Vitamins are an integral part of our lives. Vitamins are essential for good health. They are found in a variety of foods. A good way to meet your needs is to eat a well balanced diet with a variety of foods. Choosing a Vitamin to learn more about them. Why take them? What are their advantages? What dosages should you take? What vitamins should you avoid if? There are more than 50 vitamins, minerals and amino acids that can keep you healthy and fit.

The many different vitamins required by man proved similar because they are made of the same organic elements - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and sometimes nitrogen. (Vitamin B-12

also contains cobalt.) They proved different because their basic structures are arranged differently. At first, no one knew what vitamins were chemically, and they were identified by letters. Later, in some cases what was thought to be a vitamin proven to be much, and to differentiate numbers were added to the letters, the complex vitamin B is the best example.

When some of these organic compounds have been found unnecessary for human needs, they were removed from the list of essential vitamins, which explains some of the gaps in the letters and numbers. So now, hoping to minimize confusion, we have only 13 essential vitamins that are claimed.

Anyone who read a food label or the fine print on the back of a bottle of vitamin sees nutrient values compared to RDA (recommended daily allowance). These numbers are the recommended dietary values for 18 essential vitamins and minerals that have been established "to serve the goal of good nutrition."

Each of the 13 essential vitamins performs a specific function or functions in the body. If any is missing, a deficiency disease becomes evident. Vitamins do not provide energy, or they build or establish with any part of the body. They are specifically required for food processing in the maintenance of energy and body. Research indicates that getting enough vitamins is essential to life. In contrast, the body has no use for excessive vitamins. High doses of certain vitamins can be dangerous, even deadly. Add to that the complication that the body can only store some vitamins during relatively short periods only. Vitamins fat soluble A, D, E and K are absorbed with fat in various foods and are stored in the body. Water-soluble vitamins, B and C generally are not stored.

How do they work?

A lot of people think vitamins can replace food. They can not. In fact, vitamins can not be assimilated without ingesting food. Therefore we suggest taking them with meals. Vitamins help regulate metabolism, help convert fat and carbohydrates into energy and assist in forming bone and tissue.