What are
Vitamins?
Vitamins are the nutrients our bodies need in order to maintain functions such as immunity and metabolism. There is very little in our bodies that can be done without a vitamin being needed and it is
important to know the types, fat soluble and water soluble, before learning about each one.
Fat soluble vitamin is the classification of vitamins that are stored in fat cells when excess is present.
They have toxicity levels associated with them as they are not gotten rid of by the body. They also
need fat in order to be absorbed.
Water soluble vitamins are not stored in the body. The body takes what it needs from food and then
excretes what is not needed as waste. They also are easily destroyed by cooking and care should be
taken when cooking vegetables.
Here is a table listing the vitamins by type:
Water Soluble
Vitamins
Fat Soluble
Vitamins
Thiamin
Riboflavin
Niacin
B6
A
D
K
E
B12
Biotin
Folic Acid
Pantothenic acid
Vitamin C
Understanding RDI’s and Units
When talking about how much of a certain vitamin or mineral you should get in a day you are talking about Reference Daily Intake, or RDI, that is based off of what 97-98% of the healthy population
needs in order to stay healthy. This should not be confused with Recommended Daily Allowance
which was replaced by RDI when the understanding of vitamins and minerals role in the body was
advanced through scientific research.
Sometimes you might see Upper Limit, or UL, when a vitamin’s requirements are mentioned. This
is the total amount of a vitamin or mineral that can be taken in a day before toxicity is reached and
adverse reactions take place.