Importance of Vitamins for Health
Today it is widely known that adequate amounts of vitamins are crucial for maintaining normal health, while deficiency can cause serious health risk and cause several diseases. However, every vitamin has its own function.
- Vitamin A is required for normal reproduction functions, for normal growth and development of embryos, for light sensing and color vision, and is essential for normal skeletal growth
- Vitamin B Complex are important for various reasons, however, each of vitamins of B-Complex has its own function: vitamin B1 is important for carbohydrate metabolism and for normal functioning of nervous and cardiovascular systems; vitamin B2 is crucial for healthy skin, nails and hair; vitamin B3 is essential for normal functioning of brain and nervous system; pantothenic acid or vitamin B5 plays an important role in metabolism of many biochemical substances such as fatty acids and carbohydrates; vitamin B6 is required for metabolism of amino acids and for balancing the functioning of hormones, while it also plays an important role at red blood cell production; biotin is important for it role in metabolism of carbohydrates, fatty acids and some amino acids; vitamin B12 is essential for normal functioning of nervous system, for red blood cell production and plays an important role in DNA synthesis and regulation
- Vitamin C is primally important for its antioxidant function, while people who consume lots of fruits and vegetables rich with vitamin C are in average less effected by cardiovascular diseases
- Vitamin D is essential for absorption of calcium and phosphorus which are important for normal skeleton development
- Vitamin E is important for its antioxidant function and for maintenance of cell membranes
- Vitamin K is essential for the clotting of blood