Vitamins and New Terminology

Vitamins are an important part of our daily diet. Our body needs more than calories to meet its needs. If the body cannot make the vitamins it needs, it must be consumed in the daily diet or taken as a supplement. They are called essential nutrients and done so for a reason. They help keep out body functioning normally and many will work only with another vitamin. Popular belief is the more vitamins you take the better your health will be. That isn’t necessarily true. Taking more of one nutrient will not make up for not having enough of another vitamin. If you are taking too much of one vitamin and not enough of another, you may still be disrupting your bodily functions because one vitamin missing could mean a disruption in the way another vitamin works.

Vitamins are divided into two types fat-soluble and water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D, E, and vitamin K. They can’t be absorbed without the help of dietary fat, and any excess is stored in fatty tissues and organs. You do not need to take in fat-soluble vitamins every day because the body has the ability to store it. It can be harmful because it can cause an unhealthy build up in the body.

Water-soluble vitamins are stored in the water tissues and any excess amounts are easily expelled from the body by urination. Your body needs ten vitamins that are water-soluble. You shouldn’t consume too much of any water-soluble vitamin. A good vitamin supplement with 50 to 100 percent of the recommended intake is plenty for what your body needs. Experts believe you should get your recommended nutrients through your diet, but sometimes that isn’t possible. A good multivitamin will give your body the essential nutrients it needs for each day.

Terminology has been changing in the last few years about common terms for nutrient needs. Recommended Dietary Allowance, or RDA still exists as a term but not applied to all nutrients. The recommended dietary allowance is what a healthy man or woman of any age group needs each day.

New terminologies used for dietary nutrients are becoming better known and adjusts to different age groups and needs. Estimated Average Requirement, or EAR is the intake that will meet the estimated needs of a minimum of half the individuals in any age group.

Adequate Intake is a measure to decide if a group of individuals is receiving nutrients for normal functions of the body. Adequate intake is determined by health, growth rate, and other health factors. It is not the same as recommended dietary allowance and is often used when estimated average requirement is not available.

UL, or upper limit is the highest amount of intake a person can take and have no health reactions. This is used for the general population and if the upper limit is surpassed it could cause adverse health reactions.

Dietary Reference Intake is the term that combines all four of the above values. As scientists and researchers learn more about nutrients and nutrient shortage diseases, they are able to adjust the amount of nutrients our body needs to remain healthy.