Vitamins, minerals and supplements
Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrientsyour body needs in small amounts to work properly.
Most people shouldget all the nutrients they need by eating a varied and balanced diet .
Thepages in this sectioncontain advice and information on vitamins, minerals and trace elements essential for health, including:
For information about nutrition for children, see vitamins for children .
If you choose to take vitamin and mineral supplements, be aware that taking too many or for too long can cause harmful effects.
Some people may need to take vitamin and mineral supplements. For information on who could benefit from supplements, see Do I need vitamin supplements?
If you're trying to cut down on your salt intake, you might want to avoid vitamin and mineral supplementsthat come as effervescent or fizzy tablets, as they can contain up to 1g of salt per tablet.
Get more tips for a lower-salt diet .
There are two types of vitamins: fat-soluble and water-soluble.
Fat-soluble vitamins are found mainly in fatty foods and animal products, such as vegetable oils, milk and dairy foods, eggs,liver, oily fish and butter.
While your body needs these vitamins every day to work properly,you don't need to eat foods containing them every day.
This is because your body stores these vitaminsin your liver and fatty tissues for future use. These stores can build up so they are there when you need them. However, if you have much more than you need, fat-soluble vitamins can be harmful.
Fat-soluble vitamins are:
Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, so you need to have them more frequently.
If you have more than you need, your body gets rid of the extra vitamins when you urinate.As the body does not store water-soluble vitamins, these vitamins are generally not harmful. However, this doesn't mean thatall large amounts are necessarily harmless.
Water-soluble vitamins are found in a wide range of foods, including fruit, vegetables, potatoes, grains, milk and dairy foods. Unlike fat-soluble vitamins, they can be destroyed by heat or being exposed to the air. They can also be lost in water used for cooking.
This means that by cooking foods, especially boiling them, we losesome of these vitamins. The best way to keep as many of the water-soluble vitamins as possible is to steam or grill foods, rather than boil them, or to use the cooking water in soups or stews rather than pouring it away.
Water-soluble vitaminsare vitamin C , the B vitamins and folic acid .
There are also many other types of vitamins and minerals that are an important part of a healthy diet.
Minerals are necessary for three main reasons:
Minerals are found in foods such as meat, cereals (including cereal products such as bread), fish, milk and dairy foods, vegetables, fruit (especially dried fruit) and nuts.
Essential mineralsinclude calcium and iron , although there are also many other types of minerals that are an important part of a healthy diet.
Trace elements are also essential nutrients that your body needs to work properly, but in much smaller amounts than vitamins and minerals.
Trace elements are found in small amounts in a variety of foods such as meat, fish, cereals, milk and dairy foods, vegetables and nuts.
Examples of trace elementsare iodine and Fluoride .
Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients that your body needs in small amounts to work properly.
Vitamin A is also known as retinol and it has several important functions.
There are many different types of vitamin B and they all have important functions.
Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid and has several important functions.
Vitamin D has several important functions. For example, it helps to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body.
Vitamin E has several important functions. For example, it acts as an antioxidant, which protects cell membranes.
Vitamin K has several important functions. For example, it is needed for blood clotting, which means it helps wounds to heal properly.
There is more calcium in the body than any other mineral, and it has several important functions.
Iodine helps to make the thyroid hormones. These hormones help to keep cells and the metabolic rate healthy.
Iron is an essential mineral that has several important roles in the body.
As well as vitamins and more common minerals such as calcium, iodine and iron a healthy diet includes many other substances.