When it comes to diet and nutrition, the only truth that is not in doubt is the usefulness of vitamins. Science journalist Catherine Price wondered: what if our blind faith in vitamins and the food habits associated with it are not only good but bad for us?
As a result, the book "Vitamania: A History of Our Vitamin Obsession" was published. Recently, this fascinating study was published in Russian in the MIF publishing house. The most interesting conclusions are in our today's article.
HOW THIS WAS
Vitamins were discovered just over a century ago, and this discovery marked a real breakthrough in the science of nutrition, brought deliverance and protection from many terrible diseases. Soon, however, vitamins moved from the laboratories of scientists to the offices of food manufacturers and healed their independent lives. By the end of the Second World War, they became available in completely unbelievable forms: vitamin-enriched nut oil, chewing gum with vitamins, and even fortified doughnuts.
It did not confuse the general public at all - on the contrary, people were eagerly demanding more and more. So came the era of "vitamania", as one of the journalists of the 1940s aptly put it. And to this day, we remain, unbridled vitamin addicts, convinced of the unconditional usefulness of vitamins, while even scientists have not yet fully understood what in reality vitamins are created in the body and how much we need them.
WHY DO WE NEED VITAMINS?
One fact, however, cannot be questioned: vitamins are indispensable. The thirteen organic substances that make up the foodstuffs called vitamins are constantly affecting us, helping us to think and talk, move and extract energy from the food we eat, and even distinguish between the letters in this book.
Despite their differences in terms of their chemical properties, every single vitamin plays an important role in our metabolism - the metabolism of substances that takes place in the form of intracellular chemical reactions. Although we are hardly aware of the continuous flow of these reactions, our lives depend on them. They are needed to simply walk down the street or read a book. Our metabolism is not just one of the facets of life: it is our life!
However, the common problem with all these reactions is their very low speed. And if they are allowed to flow by themselves, life will end up frozen in place. Our bodies cope with this barrier with the help of so-called enzymes, large protein molecules capable of triggering and accelerating these important chemical reactions. Sometimes, thanks to enzymes, they flow millions of times faster than if they were left to themselves. But the body often needs help creating these enzymes, just as enzymes need help doing their job. That's where vitamins come in, performing two of their most important functions: helping the body to produce enzymes and helping enzymes to do their work. Enzymes need to consume vitamins to speed up their chemical reactions without breaking down, and most of these reactions require constant intake.
This explains why vitamin deficiency becomes a problem: without a constant flow of vitamins into the body, the reactions that require their participation will stall.
WHAT VITAMINS ARE NEEDED
There are exactly thirteen vitamins that humans really need: all of these are organic substances that we naturally get with food. Four vitamins are fat-soluble, so they need fats to be absorbed by the body: A, D, E, and K. The remaining nine are water-soluble: C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and B12.
HOW MUCH VITAMINS ARE NEEDED
In fact, scientists have not yet fully understood all the subtleties of the effects of vitamins on our bodies: how exactly do they do it and what can be the remote effects of severe vitamin deficiency. This, in turn, makes it extremely difficult to recommend healthy eating habits. Here's what the 2003 report of the Non-Governmental Commission on Nutrition and Foodstuffs at the National Academy of Sciences says: "Scientific research has never determined the optimal quantity of a product based on each person's age or sex - and neither can it be found in current nutritional guidelines.