Vitamins and minerals are important players in the regulation of all body processes and for the sake of good health it is important that we obtain the right vitamins and minerals in the right amounts. This can be from both dietary and supplement sources, whether liquid vitamins, vitamin pills, or vitamin capsules, vitamins and minerals are essential to maintain life.
From dietary sources and supplements
It should be acknowledged that the preferred and primary source of vitamins and minerals are the natural foods in a balanced and nutritious daily diet. But it is unlikely that the average person is getting them in the ideal amounts required for optimum health and many are not eating a balanced diet either. In this case, the right daily multivitamin, taken in the right amounts, can be considered as nutrition insurance, with perhaps an extra boost by adding some other specific individual vitamins to combat personal health problems of the individual, if they exist.
Different people, sometimes different requirements
The individual vitamins and minerals required by for good health will vary, depending on age, gender, state of health, and types of medications, if any, that are being taken – and perhaps even the climate is a factor, whether hot or cold, winter or summer. An example related to climate and season is vitamin D, called the sunshine vitamin. In far northern and far southern latitudes of the world where there are fewer sunshine hours and clear sunny days during the winter months, it may be necessary to supplement with extra vitamin D, a vitamin needed to help the absorption of calcium into the bones. So as far as vitamin and mineral requirements go, one formula does not suit everyone.
Establishing the appropriate amounts, opinions differ
There are differences of opinion among medical professional, scientists, and government authorities. Many medical practitioners who treat patients and see the effect of some vitamins, together with other health professionals outside the government, believe that the “official” recommended daily allowances are too low in many cases.
The official government guidelines published for both the U.S. and Canada use a system of Dietary Reference Intakes, DRI’s, and if no DRI has been determined then an Adequate Intake (AI) amount is specified. The system of DRI’s and AI’s are based on the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the U.S. Academy of Sciences.
So, bearing in mind that there are differences of opinion, the table at the end of this piece provides the approximate vitamin and mineral RDI recommendations issued by the U.S. government.
But first, some general comments on vitamins and minerals
Vitamins are important to the human body in many ways and have an affect on how we feel and perform. Vitamins are involved in energy production, they work as catalysts with enzymes to speed up molecular interactions and it is known that each vitamin performs a different and important role in human health.
And yet there is much still to be learned about the specific activities and effects of many individual vitamins. In recent years, vitamins have been recognized as playing, or suspected of playing, a greater part in some areas of health and disease than was formerly the case.
An example of this is the realization of the greater role of vitamin D in human health, especially relating to the body’s immune system. Almost every week in recent times, medical journals and the popular media announce new research findings confirming that there are more ways that the vitamin is beneficial for human health – but ways that often require a much greater vitamin D intake than the currently recommended DRI’s that vary from 200 IU to 600 to 800 IU daily depending on age.
Question
Does this suggest that we should wonder whether the known roles of all the vitamins, and their accepted daily allowances, should be re-visited ?
In conclusion
There are 13 recognized vitamins, listed below in the table of DRI’s, and these cannot be manufactured in the human body in the amounts needed for optimum health and must, therefore, be obtained from the daily diet.
There are also more than 20 different minerals required by the human body for optimum health. The minerals work with vitamins as components of enzymes and perform other functions to maintain normal cell activities. Both vitamins and minerals are required in only minutely small amounts considering their major importance in the support of health and wellness.
The question is: “What really are the right amounts?”
NOTE:
The following Vitamin DRI’s are for use as an approximate guide only:
This is because of the difficulty in confirming the figures obtained after reasonably careful research on my part and also through finding some conflicting values, although relatively minor, when checking alternative authoritative sources.
For 18 years and older
Recommended DRI’s are for persons of 18 years and older. There are some variations in some cases for younger than 18 years, and in some cases for people of more advanced age, but generally theses values apply.
Vitamin A Retinol and/or Beta Carotene
18+ years Males: 1000 mcg / 5,000 IU
18+ years Females: 800 mcg / 4,000 IU
Pregnant or lactating: 800 mcg / 4,000 IU
Vitamin B1 Thiamine: 1.5 mg
Vitamin B2 Riboflavin: 1.0 to 1.5 mg
Vitamin B3 Niacin: 15 to 20 mg
Vitamin B5 Pantothenic Acid: 10 mg
Vitamin B6 Pyridoxine: 2 .0 to 2.5 mg
Vitamin B7 Biotin: 300 mcg
Vitamin B9 Folic Acid: 400 mcg
Vitamin B12 Cyanocobalamin: 6 mcg
Vitamin C: 75 to 90 mg
Vitamin D: 10 to 25 mcg / 400 to 1000 IU
For aged 50 and over: 20 to 50 mcg / 800 to 2000 IU
Pregnant or lactating: up to 100 mcg / 4000 IU
Vitamin E: 15+ mg (15 IU)
Vitamin K: 80 – 100 mcg
How can a person know what vitamin and mineral supplements to buy?
For comments on the difficulty in knowing which vitamin and mineral supplement products are appropriate and the difficulties in knowing whether they contain the right ingredients in the right mounts and are of acceptable quality, please visit: “So What are Vitamins Anyway?”
Vitamin D is known to be an important factor in immune system support, which is absolutely essential to the body’s ability to resist the colds and other respiratory system infections that are more likely during the winter months.
On the topic of Vitamin D I’ve learned it plays an essential role in the body which is required for the absorption and maintenance of calcium. Having the required amount of calcium in the body enables the maintenance of the appropriate structure within the bones, teeth and proper functioning of the nervous system. This is the major reason why we require the appropriate levels of vitamin D in our body. Vitamin D belongs to a group of fat-soluble vitamins. This means you need to transport the fats.