Vitamins and Minerals That You Should Take Daily

What Are Vitamins?

The vitamins play an essential role in our body's general well-being and are an essential substance needed to work and grow. With over 13 vitamins found in various food groups, most vitamins lie in citrus fruits, vegetables, poultry, and dairy.

These vitamins help us in boosting the immune system, strengthening the teeth and bones, maintaining healthy skin, aiding calcium absorption, helping the body metabolize proteins and carbs, supporting healthy blood flow, etc., 

What Are Minerals? 

Just like vitamins, minerals are also an essential element for the proper functioning and development of the body.

Even though there are 14 minerals such as iron, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, chloride, etc., the main food sources of minerals are nuts, dairy, fish, cereals, fruits, and vegetables.

Apart from making enzymes and hormones, these minerals help the body grow and stay healthy, produce energy, heal wounds quickly, properly utilize the vitamins and other nutrients, proper function of heart, muscles, bones, brain, etc.

Signs of Nutrient Deficiency

Unfortunately, with growing age and poor eating and sleeping habits, many people suffer nutrient deficiency and cannot understand the signs of nutrient deficiency their body has been showcasing. 

To help you better understand and comprehend the signs quickly and on time, here are a few basic symptoms of nutrient deficiency in your body:

1. Severe Hair Loss

Whenever individuals, especially females, suffer hair loss, it is often categorized under the changing weather and seasons. Even though changing seasons do impact the hair, it is most often a sign of nutrient deficiency. 

Losing a hundred strands of hair is normal. Still, when you start finding lumps and bunches of hair on your pillow or while brushing the hair, it is a major indication of low iron levels, causing you to feel cold at most times and suffer from headaches and dizziness.

2. Slow Healing of Wounds

Having swollen red gums, thinning of the skin, getting bruised and scratched easily with a slow healing process are symptoms of vitamin C deficiency in your body.

Vitamin C acts as a glue in our bodies that heals and joins the wounds back together. If the deficiency is not taken care of in time, it will lead to bones getting brittle, nail and hair deformations, and even poor immune system, amongst many other health issues.

3. Bone Pain

Does it hurt your knees and back when you bend over or sit down on a surface? Do you shrug it off, thinking it's old age or a common problem?

Unfortunately, bone pain is a common problem, but it needs to be catered to because bone pain is a symptom of poor vitamin D levels in the body. Leaving the deficiency on its own and ignoring signs instead of supplementing them will lead to bones losing their density, causing frequent bone fractures, osteoporosis, bone disorders, and even rickets.

4. Irregular Heartbeat

Irregular heartbeats are not only caused by anxiety, stress, or heart attack but are a sign of calcium deficiency as well.

Calcium is an important mineral that regulates the heartbeats in the human body. A calcium deficiency leads to muscle twitching and cramping, poor bone health, fractures, bone loss, and osteoporosis.

How to Overcome the Deficiencies?

The first step towards healing and overcoming the deficiencies of essential minerals and vitamins in your body is identifying and accepting the problems. 

Once you evaluate your symptoms thoroughly, you need to take a good, in-depth look at your everyday diet and start making amends by incorporating the essential dietary supplements.

To help you understand easily, we've broken down the vitamins and minerals in two different headings so you can go through each essential substance, the health risks associated with their deficiencies, and the food sources to consume more of each vitamin and mineral better.

Vitamins

With 13 vitamins essential for human beings, here is a breakdown of the five most important vitamins.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is an important substance for the well-being of your immune system. Having sufficient amounts of Vitamin A ensures that your immune system works efficiently to fight infections and diseases.

Moreover, vitamin A keeps your skin healthy, helps with vision, and supports the reproductive system and growth.

Vitamin A is found in all yellow and orange pigmented animal and plant-based food. When it comes to plants, it is easy to identify fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamin A like carrots, capsicums, mangos, pumpkin, apricot, etc., and leafy greens like spinach, peas, and broccoli.

Vitamin A in animal-sourced food is found in liver, eggs, and fortified milk and milk products, specifically mentioned.

Having insufficient amounts of Vitamin A in the human body causes an increased risk of infections, excessive keratin built upon the skin, and even irreversible night blindness in worst cases.

Vitamin B

Vitamin B is an entire group of over eight different vitamins working to ensure your body can use the energy-based nutrients to fuel your bodily functions and help the cells multiply by making new DNA.

The Vitamin B group includes B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and B12. Except for Vitamin B12 and B9, other B group vitamins are not stored in the liver and must be consumed in everyday diet.

These B group vitamins are found in whole foods, such as lean meat, fish, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Having poor consumption of these vitamins in an individual's diet causes serious health issues.

Even though the consequences are based on the certain B vitamin being deficient, generally, the illnesses range from fatigue, numbness, poor immunity, and even anemia. 

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is an element that is not produced by our body, nor does it store for long durations, making it compulsory to incorporate vitamin C enriched foods in our everyday diets. 

It helps the body fight infections, develop collagen to strengthen skin and bones, produce neurotransmitters and help with iron absorption.

Vitamin C is best consumed through a raw diet, as its heat sensitivity feature makes the vitamin evaporate and lose out the benefits. Vitamin C food sources include oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage, capsicum, Brussel sprout, lettuce, broccoli, etc. 

Having vitamin C deficiency, along with smoking, crash dieting, consuming unhealthy food, strict allergy diets, etc., elevates the risks of scurvy amongst individuals. 

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins for humans as it helps with muscle and bone health. The best source of getting this vitamin in your body is through the UV radiations of the skin absorbed by the skin.

Since the body can absorb only a small amount of vitamin D, it is important to supplement it 5 to 10% from the diet, for example, eating more fatty fish, eggs, margarine, and some kinds of milk with added vitamin D.

Low vitamin D levels in bodies cause the bones to lose their density, resulting in frequent falls and fractures, osteoporosis, and even rickets in small children.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps protect our bodies from the damages caused due to frequent exposure to radiation and cigarette smoke. It is an important vitamin for the vision, immune system, and skin.

It can be generously found in minimally processed, fresh food, such as meat, egg yolks, spinach, broccoli, extra virgin oil, sunflower oil, almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, etc. 

Even though having vitamin E deficiency is quite uncommon in individuals, it can lead to cystic fibroids. 

Minerals

Just like vitamins are important in humans' well-being and growth, minerals also play a significant role in the growth and bodily functions. 

Some of the important minerals that are necessary for a healthy life are listed below:

Calcium 

The human body stands on a structure of bones; therefore, it is extremely important to take care of these bones to live a healthy life. 

Calcium is an important mineral that helps strengthen the bones and teeth, regulate muscle and heart functions, fights blood clotting, helps transmit nervous system messages, and supports enzyme functions.

Calcium is best found in dairy products like milk, yogurt, cheese, and in some plant-based foods, such as soymilk and tofu. Moreover, calcium is also found in almonds, parsley, broccoli, etc.

Potassium

Potassium helps lower blood pressure and is important for the proper functioning of the nerves, muscles, and heart. 

According to science, the human body is built for a high potassium diet instead of a high sodium diet. It is found in unprocessed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, like spinach, bananas, apricots, and other sources like lean meat, fish, and eggs.

Magnesium 

Magnesium is another important mineral needed by the body to maintain bone health, support immune functions, assist lung function and regulate blood pressure.

It is best found in food sources like cashews, dark green vegetables, seafood, whole foods, chocolate, cocoa, etc.

Iron

Among the many important minerals, iron is yet another significant mineral involved in various bodily functions. It helps the immune system fight infections and transport oxygen in the blood, providing energy to cells.

Iron is found in a healthy amount in foods like; red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, etc.,

Supplementing the Essential Nutrients

Unfortunately, the poor diet and life patterns being followed in today's time have caused the deficiencies to surface our health and body. 

Regardless of what you eat and how much you eat, it has gotten extremely important to supplement our general well-being with multivitamins every day. 

Taking these vitamins helps uplift the mood, promote healthy weight loss, increase energy levels and support heart health. An ideal multivitamin will constitute 125mg ashwagandha, 250mg of mushrooms, 100mg turmeric extract, 250 mg strontium, 100mg ginger, and 100mg garlic extract, amongst other natural and helpful ingredients.

Conclusion

To conclude the article, we'd like to reemphasize the importance of having a healthy and physically fit lifestyle, so you never have to face deficiencies and the health risks associated with them.

Even though the food sources are the ideal and perfect way to cover up low levels of important minerals and vitamins, it is always better to supplement with multivitamins to help you fight off any unwanted sickness, etc.,