Whether vitamins help and is there any benefit in vitamins from the pharmacy

Spring is the best time to remember vitamins. But not so much about the fact that everyone already knows how much about the many myths that many take for medical facts.

We will not set forth the history of the discovery of vitamins and retell how each of them acts on the many biochemical processes occurring in the body. Let us dedicate this article to practical issues, about which everyone knows everything already, to the fact that in the field of vitamin therapy both patients and even doctors consider it to be true and that in fact it is completely untrue. Let's start with the most important and harmful delusion.

I. Origins

Myth 1. The need for vitamins can be fully met through nutrition.

It is impossible - for a variety of reasons. First, the man too quickly "descended from the monkey." Modern chimpanzees, gorillas and our other relatives all day fill their belly with a huge amount of plant food, while being plucked straight from a tree in the rainforest. And the content of vitamins in wild-growing vershki and roots is ten times more than in the cultural: the selection of agricultural varieties for thousands of years occurred not by their usefulness, but by more obvious signs - yield, fullness and resistance to diseases. Hypovitaminosis was hardly the No. 1 problem in the nutrition of ancient hunters and gatherers, but with the transition to agriculture our ancestors, having secured a more reliable and abundant source of calories, began to experience a lack of vitamins, microelements and other micronutrients (from the word nutricium - nutrition). As early as the 19th century in Japan, up to 50,000 poor people who ate mostly refined rice died from beriberi - B1 beriberi in Japan each year. Vitamin PP (nicotinic acid) in corn is contained in a bound form, and its predecessor, the essential amino acid tryptophan, is found in insignificant quantities, and those who were fed with tortillas or hominy alone, were sick and died from pellagra. In the poor countries of Asia, still less than a million people a year die and half a million go blind due to the fact that rice does not contain carotenoids - precursors of vitamin A (actually vitamin A most of all in liver, eggs and other meat and fish products, and the first his symptom of hypovitaminosis is a violation of twilight vision, "night blindness").

Moderate and even pronounced hypovitaminosis in Russia is present in at least three-quarters of the population. A similar problem is dismicroelementosis, an excess of some, and a lack of other trace elements. For example, moderately marked iodine deficiency is a widespread phenomenon, even in coastal areas. Cretinism (alas, only as a disease caused by a lack of iodine in water and food) is no longer found, but according to some sources, iodine deficiency reduces the intelligence factor by about 15%. And it certainly leads to an increase in the likelihood of thyroid disease.

The soldier of the pre-revolutionary Russian army, with daily energy expenditure of 5,000-6,000 kcal, was given a daily allowance, including, among other things, three pounds of black bread and a pound of meat. One and a half to two thousand kilocalories, which is enough for a day of sedentary work and lying rest, guarantee you a shortage of about 50% of the rate of about half of the known vitamins. Especially in the case when calories are obtained from products refined, frozen, sterilized, etc. And even with the most balanced, high-calorie and “natural” diet, the lack of certain vitamins in the diet can reach up to 30% of the norm. So take a multivitamin - 365 tablets per year.

Myth 2. Synthetic vitamins worse than natural

Many vitamins are extracted from natural raw materials, like PP from citrus peel or B12 from a culture of the same bacteria that synthesize it in the intestine. In natural sources, vitamins are hidden behind the cell walls and are associated with proteins, the coenzymes of which they are, and how much you will assimilate them, and how much will disappear, depends on many factors: for example, fat-soluble carotenoids are much more fully absorbed from carrots, finely grated and stewed with containing emulsified fat sour cream, and vitamin C, on the contrary, when heated quickly decomposes. By the way, do you know that during evaporation of natural rosehip syrup, vitamin C is completely destroyed and only at the last stage of preparation is synthetic synthetic ascorbic acid added to it? In the pharmacy with vitamins, nothing happens until the end of the shelf life (and in fact - a few more years), and in fruits and vegetables their content decreases with each month of storage and even more so during cooking. And after cooking, even in the refrigerator, it is even faster: in a chopped salad a few hours later, the vitamins become several times smaller. Most of the vitamins in natural sources are present in the form of a number of substances similar in structure, but different in their effectiveness. AT pharmaceutical preparations  These are the variants of the molecules of vitamins and organic compounds of microelements that are easier to digest and act most efficiently. Vitamins obtained by chemical synthesis (like vitamin C, which is made both bio-technological and purely chemical), are no different from natural ones: they are simple molecules in structure, and there simply cannot be any "vitality" in them.

Ii. Dosage

Myth 1. Horsepower doses of vitamin ... help from ...

In the medical literature, articles on this topic regularly appear, but after 10–20 years, when isolated studies on different groups of the population, with different dosages, etc., accumulate enough to conduct their meta-analysis, it turns out that this is another myth. Usually, the results of this analysis are as follows: yes, the lack of this vitamin (or other micronutrient) is associated with a greater frequency and / or severity of this disease (most often with any one or more forms of cancer), but the dose is 2–5 times higher than the physiological norm, does not affect the incidence or the course of the disease, and the optimal dosage is about that indicated in all reference books.

Myth 2. A gram of ascorbic day protects against colds and in general from everything in the world.

Twice the Nobel laureates are also mistaken: hyper-and megadoses of vitamin C (up to 1 and even 5 grams per day at a rate of 50 mg) entered the fashion by Linus Pauling, as it turned out many years ago, do not bring benefits to ordinary citizens. The decrease in incidence (by a few percent) and the duration of acute respiratory infections (less than one day) compared to the control group, which took the usual amount of ascorbinka, was detected only in a few studies - in skiers and special forces who trained in the winter in the North. But there will be no great harm from megadoses of vitamin C, except that B12 hypovitaminosis or kidney stones, and only then among a few of the most zealous and fanatical supporters of the organism to ascorbine.

Myth 3. Better lack of vitamins than their search.

To sort out vitamins, you need to really try. Of course, there are exceptions, especially for the mineral substances and microelements that are part of the majority of multivitamin complexes: those who eat a portion of cottage cheese every day do not need additional reception  calcium, and those who work in the electroplating shop - chromium, zinc and nickel. In some areas in the water, soil, and ultimately in the organisms of the people living there, there are excessive amounts of fluorine, iron, selenium and other trace elements, and even lead, aluminum and other substances, the use of which is unknown, and the harm is beyond doubt. But the composition of multivitamin tablets is usually chosen so that in most cases they cover micronutrient deficiencies in the average consumer and ensure that serious overdose is impossible even with daily and long-term intake in addition to the usual diet of several tablets.

Hypervitaminosis in most cases occurs with long-term consumption of vitamins (and only fat-soluble, which accumulate in the body) in doses that are orders of magnitude higher than normal. Most often, and this is extremely rare, this is found in the practice of pediatricians: if you give a newborn a teaspoon of vitamin D per day instead of one big drop of mind a week ... The rest is on the verge of anecdotes: for example, there is a story about how all housewives in the village bought a vitamin D solution stolen from a poultry factory under the guise of sunflower oil. Or - they say, it happened that - after reading all sorts of nonsense about the benefits of carotenoids, "preventing cancer", people started to drink carrot juice in liters per day, and some of them did not just turn yellow, but drank to death. It is impossible to absorb more than a certain nature of the maximum of vitamins through the gastrointestinal tract: at each stage of absorption into the intestinal epithelium, transmission into the blood, and from it into the tissues and cells, transport proteins and receptors on the surface of cells, the number of which is strictly limited, are necessary. But just in case, many companies pack vitamins in jars with "child-resistant" lids - so that the baby does not eat up her mother's three-month norm at a time.

Iii. Side effects

Myth 1. From vitamins can be allergic.

Allergies can develop to any drugwhich you have taken before and whose part of the molecule is similar in structure to one of the vitamins. But in this case, an allergic reaction can occur only after intramuscular or intravenous administration of this vitamin, and not after taking one pill after a meal. Sometimes dyes, fillers and flavoring substances that make up the tablets can cause allergies.

Myth 2. With the constant intake of vitamins develops addiction to them.

The addiction to air, water, and also fats, proteins and carbohydrates does not frighten anyone. You will not receive more than the amount for which the mechanisms of assimilation of vitamins are calculated - unless you take several months or even years to take doses, orders of magnitude more than necessary. And the so-called withdrawal syndrome for vitamins is not typical: after stopping their intake, the body simply returns to a state of hypovitaminosis.

Myth 3. People who do not take vitamins feel great.

Yes - about the same way a tree growing on a rock or a swamp feels great. The symptoms of moderate polyhypovitaminosis, such as general weakness and lethargy, are difficult to notice. It is also difficult to guess that dry skin and brittle hair should not be treated with creams and shampoos, but with vitamin A and stewed carrots, that sleep disturbances, irritability or seborrheic dermatitis and acne are not signs of neurosis or hormonal imbalance, but lack of vitamins B. Severe hypo-and avitaminosis are most often secondary, caused by a disease in which the normal absorption of vitamins is disturbed. (And vice versa: gastritis and anemia - a violation of the hematopoietic function, visible to the naked eye on the blueness of the lips - can be a consequence, and cause of B12 hypovitaminosis and / or iron deficiency.) vitamin D and calcium or increased incidence of prostate cancer with a shortage of vitamin E and selenium, is noticeable only when a statistical analysis of large samples - thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people, and often - when observed for several years.

Myth 4. Vitamins and minerals inhibit the absorption of each other.

This point of view is particularly actively defended by manufacturers and sellers of various vitamin-mineral complexes for separate administration. And in confirmation, they cite experimental data in which one of the antagonists was ingested in the usual amount, and the other in tenfold large doses (we mentioned vitamin B12 hypovitaminosis as a result of ascorbic addiction). Opinions of experts about the feasibility of dividing the usual daily dose of vitamins and minerals into 2–3 tablets differ in accuracy to the contrary.

Myth 5. "These" vitamins are better than "Tech."

Usually, multivitamin preparations contain at least 11 out of 13 vitamins known to science and about the same amount of mineral elements, each from 50 to 150% of the daily value: components whose shortage is extremely rare are less, and there are fewer substances that are particularly useful for all or some population groups, just in case more. Norms in different countries differ, including depending on the composition of traditional food, but not by much, so you can ignore who established this standard: the American FDA, the WHO European Bureau or the USSR State Committee for Health. In the preparations of the same company, specially developed for pregnant and lactating women, the elderly, athletes, smokers, etc., the number of individual substances may vary several times. For children, from infants to adolescents, also select the optimal dosage. As for the rest, as they once said in the commercial, all are the same! But if on the packaging of a “unique natural food supplement from environmentally friendly raw materials” the percentage of the recommended norm is not indicated or it is not written at all how many milligrams and micrograms or international units (IU) one portion contains, this is a reason to think.

Myth 6. The newest legend.

A year ago, the media around the world spread news: Swedish scientists have proven that vitamin supplements kill people! Taking antioxidants increases the death rate by an average of 5% !! Separately, vitamin E - by 4%, beta-carotene - by 7%, vitamin A - by 16% !!! And even more - for sure, many data on the dangers of vitamins remain unpublished!

It is very simple to confuse cause and effect in a formal approach to the mathematical analysis of data, and the results of this study provoked a wave of criticism. From the regression and correlation equations obtained by the authors of the sensational study (Bjelakovic et al., JAMA, 2007), the opposite and more plausible conclusion can be made: those older people who are worse off feel more sick and, accordingly, are dying. But another legend will probably be walking through the media and public consciousness for as long as other myths about vitamins.

It is no secret to anyone that vitamins and minerals are substances that are essential for any organism to maintain its normal vital activity.

Meanwhile, even with a full-fledged balanced diet, as a rule, the body does not receive certain trace elements and needs to be taken in addition. In this case, a special complex of vitamins and minerals comes to the aid of a person. It is urgently needed after winter and autumn, as well as in the postoperative period, after a protracted illness, during preparation for pregnancy and childbirth, with serious daily mental loads and in a number of other cases.

If you want to know how to become healthy with the help of vitamin complexes, you need to familiarize yourself with some rules, because the main thing is not to buy this complex and start taking it, the main thing is to know how to do it correctly, only then can it bring with it benefits.

How to take the complex?

Today, manufacturers of multivitamin complexes offer a wide range of their products, differing in dosage and content. That is why, just before starting to use any of the drugs, although they are dispensed without a doctor's prescription, it is initially worth getting the approval of a medical therapist.

Meanwhile, if a woman is planning a pregnancy or is already at some stage of gestation, as well as young children under 7 years old, it is possible to use such vitamin-mineral complexes exclusively for the intended purpose and doctor's recommendations in certain doses indicated by them.

Children with a year old should take multivitamin complexes exclusively in drops or as a gel. Children born in the spring or winter period, as well as those who have rickets, usually need additional fortification.

Adults for the prevention of beriberi need to use vitamins and minerals in the following dosages: one capsule or dragee after breakfast once a day for a whole month every day. If there is an acute need for vitamins, it is worth taking drugs one pill or a capsule twice a day: in the morning after breakfast the first time and after dinner the second.

You need to take the pills with the usual clear water  without gases. After a month of taking the drug, it is imperative to take a break of at least one week, but it’s best 10 days after that, if there is a need, you can continue taking it. The prophylactic course of taking multivitamins is usually carried out 2-3 times a year, mainly in spring and winter.

If the vitamin-mineral complexes are prescribed by a doctor, then the treatment course must necessarily take place under his strict control. With vitamin deficiency usually prescribed water-soluble vitamins, which you need to take all the time. They do not accumulate inside the body, such as fat-soluble drugs, and therefore, even with regular use, do not bring with them harm to health. Fat-soluble vitamins, we note, accumulate in the liver and tissues. These include vitamins K, E, D and A.

5 months ago

By the end of winter, many complain of deterioration of the skin, hair, nails. Most solve this problem by taking vitamin complexes, but there is a version that synthetic vitamins are not absorbed. BeautyHack gathered alternative expert opinions.

We understand the terminology

Often the lack of vitamins in the body is called avitominoz, and this is a gross mistake. Avitaminosis is a severe pathological condition, accompanied by exacerbation of chronic diseases, fatigue, irritability, hair loss, dermatitis, gingival bleeding, acne in all parts of the body, sleep disturbance. It occurs during prolonged absence (from several months) or deficiency in the diet of certain vitamins. In rare cases, avitaminosis can cause serious diseases: rickets, beriberi, pellagra.

In late winter and early spring, many suffer from hypovitaminosis, the cause of which is a significant decrease in the amount of vegetables and fruits in the diet. For those who try to eat as many fresh salads as possible during the cold season, we have bad news: over the past few years, the content of vitamins and minerals in foods has decreased significantly.

This was confirmed at the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. 1963 was the starting point. It turned out that since that time the content of vitamin A in apples and oranges has decreased by 66%. Therefore, in order to provide the body with a daily dose of retinol (another name for vitamin A), today we will have to eat three fruits instead of one. Scientists attribute this to changes in ecology and climatic conditions.

And that's not it. By spring, the content of vitamins in last year's fruits is reduced by at least 30%, and in their greens it becomes less by 40-60% a day after harvest.

Wanting to compensate for the lack of nutrients from food, we buy synthetic vitamin complexes. About 200 multivitamin preparations are officially registered in our country (do not confuse with dietary supplements). However, some experts consider them useless.

Word accusation

The main argument of supporters of the uselessness of vitamin complexes is the different chemical composition of natural and synthetic vitamins.

Indeed, in laboratories, the formula is reproduced in part. For example, vitamin C, contained in citrus fruits, consists of 7 ascorbic acid isomers. In synthetic vitamin C only 1 isomer.

A similar story with vitamin E: 1 tocopherol from 8 is synthesized in the laboratory. And this is not happening because it is impossible to completely repeat the formula. Synthesis of isomers of vitamins is an expensive process and even the largest pharmacological companies are not interested in such spending.

The most powerful vitamin-mineral complexes are absorbed by no more than 10%. There is a logical explanation for this. Synthetic drugs have a different composition: there can be more than ten active substances. After such a pill has been ingested, the concentration of vitamins in the intestines, cells and blood flow rises sharply. It is stressful for the body, it tries to get rid of the "superfluous" by all means available to it: enhanced work of the liver and kidneys.

"For the synthesis of vitamin A, acetone and formaldehyde are used, vitamin PP is often produced from nylon 6.6 - synthetic fiber, which is used to create protective mats, airbags and seat belts, cable ties, and B1 serves as raw material for coal tar," writes Catherine.

For several years, Price studied the science of nutrition, visited laboratories and pharmaceutical factories, communicated with world-class specialists and found no reasonable arguments in defense of synthetic vitamin complexes.

Word protection

Supporters of vitamins in the form of tablets and powders believe that synthetic vitamins are not inferior to natural. Argument: Many of them, despite the arguments of Katherine Price, are obtained from natural raw materials. For example, vitamin PP is predominantly from citrus peel, not nylon, B12 is from a bacterial culture similar to those found in the intestines.

Unlike fruits, synthetic drugs do not lose their properties until the expiration date - another argument of vitamin complex lovers.

“Both sides are partly right,” says chemist and personal trainer Marina Moiseeva. - Raw materials for the production of many vitamins - synthetic substances that are used even for the production of furniture. But there are complexes consisting of 100% natural ingredients. If we talk about digestibility, then with a low content of protein in the body, natural vitamins will not be absorbed, as well as other useful and necessary substances. In this case, you need to contact your doctor for the appointment of correct treatment.

Fat-soluble vitamins are not absorbed without emulsified fats. Therefore, fresh carrot juice is always served with cream! Manufacturers of fat-soluble vitamins (A, E and others) take this into account and implement them in gelatin capsules with an oil base. Whether vitamin complexes help or not can always be determined by the state of your skin, hair and nails. In the autumn-winter period, I always take vitamin-mineral complexes. I prefer those that contain calcium, potassium, fluorine and other micro and macro elements that strengthen bones and cell walls. ”

Text: Natalia Kapitsa

  Vitamin complexes. How to take vitamins?

  What vitamins to take, vitamin complex, vitamin D in foods? How to get answers to questions that people have when they start thinking about the benefits of vitamins for their health and the health of their children?

On the Internet now you can find a lot of information on this topic. We decided to write a little about it, to tell you about how to properly take vitamins, what are fortified and fortified foods.

Of course, you can meet such people who do not believe in the benefit of vitamins and deny their effects on the body. Typically, these people do not feel well, they can be given much more years than they really are.

But at the same time, they stubbornly deny any new information for them. Sometimes, under the influence of circumstances, they have to change their point of view. After that, they begin to take the recommended daily intake of vitamins, and do it all the time.

The main questions that people often ask about vitamins.

A question that interests people: is it possible to get addicted to vitamins?

Such cases are not observed. Taking vitamins only helps our body and can not harm.

If a person (for example, an athlete) takes very large doses of vitamin C every day, and then stops doing it, then a reaction will appear: the body will miss this vitamin. But such cases are rare.

Girl, show me, please, a juicer.

Sorry, I am somehow not strong in pantomime ...

Is it true that vitamin D helps strengthen all the bones of our body?

Yes, it is, vitamin D has an effect on the human skeleton.

Where do we get this vitamin from?

Milk is one of the sources of this vitamin. In addition, when exposed to sunlight, our skin produces vitamin D. Therefore, do not completely hide from the sun, try to be in the sun at least a few minutes a day.

Exercise has a very good effect on the body, try to run or just walk, love hiking on weekends.

If you consume foods that have a lot of calcium, it will only strengthen your bones, they will be more durable, which is very important for your health.

Vitamin D is believed to be poisonous in large quantities. If there is an excess of this vitamin, it can lead to abnormalities in the kidneys and heart.Therefore, an additional intake of this vitamin may be prescribed by a doctor who knows your state of health.

When take vitamins  and in what quantity? All at once or little by little during the day?

All vitamins are best taken with food, because it promotes good digestibility. It is not recommended to take all the vitamins at once, best of all, if you divide the vitamins for the whole day.

For example, at breakfast you can swallow one vitamin, at lunch - the second, and at the same time leave something for the evening meal.

Why do you need to do this? If you immediately swallow all the vitamins, they can not properly digest your body.

Why you can not drink vitamins, if you have not eaten?

A complex of vitamins can cause nausea or heartburn, because your stomach is empty, it begins to perceive vitamins as regular food, although this is not at all the case.

We are talking about vitamins of natural origin. Together with food, they are absorbed more efficiently and painlessly.

Vitamins are recommended to be taken with water room temperature  or juice.But if you want tovitamin E  or beta carotene  fully digested, make sure that along with the food you eat and fat. For example, butter on a sandwich.

What is the difference between products that are enriched with vitamins and simply fortified?

They explain to us that white bread is enriched with vitamins, although nothing is added to it during production.

Manufacturers in the process of withdrawal from the flour some nutrients. Fiber is removed from the fiber, many vitamins, folic acid and trace elements (magnesium, iron, chromium and zinc) are lost.

Therefore, in white bread, be sure to try to add thiamine, iron, niacin.

When enrichment returns: iron, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.

Why do we often hear that nutritionists recommend people to eat bread from germinated grains or wholemeal flour?

These foods contain a lot of nutrients that our body needs.

Talking on Skype around three in the morning:

Hello! What are you doing?

For sausage went.

Is it too late?

And my refrigerator works around the clock!

What is added to fortified foods?

The milk is usually added vitamins A andD. And these vitamins were not contained in milk. After adding the milk becomes fortified. Manufacturers do not add vitamins to all dairy products, so look what is written on the packages.

Pay attention to dry breakfasts, they are also often enriched with vitamins and microelements.

Is it true that manufacturers write on packages? Can you trust this information?

There are manufacturers that indicate the exact amount of all nutrients.Although there is always a margin of error. This is due to the fact that the exact amount of all substances contained in each package is difficult to trace.

There are also unscrupulous manufacturers who can write anything on a product, but not put the necessary substances.But consumers have long learned to distinguish quality products  and those that do not meet our requirements.

AT multivitamin  always indicate the exact number of all components. There are many regulatory bodies that monitor the quality of such products.

Do not forget about the difference between natural vitamins, which are absorbed almost completely, and synthetic vitamins. Vitamins made in the laboratory, our body can absorb only in a minimum quantity, they are simply excreted in the urine.

Many people think that when smoking all the vitamins in the body are completely destroyed. Is it really?

Yes, this is true, because smokers have all the antioxidants that are contained in their bodies are destroyed, only a small part remains. In order to raise the immunity, which is weakened due to this harmful habit, it is necessary to take vitamin C. Moreover, for all smokers the daily dose of this vitamin should be increased.

Remember that smoking causes many diseases? Therefore, the best thing is to quit smoking. Especially if you want to live a long time and stay healthy.

There is a misconception that you can continue to smoke and take vitamins so that heart and other serious illnesses do not appear.

Of course, you know that a lot of people die because of this harmful habit, and taking vitamins can not completely destroy the consequences that a smoker causes to his body?

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You're a fortune teller, - he was surprised, - but you do not know the road. Can't you tell fortunes?

I was wondering, ”answered the sly fortune-teller,“ and the cards answered me: ask the first comer.

Are there calories in vitamins or not?

There are no calories in vitamins. Sometimes manufacturers can add a small amount of sugar and starch. This is done to ensure that the suction process takes place as best as possible. Natural vitamins are involved in the reactions of enzymes to speed up the metabolic processes in the human body.

A question that interests many people: if you constantly drink vitamin C, then get sick with colds or not?

During the epidemics of infectious diseases, your body is affected by a mass of bacteria. If you constantly take vitamin C, then any disease will be much easier, there will be no complications, you will not suffer a cold as hard as people who reject the vitamins.

If someone who does not take vitamins, lays down with a temperature for a week, or even gets some complication, then a person who is constantly taking vitamins can only feel unwell. With this option, a runny nose will pass in one day, and there will be no cough at all.

But it cannot be said that you will not get sick, there are no such guarantees. So say doctors.

If you take vitamin C during a cold, it will help you better than the various drugs that pharmacies offer us.This is a very powerful tool for our body, it is effective and has no side effects.

Some people prefer snacking at fast food restaurants. Does this food affect the vitamins in our body?

You have to understand that in such restaurants you just satisfy your hunger, but do not get vitamins and other useful material. Moreover, refined food contributes to the fact that vitamins that entered the body earlier, will be quickly consumed.

Any refined food contains a lot of fat and sugar, remember this.

What effect does a mother's nutrition have on an infant if she does not consume meat products?

If a mother is a vegetarian, then a vitamin such as B 12 does not enter her body. It simply does not exist in a vegetarian diet. This can have a very negative impact on the health of the baby, especially on his nervous system.

If the child does not receive vitamin B 12, the pediatrician may even prescribe injections, which is extremely painful for the baby.

Otherwise, there may be a violation of the nervous system in a child.

A blood test can answer whether all the necessary substances enter your body.

There is one well-known fact: for some reason, people living in some places of our planet are themselves endowed with the ability to produce vitamin B 12 in the body.

We are talking about vegetarians who live in some provinces of India. And produce vitamin B 12 bacteria in the intestine.

Scientists have investigated some of these people who moved from India to other countries. It turned out that after the move the microorganisms stopped producing this important vitamin, the reasons for this are unknown.

We hope you got answers to the questions from this article what vitamins to takehow to do it correctly and why vitamin complexes  for our body.

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Hello to all!

When I worked in a pharmacy, I was asked a lot of very different tricky questions about the benefits.

Is there any sense of their ingestion, , is it true that synthetic vitamins suppress each other's actions, which ones are better and what?

All these questions had to be answered a lot and for a long time, and the buyer did not always trust my answers and knowledge.

And in one of the journals "New Pharmacy" an interview was published by professor, doctor of biological sciences, honored scientist of the Russian Federation, head of the laboratory of vitamins and mineral substances of the Institute of Nutrition, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Vladimir Borisovich SPIRICHEV

Who dispelled all the myths about vitamins. Therefore, if you are concerned about the same questions, and you want to know whether vitamins help and whether to take them, read this interview.

In your head, everything will decompose on the shelves and you will know for sure: do vitamins help and is there any use or benefit in synthetic vitamins?

Do vitamins help?

Myth one.

Drinking vitamin preparations from the pharmacy is useless. They are not digested.

- Well absorbed! Yes, the body spends less effort on it than for the absorption of vitamins from food. Extensive research has been conducted in animals and in human volunteers around the world. They put them on a diet devoid of any particular vitamin, and then parts of the subjects were given 10, 20, 50 mg of the pharmacy drug ascorbic acid, for example, and the other part - apples in such quantity that there was 10, 20, 50 mg of vitamin C. And they looked at how quickly and at what dose volunteers restore the normal level of enzymes carrying these vitamins, and when the external signs of beriberi disappear. So it turned out that both faster and more efficiently the body was restored on pharmaceutical preparations. The digestibility of vitamins from food products is, at best, 90–95%. In reality, it may be 50–60%, or it may even be absent altogether. Because the body needs a vitamin to first isolate the same apples from the protein, for example, to split off and integrate it into its protein. It takes time, during which part of the food does not have time to be processed and, together with dietary fiber and some vitamins, is excreted from the body. Vitamin B6, for example, is absorbed from meat by 90–95%, and from plant products - only by 5–50%. Vitamin B9 is 100% absorbed in synthetic form, as well as vitamin B 12.

The second myth.

During the illness, it is necessary to drink higher doses of vitamins.

- The therapeutic effect of high doses is not scientifically proven. But the lack of vitamins weakens the activity of the immune system. Our research has shown that a shortage of ascorbic acid in children 2-fold reduces the ability of white blood cells to destroy pathogenic microbes in the body. Therefore it would be more correct to say that it is necessary to drink vitamin complexes both during the illness, and before, and after, especially since we are constantly lacking vitamins. From food, we at best get half of what we need. Because we began to eat less. Over millions of years of evolution, the human body has adapted to a certain amount of vitamins and to a certain proportion of them. This quantity and this ratio is contained in about 1 kg of rye or 1 kg of wheat. Well, a little more meat man needs. But in modern life, when children go to school by bus and sit for textbooks or TVs for the whole day, it’s enough to eat 2350 kcal for 7–10 years, for 11–13– 2500–2750, otherwise obesity will occur and all related diseases. Is it possible to pick up a diet of 2.5 thousand calories so as to get the necessary amount of vitamins with food? The daily intake of vitamin C is contained in two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice or in 15 glasses of apple juice. Vitamin C from fresh vegetables and fruits can still be provided for yourself, but to do this you have to chew these fruits and vegetables all day without a break, I tried. But the remaining vitamins - is unlikely.
  In children, the need for vitamins is even higher than in adults; they need them to recover losses and to grow. And in our country ascorbic acid  - Vitamin C - normally only 20% of the population is provided. In 20–25% of Russians, its level in the body is below the norm even in summer.

The third myth.

It makes no sense to drink vitamins, included in a crowd in one dragee, they destroy each other there, and in the human body come into conflict.

- In fact, in the food that we eat at breakfast or at lunch, there are a variety of vitamins. But we are not afraid that they neutralize each other in our body.
Before the vitamins start working, the body performs 2-3 operations with them, embeds them in enzymes, and it is naive to believe that it does not know how to cope with this task. Another thing, if you type in one syringe solution with ascorbic acid and a solution with vitamin B12, then yes, the latter will collapse. But the correct arrangement of vitamins and minerals in one dragee, so that they do not come into contact with each other and are not oxidized by exposure to air, is already a matter of the pharmacological industry. And she does an excellent job with this. Vitamins are so “packed” in a lozenge or dragee that do not oxidize, do not collapse and retain all of their beneficial features  from 2 to 7 years.
  When some manufacturers divide intake of vitamins and minerals into two doses, they use a clever advertising move. But this move is good, at least in that the part of the population that was wary of vitamin complexes, is now not afraid to take them. In fact, firms betray the need for virtue: not only vitamins but minerals are difficult to fit into one dragee - the dragee is already very large. We, for example, one calcium need 1 g per day. Most of it in the chalk - 40%. So, in the dragee you need to include 2.5 g of chalk. This is not a small ball. But there must also enter other minerals and vitamins!

Myth Four.

Vitamin complexes can not be taken continuously, you need to take breaks.

- I understand that the example of another person does not teach anything, but still I will say: I myself have been drinking vitamin preparations for more than 30 years every day after breakfast. And I give them to my grandchildren every day.
  Do not want to take vitamin preparations in the summer - take a break. In the summer, the situation with vitamins in the body of our children is better, especially with ascorbic acid. But in winter and spring, it is necessary to give the child ascorbine at least 50 mg per day. What our children still lack is vitamins of group B. 70–80% of children have a lack of them.
  And girls need to take folic acid so that later they have healthy children.
  From minerals, all our children lack iodine (buy iodized salt), iron and calcium. Preparations with iron must take girls who have already begun menstruation. And iron, by the way, is not absorbed without ascorbic and folic acids. So from this point of view, drinking vitamin complexes is justified.