Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins and mineral are chemical compounds used by the body to metabolize food. Although a part of an organism's food, that is, its nutrients, vitamins and minerals have no calories. They are tiny unseen chemicals in foods nutrients which act as catalysts to promote growth and health. Catalytic reactions increase the speed and efficiency of chemical reactions usually without being consumed in the reaction. Vitamins make it possible for the body to react efficiently with foods to convert them into nutrients that can then perform essential biochemical reactions.

Vitamins are “micronutrients” because only a small amount of the essential vitamin is necessary for the chemical reactions that convert food into energy and living tissues. The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council has developed the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamins needed daily for good health.

The actually amount of vitamins and minerals needed varies between individuals. Most people get their RDA from the food they eat and do not need vitamin supplements. The amounts of vitamins needed are very small, but the consequences of their absence can be severe. A vitamin deficiency disease is a condition caused by a metabolic or dietary deficiency. The absence of each vitamin can contribute to a specific disease. Several infamous vitamin deficiency diseases in humans are scurvy (Vitamin C), rickets (Vitamin D), Beriberi (thiamine) and pellagra [Page 1747](niacin). These diseases are now unknown in the developed world where fortified food products and vitamin supplements are readily available. However, they are common in the tropics and other areas of the undeveloped world.

The World Health Organization (WHO), governments, and many non-governmental agencies (NGOs) have made studies of the geography and demographic factors contributing to vitamin deficiency diseases. For example iodine is needed in small quantities by the thyroid gland to make both thyroxine and triiodothyronine. Without iodine, for which sea salt is a vital source, the body will develop goiters and other serious health problems. People living in areas remote from the sea often have goiter. Fortunately, iodine is easily added to table salt that is mined as rock salt.

Vitamin deficiencies have been classified as either primary or secondary. Primary vitamin deficiencies are caused by not getting enough of a particular vitamin from the food that is eaten. Scurvy in healthy young adults during long sea voyages is an example.

In contrast a condition of secondary vitamin deficiency is caused by either an underlying disorder which is metabolic in nature or by a lifestyle factor. The underlying disorder may be due to cancer or some other disease such as a mal-absorption disease. The lifestyle factor may be due to the excessive consumption of alcohol, smoking tobacco, the abuse of drugs and restrictive diets. Moreover, the use of prescription medications (usually for long periods of time) may interfere with either the absorption or utilization of the vitamin by the body's chemistry.

People who eat normal diets are not likely to develop vitamin deficiencies. People on restrictive diets are at risk of developing a vitamin deficiency disease which can lead to a painful death.

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