsible for weight gain . Water and vitamins, as well as minerals do not cause weight gain. They are merely there to facilitate body functions. Without them we can’t live.

I hope the brief information here helps you have a better understanding of vitamins and minerals along with proteins, carbs and fat.

If you had any questions please leave it in comments and question section. you will have your answer shortly!