What Vitamins are in What Foods ?
WHAT ARE VITAMINS?
Vitamins are an essential micronutrient which are needed in small quantities for the proper functioning of our metabolism that we usually obtain through our diet. However, problems occure when we don’t eat a particularly nutritious diet.
For the most part, vitamins are obtained from the diet, but some are acquired by other means: for example, microorganisms in the gut flora produce vitamin K and biotin; and one form of vitamin D is synthesized in skin cells when they are exposed to a certain wavelength of ultraviolet light present in sunlight. The term vitamin does not include the three other groups of essential nutrients: minerals, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids. Most vitamins are not single molecules, but groups of related molecules called vitamers.
Prior to the 1930’s, the only source of vitamins was from food that we ate.
If your diet was poor and you were lacking in vitamins, the result was vitamin deficiency and the diseases that this caused. The first vitamins to be commercially available were tablets of yeast-extract vitamin B complex and semi-synthetic vitamin C. This was followed in the 1950s by the mass production and marketing of other vitamin supplements, including multivitamins, to help prevent vitamin deficiencies in the general population. Governments then mandated ‘food fortification’, which was the addition of vitamins to staple foods such as flour or milk, to further prevent vitamin deficiencies. It’s now normal to recommend folic acid supplements during pregnancy to reduce the risk of infant birth defects.
The 13 vitamins are: vitamin A (as all-trans-retinol, all-trans-retinyl-esters, as well as all-trans-beta-carotene and other provitamin A carotenoids), vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B7 (biotin), vitamin B9 (folic acid or folate), vitamin B12 (cobalamins), vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin D (calciferols), vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols), and vitamin K (phylloquinone and menaquinones)
Vitamins are classified as either water-soluble or fat-soluble. In humans there are 13 vitamins, of which 4 are fat-soluble (A, D, E, and K) and 9 are classified as water-soluble (8 B vitamins and vitamin C).
Some vitamins can cause hypertoxicity when present in too high doses. The European Union and the governments of several countries have established Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs) for those vitamins which have documented toxicity. The likelihood of consuming too much of any vitamin from food is remote, but excessive intake (vitamin poisoning) from the use of dietary supplements does occur and it’s important to follow all guidelines on vitamins you take.
VITAMINS and their FOOD SOURCES
Vitamin A
From meats as Vitamin A / all-trans-Retinol: Fish in general, liver and dairy products.
From plants as provitamin A / all-trans-beta-carotene: orange, ripe yellow fruits, leafy vegetables, carrots, pumpkin, squash, spinach.
Vitamin B1
From pork, wholemeal grains, brown rice, vegetables, potatoes, liver, eggs.
Vitamin B2
From dairy products, bananas, green beans, asparagus.
Vitamin B3
From meat, fish, eggs, many vegetables, mushrooms, tree nuts.
Vitamin B5
From meat, broccoli, avocados
Vitamin B6
From meat, vegetables, tree nuts, bananas
Vitamin B7
From raw egg yolk, liver, peanuts, leafy green vegetables
Vitamin B9
From leafy vegetables, pasta, bread, cereal, liver
Vitamin B12
From meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk
Vitamin B12
From meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk
Vitamin C
From many fruits and vegetables, liver
Vitamin D
From eggs, liver, certain fish such as sardines, certain mushrooms such as shiitake
Vitamin E
From many fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and seed oils
Vitamin K
From leafy green vegetables such as spinach, egg yolks, liver
