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Vitamin Guide
The Vitamins Guide has covered a variety of essential vitamins our bodies need and to conclude the series we’ll be ending with zinc, which is actually a mineral, but worth covering for its importance in body function as well.
Zinc is essential for growth and development throughout all of our life stages. It supports our immune system and is involved in the healing of our wounds along with helping to form proteins. If you don’t get enough zinc in your diet you could see the deficiency through hair loss, diminished appetite, slowed growth rate, diarrhea, and delayed wound healing.
Zinc deficiencies can occur from low dietary intake of foods high in zinc, from growth spurts specifically during puberty when the body needs more, or if it is poorly absorbed in the system. The recommended daily allowance is as follows:
• Female adults aged 19+ should have roughly 8 milligrams a day
• Male adults aged 19+ should have roughly 11 milligrams a day
• Females and Males aged 14-18 (typical growth spurt phase) should have between 9-11 milligrams
Getting zinc in your diet is relatively easy and is typically done through a daily multi-vitamin, but can also be done through eating foods rich in the mineral. The following foods are the best sources:
• Whole grains (as refined grains remove the elements of the grain that contains the zinc mineral)
• Beef
• Poultry (chicken/turkey)
• Shellfish
• Pumpkin seeds (good option for vegetarians)
This concludes the vitamin guide series. I hope you have found it helpful and are incorporating the foods suggested to help ensure you get the vitamins your bodies need to function at their most optimal level. You can reference all of the vitamin guides here:
Vitamin A
Vitamin A not only helps with vision but it is an antioxidant, which means that this substance can prevent damage to our bodies’ cells and also help with repairing damage. Additionally, vitamin A helps with maintaining our skin tissue and it is necessary for our cell growth. It also helps fight off infection, which in addition to the benefits listed above, makes vitamin A essential for our bodies.
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. Fat-soluble means that it does not dissolve in water and therefore our bodies don’t tend to get rid of it through urine as we do with the water-soluble vitamins such as the B vitamins. This is important to note as too much vitamin A in the system can be toxic. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for men is 1000 micrograms and for women it is 800 micrograms per day. You should consult your doctor to ensure you are getting the amounts that are right for you.
The best sources for getting vitamin A in your diet are through vegetables and fruits that are deep orange and dark green in color such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, spinach, bok choy and mustard greens. When Vitamin A is obtained through these kinds of plant sources, it is referred to as beta-carotene, which then gets converted into vitamin A in the liver. Other good sources of this vitamin are milk, milk products and eggs.
Vitamin B12
B12 an essential vitamin needed for healthy nerve and blood cells as well as the production of DNA. A lack of B12 in the diet can cause anemia, which prevents the body from making normal red blood cells that carry oxygen in the blood. Anemia can leave you feeling tired and weak, if you have been feeling this way you should visit your doctor and have your B12 sections checked.
Vitamin B12 is a water–soluble vitamin, so you don’t have to worry about having too much in your system or risk of toxicity. Any amount of the vitamin your body does not need will be rid of through urine, unlike vitamin A as reviewed last week. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for the average adult is 2.4 micrograms per day. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should increase their daily allowance to 2.6-2.8 micrograms.
Animal foods are the primary source for getting B12 in your diet outside of utilizing supplementation. Meat, poultry, dairy foods and eggs are the main sources. If you are a vegetarian you could be lacking B12 as few foods such as cereals, meat substitutes and soy products have the vitamin fortified in it. Make sure to read the nutrition labels on the foods you purchase and otherwise speak to your doctor about a supplementation.
• 8oz. of yogurt contains 1.3mcg
• 3oz. of extra lean cooked beef contains 1.8mcg
• 1 serving of fortified cereal contains 1.5mcg
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is essential for our bodies as it helps with the formation of our bones, muscle, teeth and skin. It is also important to note that unlike most animals, we as humans do not have the ability to make our own vitamin C, and therefore must get it through our diet. Vitamin C helps with resistance to infection and with healing wounds, and in most recent research it has shown that vitamin C is useful in lowering cholesterol and fat levels in blood.
Fruits and vegetables are the best sources for vitamin C; although I myself take a supplement as it ensures I get the right amount my body needs daily. Being that vitamin C may also protect against certain types of cancer and heart disease you should be sure to eat the following foods to get your daily dose:
• Peppers
• Oranges/Orange Juice
• Grapefruit
• Broccoli
• Kale
Examples of how to reach the daily dietary allowances, although you should check with your doctor to make sure you know your correct allowance, are as follows:
• Medium green or yellow peppers – 225mg/serving
• Medium orange – 80mg/serving
• Medium baked potato – 20mg/serving
Vitamin D
Want to keep your teeth and bones strong? Then you want to pay extra attention to vitamin D and ensure to have it in your daily diet. Vitamin D has also been shown to lower our risk for cancer, upwards of 150,000 cases according to Cedric Garland, a doctor of public health. One of the best ways to get vitamin D is directly from sunlight; this is due to how our bodies produce the vitamin from the exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
With the increase in concern for skin cancers and wanting to protect our skin from sun damage and burning, the amount of sunscreen we utilize has caused our vitamin D levels to plummet. Deficiencies in vitamin D are most commonly muscular weakness and weak bones. The disease that we are mostly familiar with associated with vitamin D is osteoporosis, where an individual will have very fragile bones, which can result in bone fractures.
The recommended daily intake by the National Osteoporosis Foundation is 400-800 IU for adults younger than 50 and 800-1000 IU for adults older than age 50. You should talk to you doctor to understand what levels are best suited for you and can be tested to monitor those levels as well.
In addition to the sun being a great way to increase your vitamin D levels, food is also an ideal source. Examples are:
• Cooked salmon 3.5oz – 360 IU
• 1 whole egg – 25 IU
• Cooked mackerel 3.5oz – 345 IU
• Canned sardines 3.5oz – 270 IU
• Soy milk – 120 IU
You can also look for products such as juices and cereals that are fortified with vitamin D. While they won’t contain as much of the vitamin as whole foods, they will certainly help add to the levels needed by your body.
Vitamin E
vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that is an antioxidant and protects our body from free radicals. These free radicals can damage our cells and also cause cardiovascular disease, which is why it can be said that vitamin E is essential to maintaining a healthy heart and protecting against heart disease. As an additional benefit vitamin E is also effective in helping with the immune system.
Vitamin E is typically measured in milligrams and the recommended daily intakes are as follows:
• Men 19+ years of age = 15mg/daily
• Women 19+ years of age=15mg/daily
• Women who are breastfeeding= 19mg/daily
Check with your health care provider to determine how much vitamin E you need, especially if you are a woman who is expecting. According to a study recently done by the USDA, the intake of vitamin E by women aged 19-50 years was less than 90%, a number that can be improved upon with the following foods:
• 1oz Almonds – 8mg
• 1oz Sunflower oil – 14mg
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil – 3mg
• 2 tbsp Peanut Butter – 3mg
• ½ Frozen Broccoli – 2mg
• 1 raw Mango – 1mg
In addition to the foods listed above, green leafy vegetables are also a good source, such as spinach. Please note that some foods lose a good amount of their vitamin E content when cooked, processed or even through storage. To help retain the vitamin amount use whole-grain flours and ensure foods are stored in airtight containers.