Vitamins and minerals: Why you need them

Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients for the various roles they perform in the body.
Although most of these minerals and vitamins can be obtained from artificial supplements, eating a healthy and balanced diet has for many years been recommended as the best way to get sufficient amounts of them.

According to Dr Vincent Bakyenga, a general practitioner at Uganda Health Federation, the body is able to control muscle contractions, repair worn-out cells, produce hormones, heal wounds, transport food nutrients, build the immune system as well as perform many other functions all of which vitamins and minerals are raw materials

From fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, one can obtain the vitamins such as A, B, C, D, E, and K and some of the few existing vitamins and although the body needs them in small amounts, a deficiency of any of them can cause adverse effects on the body.

“A lack of vitamin D, for instance, leads to bowed legs a skeletal deformity is known as rickets which is brought about by weak and soft bones; people with bleeding gums, fatigue, poor wound healing may have to check their vitamin C intake because these are some of the symptoms of scurvy. Other deficiency diseases can include beriberi, night blindness as well as birth defects like spina bifida,” he says.
Vitamins
Both vitamins and minerals are micronutrients according to Dr Paul Kasenene, a nutritionist at Wellness care, but vitamins are organic and can be broken down by water, heat, and air. It is, therefore, a bit hard to keep the vitamins in the food since cooking, storage or even exposure to sunlight can deplete the vitamins.

He remarks, “A number of micronutrients interact to enable absorption of food. Vitamin D, for instance, enables the body to absorb calcium from food sources passing through your digestive tract rather than harvesting it from your bones. Another important combination essential in the digestion is the Vitamin C helps in the absorption of iron.”
Vitamin categories
The vitamins are classified into water and fat-soluble vitamins and those that are water-soluble are easily absorbed into the bloodstream because much of the body consists of water.
All the B vitamins and C fall into this category. The vitamins that are fat-soluble require protein to ease its movement in the body and bile is needed in their absorption. Vitamins A, D, E and K fall into this category.

Since fat-soluble vitamins can be stored in the body for longer periods of time even after their digestion, Dr Bakyenga warns that, “They increase the risk of toxin accumulation, especially for people that take supplements that have been self-prescribed. It is, therefore, advisable that you get these vitamins from natural foods because they have a regulated amount.”
Minerals
Minerals, on the other hand, are inorganic and they usually maintain their structure so through the soil, they can find their way into the food. Magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride and sulfur are the major minerals and can easily be found in plants, fish, animals and fluids you consume.

BENEFITS
One of the key tasks of major minerals is to maintain the proper balance of water in the body. Sodium, chloride, and potassium take the lead in doing this. They are essential for strengthening bones, formation nails, hair, and skin repair.

There are other trace minerals such as iron which is essential for transporting oxygen throughout the body, fluoride strengthens bones and wards off tooth decay, copper that helps in the formation of enzymes while zinc helps blood clot. Others include chromium, iodine, selenium and many others.

Foods such as green vegetables, mushrooms, milk and products, poultry, beef, nuts, and seeds are good sources of both major and trace minerals.

[email protected]