Your body needs 13 essential vitamins for healthy growth and development. In order to use these vitamins, your body does absorb them from foods and vitamin supplements. However, your body does not absorb all vitamins in the same way. Understanding how the body absorbs crucial vitamins is essential to ensuring that you're getting enough of them in your daily diet.
Vitamin Absorption
Whether you consume a food that contain vitamins or take a multivitamin pill, your body begins its work on the vitamins in the stomach. After their stay in your stomach, vitamins pass into the small intestine, where they are absorbed and ready for your body to use.
Fat-Soluble Vitamins
Solubility refers to the type of fluid in which a vitamin can be dissolved. For example, vitamins A, D, E and K are fat soluble vitamins. When your body absorbs these vitamins through the small intestine, it then stores them in your liver and other fatty tissues.
Water Soluble Vitamins
Certain vitamins are water soluble, meaning that they dissolve in the fluid of your body. Vitamin C is one such water soluble vitamin. The B vitamins -- thiamine, pantothenic acid, biotin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folate -- are also water soluble. Unlike fat soluble vitamins, water soluble vitamins are not stored in your body and are readily flushed out through urine.
Food Sources of Vitamins
Eating the right foods allows your body to absorb plenty of the 13 essential vitamins. Milk and eggs are sources of the fat soluble vitamins A and D, while dark green vegetables such as spinach and collard greens are excellent sources of vitamins E and K. Citrus fruits as well as vegetables including tomatoes and broccoli provide healthy amounts of water-soluble vitamin C for your body to absorb. The family of B vitamins are heavily concentrated in protein-rich food sources such as fish, beans, lean red meat, and dairy products, although you can also get them from leafy green vegetables. Consuming nutritious foods that contain both fat- and water-soluble vitamins ensures that you're getting adequate intakes of complex carbohydrates, fiber, and other essential aspects of a healthy diet.
Vitamin Supplements
Taking a multivitamin or specific vitamin supplement is another way to ensure that your body is absorbing all the vitamins it needs in sufficient amounts. However, megadosing on some vitamins can make you sick. Talk to your doctor if you are concerned about a possible vitamin deficiency before you begin taking high doses of vitamins in supplement form.
Member Comments