The foods that you eat provide your body with the essential nutrients that it needs to function. When you eat food your body absorbs protein, carbohydrates, fat, minerals, water and vitamins. All of these nutrients are important for your body and there are certain vitamins that your body must get through diet for your body to function properly.
The Essential Vitamins
The essential vitamins are a group of vitamins that your body must have each day in order to function properly. They are made up of 13 vitamins including A, D, E, K, C and the eight B vitamins. You need vitamin C to neutralize harmful free radicals, and vitamin B helps early development of the spinal cord and nervous system.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, green and red peppers, tomatoes, broccoli and some green vegetables. The body needs vitamin C for healthy skin, bones and connective tissue because vitamin C helps make collagen that keeps your tissues strong. Vitamin C also contributes to skin, bone and connective tissue health through its antioxidant effects on cell damage. Vitamin C is also important in iron absorption and in wound healing, which are essential functions in the maintenance of your body.
B Vitamins
The B vitamins include thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and folate. Thiamine, vitamin B-12, biotin and pantothenic acid are used by your body in metabolism and energy production, without them your body is not able to efficiently create energy. Riboflavin, B-6, B-12 and folate are essential to red blood cell formation and you need red blood cells to carry oxygen to your cells. Niacin and biotin have cholesterol-lowering roles and other functions of the B vitamins include maintaining proper brain function and hormone production. All of the B vitamins are found in foods such as fish, poultry, leafy green vegetables, meat, eggs, beans, peas and dairy products.
Considerations
The Harvard School of Public Health recommends that you add a daily multivitamin to your diet to ensure that your receive the appropriate amounts of vitamins on days when you do not eat the proper foods. If you do not get enough B vitamins or vitamin C in your diet you may develop symptoms of decreased metabolism, slower wound healing and a lack of energy. A good target is about 200 to 300 mg of vitamin C a day. The daily intake of B vitamins is not set in stone and the Harvard School of Public Health expects it to change often as new research is conducted. In general, you should eat a serving of green veggies with each meal and a serving of fish, poultry or eggs each day to ensure that you get the B vitamins that you need. The recommended requirements are 1.0 to 1.2 mg/day of thiamine, 1.0 to 1.3 mg/day of riboflavin, 14 to 16 mg/day of niacin, 1.7 to 5 mg/day of pantothenic acid, 5 to 30 mcg/day of biotin, 1.3 to 1.7 mg/day of B-6, 0.9 to 2.4 mcg/day of B-12 and 400 mcg per day of folate. The ranges depend on your gender and your age, but if you eat a balanced diet you will receive ample amounts of the B vitamins each day.
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