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Eating foods high in vitamins important to overall health
One of the best things a person can do for his or her health is eat a diet high in vitamin-rich foods.
“Vitamins are ‘vital to life,’” stressed Diana Romano, a registered dietitian and the family and consumer sciences educator for the Oklahoma County OSU Cooperative Extension Service. “The vitamins we get from the foods we eat are essential to the body as it repairs cells and maintains health.”
Since no single food has enough of all the vitamins needed to meet a person’s daily requirement, Romano also emphasizes the importance of eating a variety of foods.
“There are 13 known vitamins that are needed to support nutritional health,” Romano advised. “Each one is different and one vitamin cannot substitute for another.”
Vitamins can have different forms, so consumers may see several names for the same vitamin, which Romano admits can be confusing.
Still, to get a healthy diet Romano suggests people eat the recommended daily amounts of foods from each of the USDA Daily Food Plan food groups.
“Most of us need to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables, since many of these are so rich in vitamins,” Romano said. “Oklahoma is at the bottom of the chart when it comes to the amount of fruits and vegetables our residents get. This is something every one of us needs to work on.”
Vitamins are classified into two groups (fat-soluble and water-soluble) based on their solubility, which affects how much of the actual vitamin is lost in cooking, as well as how they are absorbed, stored and excreted by the body.
Water-soluble vitamins include B vitamins (B Complex) as well as vitamin C. Since these vitamins are soluble in water, a small percentage can be lost if cooked in water.
The fat soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K and these are actually found with fats in food.
“The body absorbs fat-soluble vitamins best with some fat,” Romano stated. “But remember, only a small amount is needed. We still need to limit fats in the diet.”
Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body, so do not necessarily need to be consumed daily as do water-soluble vitamins.
“It’s important to note that ingesting too much of any vitamin, whether it’s water or fat-soluble, can be toxic,” Romano pointed out. “It’s important to be aware of how many milligrams of each vitamin is needed daily and have some knowledge of what foods can give us the recommended daily allowances.
“Even though eating so much of one fruit or vegetable that you get more than the RDA for a particular vitamin is rarely toxic, ingesting too many vitamin supplements can be,” Romano pointed out.
“For the most part, people who get a well-rounded diet do not need to take vitamin supplements,” Roman added. “And taking mega-doses of vitamins is a dangerous thing to do.”
Date: 8/27/2012
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