Vitaminas

VITAMINS AND MINERALS: UNDERSTANDING THEIR ROLE
The Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients—because acting in concert, they perform hundreds of roles in the body. They help shore upbones, heal wounds, and bolster your immune system. They also convert food into energy, and repair cellular damage.
vitamins and minerals are different. Vitamins ("vita" = life and "amine" =containing nitrogen) are organic (containing carbon, which is an element found in all living things) compounds (containing atoms of one or more different elements). Minerals are pure inorganic elements(containing atoms of the same element), meaning they are much simpler in chemical form than vitamins. All vitamins are essential or required by our bodies, whereas only some minerals are essential nutrients.Vitamins are vulnerable to heat, light, and chemical agents, so cooking, food preparation, processing, and storage must be appropriate to preserve vitamins in food. Minerals, on the other hand, aremore stable to food preparation, but mineral loss can occur when they are bound to other substances in foods (such as oxalates found in spinach and tea, and phytates found in legumes and grains),making them unavailable for the body to utilize.
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WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS
Vitamins are essential organic substances that are needed in small amounts in thediet for the normal function, growth, and maintenance of body tissues. Water-soluble vitamins consist of the B vitamins and vitamin C. With exception of vitamin B6 and B12, they are readily excreted inurine without appreciable storage, so frequent consumption becomes necessary. They are generally nontoxic when present in excess of needs, although symptoms may be reported in people taking megadosesof niacin, vitamin C, or pyridoxine (vitamin B6). All the B vitamins function as coenzymes or cofactors, assisting in the activity of important enzymes and allowing energy-producing reactions to...