Basics About Vitamins
Vitamins are the group of organic compounds that can not be synthesized by our body but are essential for our body and must be supplied in the diet (exceptions are vitamin D is synthesized in our skin when exposed to sunlight and small and insufficient quantity of vitamin K is synthesized in the intestine by intestinal flora). Vitamins can not be synthesized but are essential nutrients for us. Vitamins are required by us in very small quantity and fall in the category of micronutrients.
Vitamins do not give us any calorie or energy but helps the body for utilizing other nutrients. Since our body is unable to synthesize vitamins (even if synthesized they are not sufficient), they must be supplied in our diet. A well balanced diet can provide us all the vitamins and other nutrients both major (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) and minor (vitamins, minerals and trace elements or trace minerals).
Vitamins are broadly divided into two groups:
Fat soluble vitamins:This include vitamin A, D, E and K
Water soluble vitamins:This include B complex group of vitamins and vitamin C. Vitamin B complex group include vitamin B1 or thiamin (thiamin is the first B complex vitamin to be discovered and named as B1), B2 or riboflavin, B3 or niacin, B6 or pyridoxine, B5 or pantothenic acid, folic acid and vitamin B12, the group also includes choline and flavoniods.
Each of the vitamins has one or more specific functions to perform and deficiency of any of the vitamins can lead to specific deficiency disease (except vitamin E, any deficiency disease is yet to be identified if it is there, but it helps in making the skin glow), e.g. deficiency of vitamin C leads to scurvy (very well known).
The minimum intake of vitamins per day has been determined but the daily optimum intake is still not clear and is still speculative. So the recommended daily allowance of vitamins is in speculative stage.
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