When reading about nutrition and meal planning, you will notice that health professionals commonly separate vitamins into water-soluble and fat-soluble categories. Water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and the B complex vitamins. Your body does not store water-soluble vitamins, with the exception of vitamin B12. Your organs and tissues require a steady supply of water-soluble vitamins each day, obtained through the foods you eat or a vitamin supplement.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, proves essential to numerous functions of your body. Production of collagen, an elastic substance found in your blood vessels, ligaments, tendons and cartilage, depends on an adequate supply of vitamin C. Formation of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which enables your brain and nerve cells to communicate with one another, also requires vitamin C. Other functions of vitamin C include helping your body convert fat to energy, promoting immune system function and protecting your cells from damaging chemicals called free radicals.
The Institute of Medicine states that adult men and women require 90 mg. and 75 mg. of vitamin C daily, respectively. You can obtain your daily requirement of vitamin C from a variety of fruits and vegetables, including oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, kiwis, peaches, papayas, strawberries, tomatoes, red and green peppers, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, peas, broccoli and sweet potatoes.
Riboflavin
Riboflavin, or vitamin B2, helps your body generate energy from fats, carbohydrates and proteins. It also helps protect your cells from free radical damage caused by pollutants, radiation and exposure to tobacco smoke.
The recommended daily requirement for riboflavin is 1.3 mg and 1.1 mg daily for adult men and women, respectively. You can increase the riboflavin in your diet by including foods such as eggs, cheese, fish, pork, poultry, beef, mushrooms, spinach, soybeans, prunes, chestnuts and almonds, and vitamin-fortified cereals, bread, pasta and milk.
Vitamin B6
Your body contains hundreds of different proteins called enzymes, which trigger the chemical reactions that enable organ and tissue functions. Vitamin B6 acts as an essential cofactor with more than 100 different body enzymes, reports the Linus Pauling Institute of Oregon State University. The manufacture and release of glucose when your blood sugar begins to fall requires the presence of vitamin B6. Production of the brain neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid involves vitamin B6-dependent enzymes. Vitamin B6 also proves essential for the production of the oxygen-carrying molecule hemoglobin in your red blood cells.
The Institute of Medicine recommends that you consume 1.3 mg of vitamin B6 daily if you are an adult younger than age 50. After age 50, your intake should be 1.7 mg if you are a man and 1.5 mg if you are a woman. Foods you can add to your diet to increase your vitamin B6 intake include enriched rice, tuna, beef, poultry, fish, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, red peppers, soybeans, lentils, bananas, prunes, chestnuts, pistachios, and vitamin-fortified cereals, breads and grain products.
References
- Institute of Medicine of the National Academies: Dietary Reference Intakes: Vitamins
- National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements: Health Professional Fact Sheet, Vitamin C
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Nutrient Database: Vitamin C, Total Ascorbic Acid (mg) Content of Selected Foods per Common Measure
- Oregon State University Linus Pauling Institute: Vitamin C
- Oregon State University Linus Pauling Institute: Riboflavin
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Nutrient Database: Riboflavin (mg) Content of Selected Foods per Common Measure
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