An overview of the water-soluble vitamins

Vitamins are grouped into two different categories: those that are fat-soluble and those that are water-soluble. This article will attempt to teach you more about the water-soluble vitamins that are vital to your health.

Water-soluble vitamins bear a distinct difference from their fat-soluble counterparts; as opposed to being stored in the liver and the body's fatty tissues, water-soluble vitamins are kept in our kidneys and flushed out in our urine when not needed. For this reason, it is crucial to maintain your body's water-soluble vitamin supply on a daily basis. The water-soluble vitamins that are found in the foods that we eat are very sensitive, and improper storage or washing can easily eliminate the nutritional value.

To ensure that your foods are maintaining all of their water-soluble vitamins, it is important to keep produce refrigerated, avoid letting milk and grain be near strong light, and, if possible, use the water that you boil vegetables in to make the base for a soup. This ensures that the vitamins that were boiled off of the vegetables and into the water are retained and the nutritional value is secured. The two main water-soluble vitamins are Vitamin C and the Vitamin B-Complex.

The Vitamin B-Complex includes numerous water-soluble vitamin entities: thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, Vitamin B-6, folate, Vitamin B-12, biotin, and panthothenic acid. These vitamins are found in a multitude of foods, including liver, venison, lamb, shrimp, fish, chicken, eggs, milk, yogurt, ice cream, oranges, legumes, and green leafy vegetables.

The B vitamins are often fortified into various foods to add nutrition that people may not be getting through healthy lifestyles. White rice, cereal, white flour, bread, and pasta are usually enriched with thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and folate.The main functionality of the Vitamin B-Complex is aiding the body when it comes to metabolizing food to create energy. In addition, the B vitamins help to support a normal appetite, healthy vision, proper skin growth, red blood cell creation, and a healthy nervous system.

Vitamin C is a very unique vitamin. It is useful in the body in numerous ways, with one of the foremost being production of collagen. Collagen is a connective tissue that is necessary throughout the body to help to hold it together. In addition, Vitamin C is known to strengthen the walls of blood vessels, as well as facilitate quick wound healing. It also helps the body to process iron properly and aids the proper formation of teeth and bones.

If you'd like to get all of the Vitamin C you need through sticking to a healthy diet, certain foods are recommended. Oranges, cantaloupes, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, papayas, red bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, kiwi, cauliflower, and kale are all known to be significant sources of this necessary nutrient.

As you can see, it's not that difficult to maintain your body's levels of the water-soluble vitamins. As long as you adhere to a semi-healthy diet, getting the vitamins that you need shouldn't prove to be any trouble. If for some reason you are unable to maintain your body's need for these vitamins, you can get a supplement.

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