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Published:
September 20, 1999

Vitamins For Dummies

Overview

“Christopher Hobbs and Elson Haas...take a complicated field and...make sense of it.”
—Ron Lawrence, MD, PhD, Director, Council on Natural Nutrition

Don’t forget to take your vitamins! It’s good advice. But everybody’s needs are different. Age, lifestyle, gender, ethnicity, diet, and habits all play a role in determining which vitamins and minerals you need more or less of in your diet. Like traffic lights, vitamins help regulate your body’ most basic functions at the cellular level. And just like those red, green and amber beacons, they must be synchronized—not too many or too few—to get you through your life’s journey in good shape. Now Vitamins For Dummies shows you how to have green lights all the way.

Confused by vitamins? Mystified by minerals? Can’t tell the difference between gingko and ginseng? In this straight-talking guide, two experts cut through the confusion and help you:

  • Get a handle on what each vitamin mineral and supplement does
  • Create a personalized supplement program
  • Understand the fine print on the labels
  • Combat or prevent specific ailments
  • Enhance

memory, mood, and energy

  • Slow the aging progress
  • Drawing upon their years of experience in clinical practice as well as the latest scientific research into nutritional supplements, Chris Hobbs and Elson Haas, MD, tell you, in plain English, what you need to know to make informed decisions about which supplements you take. They cover:

    • The ABCs of vitamins
    • All about minerals
    • Amino acids and proteins—the body’s building blocks
    • The importance of fats and oils
    • Common supplements for digestion
    • Super-foods and other great supplements
    • The top 40 herbal supplements

    As an added bonus, Vitamins For Dummies features a quick-reference, A-to-Z guide to treatments for 90 common complaints. From acne to motion sickness to varicose veins, the authors describe complete healing programs that include vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements and lifestyle changes.

    Your complete A-to-Zinc guide to vitamins, minerals, herbs and other nutritional supplements, Vitamins For Dummies is your ticket to good health and long life.

    Read More

    About The Author

    Christopher Hobbs, L.Ac., is an holistic health expert whose many books include Herbal Remedies For Dummies??. Elson Haas, M.D., is the author of Staying Healthy with the Seasons and The Detox Diet.

    Sample Chapters

    vitamins for dummies

    CHEAT SHEET

    Your mom may not be giving you chewable vitamins with your breakfast anymore, but that doesn't mean you can just forget about them! Following a daily program of taking supplements and eating nutrient-dense foods is vital for maintaining your health and getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy.

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    Alanine is a nonessential amino acid, meaning that if you don’t get this nutrient from you diet, your body can manufacture it. It is an important part of human muscle and one of the few amino acids that transforms into glucose, an important sugar that your body uses as an energy source. Alanine is included in some energy and sports formulas, but is less popular as a single supplement.
    Proteins — the building blocks of muscle and other tissues — are made up of amino acids. Good nutrition calls for a daily supply of amino acids in your diet to supply your body with the materials it needs to repair your muscles, organs, and other tissues. Eight amino acids are called the essential amino acids because they must come from your diet nearly every day — unlike other amino acids, your body can’t create them from other sources.
    Arginine is an essential amino acid that supports male fertility. To include it in your diet, be sure to eat nuts — particularly almonds and walnuts — and fish, which have high levels of arginine. Vegetable proteins like soy protein have some arginine, but not as much as nuts and fish. Although the main function of arginine is to support male fertility, it is also beneficial during times of stress or growth.
    Aspartic acid is a nonessential amino acid, meaning that if your do not include this nutrient in your diet, your body can make sufficient amounts of it. Dietary sources include protein foods, such as meat, fish, eggs, and soybean products. Aspartic acid is essential to the process of chelating, or holding, minerals to make them easier to assimilate, digest, and utilize, as in calcium, potassium, and magnesium aspartate.
    Lead and mercury are toxic minerals found in food and water and some nondietary sources. Changes in your diet may help you avoid exposure to these minerals. Some nutrients are even known to help you metabolize these heavy metals if you are exposed to them. Exposure to lead is common from old paints, contaminated water and foods, as well as from cosmetics, pottery, soldered cans, and gasoline.
    Boron is a trace mineral essential to human health and must be obtained from diet or supplements. This nutrient recently gained popularity after researchers found that it helps the bones use calcium. Increased boron levels in the soil have been associated with a lower risk of osteoarthritis. Trace minerals occur in the soil, in foods, and in your body at much lower levels than the macrominerals, so they become more easily depleted.
    Isoleucine, Valine, and Luecine are essential amino acids, which means that you must get them from your diet. To include these nutrients in your diet, you can eat nuts, seeds, cheese, fish, poultry, and wheat germ. These three amino acids form a class of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) that help in wound healing.
    Calcium is a critical mineral nutrient. You must include calcium in your diet because your body can’t manufacture it. Calcium is essential for the formation and maintenance of bones and teeth. The strength of your bones depends on calcium and other minerals like silicon and magnesium that you absorb from your diet, particularly during your years of growth and development.
    The amino acid carnitine plays a role in metabolizing fat and producing energy. Red meats are the primary dietary sources of this nutrient. It is an extra amino acid not found in your body tissue, but you can manufacture it from lysine. Over the past few years, carnitine has received tremendous interest from both professional athletes and sports enthusiasts as an aid for increasing energy and performance.
    Copper is a trace mineral—an essential nutrient to humans. It must be obtained through diet or supplements. This antioxidant nutrient helps your body use iron. Copper is a zinc-balancing mineral important in many enzymes as well as in the production of hemoglobin, the molecule that transports oxygen. It also plays a role in the functioning of the prostate gland and the activity of the oil glands, helping prevent acne.
    Cysteine is an important sulfur-containing nonessential amino acid important to many metabolic (biochemical) pathways. Dietary sources of this nutrient include poultry, yogurt, oats, and wheat germ, and in sulfur-containing foods such as egg yolks, garlic, onions, and broccoli. Cysteine is a powerful antioxidant and detoxifier as a precursor (a substance that precedes another) for glutathione enzymes, which the body, and especially the liver, use for disabling destructive free radicals.
    Supplements play a vital role in supporting many body functions and offer tremendous benefits for increasing energy, easing common symptoms, , and reducing the effects of stress. Take a look at the following chart to see what vitamins and minerals can help alleviate some common conditions: Condition Nutritional Supplements Arthritis pain Multivitamin, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, glucosamine, ginger, turmeric Back pain Vitamin C, glucosamine, calcium, magnesium, St.
    Some consider the trace mineral fluoride (a form of florine) an essential nutrient. Others don’t. Either way, most people get enough in their diets to stay healthy. Fluoride bonds with dental and bone calcium as calcium fluoride, which protects the teeth from decay and may strengthen the bones. The mineral also is used experimentally for improving osteoporosis.
    Glutathione is a not a protein-building amino acid, but a mixture of amino acid chains. Glutathione is a nutrient that forms enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase. It is essential to life. Dietary sources abound because glutathione is present in all plant and animal cells. It is an antioxidant nutrient that helps protect you from free radicals, keeping your tissues young and vital longer.
    Glycine is a nonessential amino acid. Dietary sources of this nutrient include fish, meats, beans, and dairy products. It also comes from choline in the liver and the amino acids threonine or serine. Glycine is an important nutrient for detoxifying chemicals in your body and helps wounds heal. Its beneficial effects for schizophrenics have been studied for more than ten years.
    Phenylalanine — an essential amino acid— is readily available in most food sources, particularly high in meats and milk products, with lower levels found in oats and wheat germ. To make use of phenylalanine, your body requires vitamin B-3, vitamin B-6, vitamin C, copper, and iron. Phenylalanine is used to form tyrosine.
    Histidine is a semi-essential amino acid that your body needs during periods of growth, stress, and recovery from illness and injury. This nutrient is an essential amino acid for children. Dietary sources include pork, poultry, cheese, and wheat germ. Because taking too much histidine can cause a copper deficiency, you may need to supplement your diet with extra copper.
    Dietary sources of glutamic acid — a nonessential amino acid — are animal and vegetable proteins. This nutrient is found in high concentrations in the human brain. Proline derives from glutamic acid. Proline is one of the main amino acids your body uses to build collagen, which makes up the tough, elastic fibers of scar tissue and is the main structural material of your body — bones, tendons, ligaments, and skin all contain collagen.
    Vitamin A is essential in a healthy diet. This crucial fat-soluble vitamin was the first vitamin to be officially named, so it became vitamin A. Your body needs a steady supply of A to maintain healthy skin, good eyesight, and growth in kids. Vitamin A has become a credible antioxidant for cancer prevention; and as an active immune system enhancer, it helps prevent other diseases as well.
    Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is an important nutrient found in many fresh fruits and vegetables. It is essential to a healthy diet. Vitamin C breaks down readily when foods are heated or when they sit around too long on the shelf. Vitamin C is one of the most popular of all supplements, thanks to the dedication of the Nobel-prize winning scientist Linus Pauling.
    Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin essential to a healthy diet. This important antioxidant nutrient protects cells and tissues from damage by free radicals generated by chemicals and oxidized fats. Vitamin E is best taken with vitamin C. The two form a team, and vitamin C can actually “reactivate” vitamin E, allowing it to keep on working to deactivate free radicals.
    Oils and fats are among the more controversial components of the modern diet. You should get your essential fats mostly from whole foods. Two bonuses of this approach are that food sources are much more stable than the isolated oils, and you can be sure they have not been hydrogenated. The following list outlines a few simple conclusions about fats and oils: For optimum health, and to avoid disease, you want to keep fats and oils in your diet to a minimum.
    Inositol and Paba are manufactured by your body from the nutrients you ingest when you chow down on a meal or a snack. Nutritionists usually lump them with the B vitamins. Inositol is a lipotropic vitamin-like substance that is found in soy lecithin along with choline. Your body can create all the inositol it needs, so it’s unnecessary to get the substance straight from your diet.
    Iodine is a required nutrient for humans with limited natural dietary sources in some areas. The best foods for adding this nutrient to your diet are seafood. Iodine was the most common mineral deficiency in many areas of North America before the introduction of iodized salt. During the 1930s, a lack of this mineral in the soil in the Midwestern states caused many people to develop goiters, an enlargement of the thyroid gland.
    Iron is an essential trace element, meaning a healthy diet must include this nutrient. Dietary sources of iron are abundant, although vegetarian sources of this iron are more difficult to absorb. Iron occurs naturally in plant and animal life. An extremely important mineral for general well-being and energy, iron is the essential element within the hemoglobin molecule, which carries the oxygen in every red blood cell.
    Scientists are uncertain whether this mineral is a required nutrient, but a lithium deficiency can lead to mood disorders. Most people take in about 2 mg daily from their diets, although no specific requirement is now known. Lithium is a metal found in the soil and used medically in the treatment of manic depressive disorders.
    Lysine is an essential amino acid. Lysine occurs abundantly in fish and poultry, dairy, wheat germ, and other legumes, and in smaller amounts in grains and peanuts. You may need extra lysine if you eat a high-carbohydrate diet. Make sure that you’re getting enough lysine if you’re a vegetarian. Grains, especially refined grains, are particularly poor in lysine.
    Magnesium may be the most commonly deficient mineral in human nutrition, even though dietary sources of this nutrient abound. Because it is the calming or anti-stress mineral, it’s very important to many human functions. Magnesium is also necessary for building body tissue — especially bone. Key functions of magnesium include: Relaxes your muscles, including the heart.
    Manganese is an essential nutrient found in the greatest concentrations in seeds, and whole grains. Dietary sources also include peas and beans, which contain lower amounts of this mineral. Often confused with magnesium, manganese is a trace mineral that is important in many enzyme systems in your body. Most of the manganese in your body is found in your glands.
    One of the essential sulfur-containing amino acids, the nutrient methionine is important for many bodily functions, including immune cell production and proper nerve function. Dietray methionine is a potent antioxidant and an important amino acid for your liver’s repair and rebuilding processes. If you’re pregnant, remember that methionine, along with folic acid, plays a role in neural-tube (part of the fetus that forms during cell development and becomes the nervous system) defect in the fetus.
    Not a lot is known about these three trace minerals, but they are essential nutrients. Getting them from your diet depends on the soil in which your food is grown. Therefore, most multivitamins contain supplemental molybdenum and selenium. What is molybdenum good for, anyway? Molybdenum is an unusual trace mineral that has only a few specific functions that scientists have identified to date: Helps to metabolize carbohydrates.
    Although no herbal medicine is safe under every condition for every person, herbal remedies are becoming increasingly popular because they’re considered safer than pharmaceutical drugs. Take a look at some of the natural substitutes you can use for prescription and over-the-counter medications: Medication Substitute Allergy medication Quercitin, vitamin C, nettle Antibiotic Vitamin C, echinacea, goldenseal, bropilus Antidepressant St.
    Phosphorus is an essential macromineral, meaning to be healthy you must include this nutrient in your diet. Dietary sources include almost all foods. Phosphorus is the second most abundant mineral nutrient in the body, after calcium. This mineral is part of all cells, especially cell membranes, and is essential to bone strength, because it’s the main structural component of bones and teeth, as calcium phosphate.
    Potassium is an essential nutrient contained mainly within cells. You need at least 2 grams (or 2,000 mg) of potassium a day, which is fairly easy to obtain from your diet. Potassium helps to balance and interact with sodium in controlling blood pressure and supporting electrical impulses across cell membranes.
    Chromium is a trace mineral essential to sugar and cholesterol metabolism. The average American diet is deficient in this mineral nutrient due to its scarcity in the food and water supply. Chromium is a mineral nutrient that helps your body process carbohydrates efficiently. Chromium deficiency is likely if you obtain most of your grains in the form of breads, pastas, and baked goods.
    Because your body needs a healthy daily dose of vitamins and minerals get into a supplement-taking routine, consistency is the key to success with supplements. Even though each person’s needs are different, the following list of daily supplements is beneficial for almost everyone: Complete multivitamin and mi
    What do the terms saturated, unsaturated, and monounsaturated fats mean to your diet and health? These words describe how many hydrogen atoms occur in a molecule, or fundamental unit, of fats and oils, compared with carbon atoms. A fatty acid molecule is one of the building blocks of fat, and the more hydrogen than carbon that it has, the more saturated it is.
    According to some sources, silicon (commonly referred to as silica) is an essential macromineral nutrient — meaning you need to include sources in your diet. Others claim that although it is important for tissue strength, this nutrient, usually referred to as silica, is helpful but not essential to humans. Silica is the most commonly found element in the earth’s soil and in foods.
    Sodium is a hidden ingredient of many prepared foods. Although it is essential for proper nutrition, too much sodium in your diet increases the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. This nutrient is found in common table salt, in the form of sodium chloride. Sodium, along with potassium and chloride, are the main mineral ions (minerals with an electric charge) that influence the movement of fluids in and out of all of your body’s cells.
    There is no official minimum sulfur requirement, but some consider it an essential nutrient for humans. This nutrient is widely available in foods and you can easily get adequate amounts from your diet. Sulfur is an important part of several amino acids (the building blocks of protein), especially methionine and cysteine.
    Taurine is one of the most important, useful, and safest amino acid supplements. Your body can produce this nutrient from cysteine with the help of vitamin B-6. Dietary sources of taurine are fish and meat. Vegetarians are more likely to get reduced levels of taurine in their diets. Taurine is best known for its beneficial effects on the heart and cardiovascular system.
    Many minerals are an essential part of a healthy diet. Other minerals are toxic even in tiny amounts, leading to nerve dysfunction and memory loss, a weakened immune system, and even kidney damage. Heavy metals are real trace elements found in industrial wastes, fillings in your teeth, fish and sea products, and in the paint of most houses and buildings — and they can cause you serious harm.
    The nutrient tryptophan is an essential amino acid well known for its ability to affect the levels of the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Tryptophan is important in helping your body create vitamin B-3 and the hormone melatonin. This amino acid and its byproducts play an important role in regulating mood, sleep cycles, and the perception of pain.
    Minerals are essential in human nutrition because they aid in a variety of the body’s functions. Your body does not manufacture any minerals, so you must get these nutrients from your diet and from nutritional supplements. The plants and animal foods you include in your diet absorb these nutrients from the soil and water and pass them to you.
    Your mom may not be giving you chewable vitamins with your breakfast anymore, but that doesn't mean you can just forget about them! Following a daily program of taking supplements and eating nutrient-dense foods is vital for maintaining your health and getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy.
    All fats in foods have their place in your diet when you eat them in their whole natural state in flax seeds, fresh fish, and whole corn. If you have a perfect diet without foods cooked with fats, you may not need supplements. If you suffer symptoms that may relate to a fat and oil imbalance in your body, particularly related to chronic inflammation, you may well benefit from a supplement.
    The best way to get most of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients you need is through your diet. As you choose to eat healthy foods, you'll soon see and feel the benefits — like increased energy, clearer thinking, and better looking skin. To get the supplements you need, look for these food sources: Sup
    Zinc is thought by many nutritionists to be the most important mineral supplement because it is commonly deficient in the diet. Zinc is the nutrient that aids the immune system. Essential to human growth, zinc is key to proper T cell and natural killer cell function and proper lymphocyte activity; it may be directly involved in antibody production to help you fight infection.
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