Vitamins and Minerals!

[Grip of Death]

You fellas know that your carbohydrates, fats, and proteins make up your macronutrients. But there's another side to nutrition. The Micronutrients consist of your vitamins and minerals. While they don't contribute to any calories, these micronutrients are just as essential to nourishing your body. The micronutrients indirectly influence available energy by serving as catalysts to release the macronutrients.

...Aeren can fill us in on the rest of the details about vitamins and minerals! 4laugh She's our nutrition expert! whee

Anyway, this is the topic reserved for knowledge about vitamins and minerals! We can post what supplements we take, as well as post neat articles and internet sites that talk about vitamins and minerals, and how to utilize these micronutrients the best. I will make a seperate post myself about the supplement I am taking.  

[Grip of Death]

Aeren, with your knowledge about vitamins and minerals, could you help me out with helping me understand my supplement pill? Is this pill effective? What is your thoughts on it too?

This is the supplement I am taking:

Brand: "Spring Valley" (From Wal-Mart)

"Women's One Daily" it claims it is a "High potency multivitamin/multimineral supplmement (with calcium, iron, and zinc)." This brand is supposed to compare to "One-A-Day" Women's Formula.

Vitamin A (20% of it as Beta Carotene) ----- 2500 I.U.
Vitamin C -----60 mg
Vitamin D ----- 400 I.U.
Vitamin E ----- 30 I.U.
Thiamin (Vitamin B1) ----- 1.5 mg
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) ----- 1.7 mg
Niacin ----- 10 mg
Vitamin B6 ----- 2 mg
Folic Acid ----- 400 mcg
Vitamin B12 ----- 6 mcg
Pantothenic Acid ----- 5 mg
Calcium ----- 450 mg
Iron ----- 18 mg
Magnesium ----- 50 mg
Zinc ----- 15 mg


The ingredients:
Calcium Carbonate, Cellulose, Magnesium Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Acacia, Ferrous Fumarate, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Croscarmellouse Sodium, Zinc Oxide, Magnesium Stearate, Titanium Dioxide, Dextrin, Hypromellouse, Niacinamide, Geletin, Corn Starch, d-Calcisum Pantothenate, Calcium Silicate, Polyethylene Glycol, Silicon Dioxide, Dextrose, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Lecithin, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Acetate, Resin, Folic Acid, Beta Carotene, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Cholecalciferol, Cyanocobalamin.

(good god, typing up the ingredients is a killer! But forcing myself to read and type each one has helped me recognize a bit just what I'm putting in my mouth. Anyway, if anyone is a chemist, or just knows how to pick apart ingredients, please feel free to analyze these ingredients!)  

[Aeren]

Grippy~ i'd love to help you out, i'll get out my nutrition book and look up the micronutrients and let ya know all about them! this is a good idea. I need to do this for my own multivitamin..

I'll go through your multi-vitamin and list out the stats on each one, so you can read up on what you are putting into your body. i currently only have time to do a couple. and i have yet to find the correct conversion factor from IU to mcg so I'll do what i can! hope this helps ya!


also~ if anyone ever wants to, i have a program on my computer from my nutrition class that calculates all the macro/micronutrients you are getting in a week and calories and all of that for you, so if you write down a weeks worth of entries (including portions!) and send it to me, i'll put it into my program and send you the analysis stuff. its quite interesting.

Things to know:

The RDA's often have a year of the last time they were evaluated, so if you see a number before the RDA that is what it means.

mcg= microgram, mg= milligram, IU= international unit

RDA= Recommended Daily Allowance

My Sources:
Understanding Nutrition: Ellie Whitney/ Sharon Rady Rolfes; Thomson Wadworth 2005

Some sources recommended from this book:

www.eatright.org Search for "vitamins"

www.nap.edu Search for "DRI"

www.healthfinder.gov Search for "vitamins"  

[Aeren]

Vitamin A Stats:

RDA (recommended daily allowance)
Men 900 mcg day
Women: 700 mcg day (approx. 2300 IU)

Upper Level:
Adults: 3000 mcg/day

Chief Functions:
Vision, maintenace of the cornea, epithelial cells, mucuous membranes, skin, bone and teeth growth, reproduction, immunity

Significant Sources:
Retinol: fortified milk, cheese, cream butter, fortified margine, eggs, liver

Beta-carotene: spinach and other dark leafy greens; broccoli, deep oragne fruits (apricots, canteloupe), and vegetables (squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin

Deficiency Disease:
Hypovitaminosis A

Deficiency Symptoms: Night blindness, corneal drying, triangular gray spots on the eye, softening of the cornea

Toxicity Disease:
Hypervitaminosis A

Toxicity Disease:
Incread acitivy of osteoclasts causing reduced bone density, liver abnormalities, birth defects, flurred vision, masuea vomitting, vertigo, headaches

Aerens notes:

While accutane (acne med) is derived from vitamin A it is NOT the same chemically, so taking tons of vitamin A will NOT NOT NOT help. toxicity is possible so don't do it!

Vitamin A is fat soluble vitamin.  

[Aeren]

Vitamin C Stats

Other Names:
ascorbic acide

2000 RDA:Men: 90 mg/day
Women: 75 mg/day
Smokers: +35 mg/day (in addition to...)

Upper Level:
Adults: 2000 mg/day

Chief Functions in the body:

Collagen synthesis (strengthens blood vessel walls, forms scar tissue, provides matrix for bone growth), antioxidant, thyroxin synthesis, amino acid metabolism, strengthens resistance to infection, helps in absorption of iron

Significant Soruces:

Citrus fruits, cabbage-type vegetables, dark green vegetables (such as broccoli and bell ppepers), cantaloupe, strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, papayas, mangoes

easily destroyed by heat and oxygen

Deficiency Disease:
Scurvy

Deficiency Symptoms:
Anemia (small cell type), atherosclerotic plaques, pinpoint hemorrhages, bone fragility, joint pain, poor wound healing, frequent infections; bleeding gyms, loosened teeth, muscle degeneration and pain, hysteria, depression, rough skin, blotchy bruises.

Toxicity Symptoms:
Nausea, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, headache, fatigue, insomnia, hot flashes, rashes; interference with medical tests, aggravation of gout symptoms, urinary tract problems, kidney stones

Aeren's notes:

Cigarette smoke contains oxidants, which greedily deplete this potent anti-oxidant, therefore if you smoke (which you shouldn't!!!) you need more.

Vitamin C in disease prevention is still being studied, so it has no known effect on cancer and the like. Most diets typically contribute enough to provide health benefits.

COLDS: so you have heard that taking lots of vitamin C will cure your cold? Not exactly. A rveiw of the reasearch on vit. C in the treatment of colds reveals a modest benefit. Those who recieved the placebo but thought they had the vitamins had fewer colds than those who had actually recieved the vitamin c.

Okay so my point? It may provide some help but is not going to relieve your cold.

Stress: physical stress raises vitamin c needs  

[Fuzzykit]

I know little bits and bobs about foodie stuff. ^^

-Spinach and broccoli are a great source of iron. Tip for broccoli- don't cook it for over 15 mins, or you'll boil out all the good stuff. ^^

-Blueberries are good for the digestive system and heart because they have antioxidants.

-Carrots allegedly help you to see in the dark because they are a good source of Vitamin A (see Aeren's notes on Vitamin A deficiency). ^_^  

[Aeren]

i should have time to do a few more tonight, sorry it is taking me awhile, my school stuff is taking up more time than i anticipated.  

[Aeren]

Vitamin D Stats

Other Names:
calciferol, 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin D (calcitriol)

2000 RDA:
Adults: 5 mcg/day (19-50)
10 mcg/day (51-70)

Upper Level:
Adults: 50 mcg day

Chief Functions in the body:

Mineralization of bones (raises blood calcium and phosphorus by increasing absoprtion from digestive tract, withdrawing calcium from bones, stimulating retention by kidneys)

Significant Soruces:

Synthesized in the body with the help of sunlight; fortified milk, margarine, butter, cereals, and chocolate mixes; veal, beef, egg yolks liver, fatty fish and their oils.

Deficiency Disease:
rickets, osteomalacia

Deficiency Symptoms:
inadequate calcification, resulting in mishapen bowns, enlargement of ends of long bones, deformities of ribs; lax muscles resulting in protrusion of the abdomen; muscles spasms; loss of clacium, resulting in soft, flexible, brittle and deformed bones; progressive weakness; pain in pelvis, lower back, and leg

Toxicity Symptoms:
hypervitaminosis D:
elevated blood calcium; calcification of soft tissues (blood vessles, kidneys, heart, lungs, tissues around joins), frequent urination

Aeren's notes:

While you do get Vitamin D from the sun, those in more southern latitudes as well as more northern latitudes may not get enough and therefore need it supplimented or fortified in foods. You can not get toxicity of Vitamin D from being in the sun to long, the body just doesn't convert it all to the active vitamin.  

[Aeren]

More coming soon.