Vitamins continues............
Vitamin C is a water-soluble, antioxidant vitamin, also known as ascorbic acid. Vitamin C, helps in the absorption of iron, and maintain capillaries, bones, and teeth. Vitamin C is good for the immune defence system. It helps in the protection from bacteias and viruses. It helps in healing wounds. The defeciency of Vitamin C is Scurvy, is the main disease, that is caused by the deficiency of vitamin C, which is characterized by easily bruised skin, muscle fatigue, soft swollen gums, decreased wound healing and hemorrhaging, osteoporosis, and anemia. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, surgery, and burns can significantly increase the body's requirements for vitamin C and the risk of vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy in infants is rare because breast milk usually supplies enough vitamin C and infant formulas are fortified with the vitamin. The symptoms of the deficiency of vitamin C, may include irritability, depression, weight loss, fatigue, and general weakness. The gums become swollen, purple, and spongy.
Sources of vitamin c:
cabbage, and citrus juices or juices fortified with Vitamin C.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus. Calcium is a mineral in your body that makes up your bones and keeps them strong. Phosphorus is a mineral that helps maintain good teeth and bones and keep muscles and nerves working properly. Vitamin D aids in the absorption of calcium, helping to form and maintain strong bones. Without vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle and soft. Vitamin D prevents rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Rickets causes skeletal deformities. Osteomalacia causes muscular weakness and weak bones. The major sources of vitamin D are food and exposure to sunlight. The major food sources are milk, fish oils...
If a person is deficient in vitamin D, diseases such as rickets and osteomalacia may develop. A deficiency of vitamin D can occur when dietary intake of vitamin D is inadequate, when there is limited exposure to sunlight, when the kidney cannot convert vitamin D to its active form, or when someone cannot adequately absorb vitamin D from the gastrointestinal tract.
Vitamin E is also called Alpha-tocophherol, is the most active form of vitamin E in humans. It is a fat-soluble vitamin that exists in eight different forms. Each form has its own biological activity. It is also a powerful biological antioxidant. Antioxidants such as vitamin E act to protect your cells against the effects of free radicals, which are potentially damaging by-products of the body's metabolism. Free radicals can cause cell damage that may contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Deficiency of Vitamin E:
- There are three specific situations when a vitamin E deficiency is likely to occur. It is seen in persons who cannot absorb dietary fat, has been found in premature and very low birth weight infants.
- Vitamin E deficiency promotes increased lipid peroxidation, making cells more vulnerable to oxidative injury.
- Vitamin E deficiency is commonly occur in individuals with severe malnutrition, genetic defects affecting the alpha-tocopherol transfer protein, and fat malabsorption syndromes.
- Severe vitamin E deficiency results mainly in neurological symptoms, including impaired balance and coordination, injury to the sensory nerves, muscle weakness and damage to the retina of the eye .
- The most common sources of vitamin E includesd: Nuts, sunflower seeds , seabuckthorn berries, and wheat germ are also good sources.
- Other sources of vitamin E are whole grains, fish, peanut butter, and green leafy vegetables.
- Fortified breakfast cereals are also an important source of vitamin E in the United States. Although originally extracted from wheat germ oil, most natural vitamin E supplements are now derived from vegetable oils, usually soybean oil.
- Vitamin E is found in margarine and vegetable oil (soybean, corn, safflower, and cottonseed), wheat germ, green leafy vegetables.
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