4.5: Vitamins
- Page ID
- 201804
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Vitamins are organic compounds found in foods and are a necessary part of the biochemical reactions in the body. They are involved in a number of processes, including mineral and bone metabolism, and cell and tissue growth, and they act as cofactors for energy metabolism.
You get most of your vitamins through your diet, although some can be formed from the precursors absorbed during digestion. For example, the body synthesizes vitamin A from the β-carotene in orange vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes. Vitamins are either fat-soluble or water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, are absorbed through the intestinal tract with lipids. Vitamin D is also synthesized in the skin through exposure to sunlight. Because they are carried in lipids, fat-soluble vitamins can accumulate in the lipids stored in the body. If excess vitamins are retained in the lipid stores in the body, hypervitaminosis can result.
Water-solublevitamins, including the eight BvitaminsandvitaminC, are absorbed with water in the gastrointestinal tract. Thesevitaminsmove easily through bodily fluids, which are water based, so they are not stored in the body. Excess water-solublevitaminsare excreted in the urine. Therefore, hypervitaminosis of water-solublevitaminsrarely occurs, except with an excess ofvitaminsupplements.