Modern society keeps people busy in every aspect of their lives. When some people have no time to eat dinner, they may opt for several vitamin pills as a quick meal. Others like to consume vitamins to prevent aging or to enhance cosmetic appearances. If readers heed the following suggestions, they will learn to use vitamins effectively, eating less, yet staying healthy. Administering vitamins at different times will have different results. In general, vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, has a high absorption rate in an acidic surrounding. So vitamin C should be taken before meals, in low and separate dosages. For example, 500 mg of vitamin C should be taken as follows: 250 mg vitamin C, twice a day, before a meal.
Fat-soluble vitamins including A, D, E, K etc. are best absorbed with meals containing iol or fat. So naturally, it is best to consume fat-soluble vitamins after meals. In fact, when a person’s stomach is empty, the fat-soluble vitamin absorption is reduced and can easily cause over dosage or poisoning. For example, continually taking vitamin A for several months with the dosage exceeding 70 to 100 thousand IUs (a unit used to measure the mass of certain vitamins and drugs based on their expected effects) will cause chronic poisoning. The symptoms include poor appetite, hair loss, joint pain, skin itching and bone degeneration.
Busy people often have difficulty keeping their vegetable and fruit intake in balance. In these cases, one pill of a multi-vitamin complex daily is recommended. When some people feel low energy, fatigue or hunger, they eat vitamins like food or nutrients. Dieticians maintain that vitamins ca serve as coenzymes, but not as an energy source. In order to keep a normal metabolism, to generate heat energy and tissue repair and to maintain normal immune capacity, the body requires proteins, rather than vitamins. So therefore vitamins should not be a replacement for regular meals. Some people take a vitamin complex daily and, at the same time, they worry about their bone degeneration so they take another extra pill of vitamin D and Calcium. Individuals concerned about aging often take a supplemental pill of vitamin E. Nutritionists warn that over-consumption of fat-soluble vitamins could cause problems in the body. If patients need extra vitamins to cure a specific disease, they should consult an experienced clinician. When parents want to give children vitamins, they should buy the vitamins in the right dosages. Unfortunately, many people have very limited knowledge about vitamins, so they will give their children an adult dosage instead of a more appropriate smaller dose. They tend not to regard vitamins as drugs, believing that vitamins are safer. Adult vitamins are dangerous for children. In most instances, the dosage of vitamins A, D, E, and K should not exceed 400 IUs, and vitamin B and C should not exceed 500 mg per day.
Consuming natural food is far better than taking vitamin pills. Vitamins are food supplements for people who can’t eat and /or absorb regular healthy balanced meals. For example, the people suffer from digestive system diseases. Beta-carotene has an anti-cancer capacity, but it usually coexists with other Alpha-, Gamma-carotence and Lycopene substances. Regular meals including such foods as liver, beef, carrots or dandelion roots provide enough vitamin A. Of course, more than 52% of the population worries about being overweight. And many people’s meals include unhealthy foods such as greasy fries and burgers. Too much greasy food intake is definitely detrimental. In these situations, supplementation with multvitamin pills is better than eating unhealthy food.
If you follow these basic suggestions, you will stay in good health.