300*250VITAMINS: WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY
DO IN OUR BODY
Vitamins are organic food substances -that is, substances
that occur naturally only in living things, plant and animal. They exist in
food s in minute quantities; they are absolutely important necessary for proper
maintenance of health. Plant manufacture their own vitamins. Animals obtain
theirs from plants or from other animals that eat plants. However some animals
manufacture in their own bodies some of the vitamins that they need. They
are not foods in the sense like the
carbohydrates, fats and proteins that we know. These are not needed in bulk to build our muscle or
tissue. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are broken down into other
substances which the body uses in the process of metabolism. This is not so with
vitamins. They retain their original form in the body and are built into body
structure, where they are important parts of the machinery of the cells. By
their presence in the cells they bring about certain changes and processes, for instance,
vitamin B does not cause increase in weight but the[H1] [H2] [H3]
vitamin B complex can cause
somebody that is thin as a
result of indigestion to increase in weight, it helps in digestive tract to utilize the food completely. Essentially these
vitamins can be basically source from vitamin supplements or food
supplements.
1. Food supplement
does not substitute for the food we need –it simply add vitamins to those
already being eaten in foods. There are two classes of vitamins namely the (i)the
water soluble vitamins(B and C), these
are not easily stored in the body system tissues ,so these must be supplied on
daily bases.(2)the fat soluble vitamins are usually well stored by healthy
persons, and these are lost readily once a severe deficiency has occurred. This
is especially true when severe liver damage has taken place.
Three basic nutritional therapeutic principles are:
a.It should be Complete
b.it should be Intensive
c.it should be persistent
No half way measures can be successful. Vitamins, proteins,
phosphates, fats, the trace minerals are forever related like links in a chain.
It is therefore useless to strengthen only one or several of these links when
one consider the way body uses them as a result of their in terrelationship.
When we say somebody is well fed depends on what his individual body needs are,
how well planned his diet is, where his food come from, what drugs he is taking
and what poisonous chemicals he is exposed to? All of these things must be
considered with to every individual. Fa man eats a diet carefully planned
tomeet his nutritional stresses or requirement then that individual can be
considered to be well. According to experts , it is noted that in the whole
world, there is probably only a handful of people who inherit an
average need for each
and everyone of the 40- odd known nutrients that are essential to
human life and health. It is obvious from overwhelming majority of humans and
animals as proof from experiments that have inherit a far from average need for
atleast one two nutrients and once this needs is not satis fied then the body
cells will fail to function properly which eventually lead to disease takeover or sickness.
