Vitamins and minerals >>>> Vitamin therapy

Vitamin therapy.

Vitamin preparations can be called the most popular drugs that are freely available (since they are sold without a prescription) and are especially in demand among the population during the height of infections or in the spring time, when, according to most people, they lack vitamins. Naturally, the question arises, how does a person determine whether he needs vitamins at a certain point in time or not, which vitamins he needs and in what quantity?

The human body is a finely tuned biostructure that scans itself every second in order to identify and eliminate malfunctions, as well as replenish missing vital elements to maintain metabolic processes. The human body either synthesizes these vital structural elements on its own, or draws from outside, that is, the brain receives a signal to get the necessary substance from the environment.

Such compounds as vitamins , in the form and quantity in which they are needed for metabolic processes, the human body itself does not know how to synthesize, but can turn into vitamins that come with food components called provitamins. Provitamins are considered biochemical precursors of vitamins. They are synthesized by plant cells, and are converted into vitamins in animal and human cells. Animal products contain ready-made vitamins obtained as a result of synthesis from plants (from provitamins) consumed by animals for food.

It is difficult for a person to determine how much one or another foodstuffs containing provitamins and vitamins should be eaten , since when eating, he is guided by pleasant sensations and a sense of satiety, which stops the process of absorbing food. And if, at the same time, we take into account that the food might not contain any particularly useful substances, then the body will receive less of those chemical compounds that it counted on, causing a person to feel hungry.

Often, plants (fruits, vegetables, herbs) used for food do not contain any provitamins at all. This is due to the fact that the synthesis of provitamin complexes in plants occurs exclusively at the time of their growth and maturation (note that not at the time of their ripening in the torn form). If the plant is plucked in an immature form, then there will be no nutrients (except, of course, fiber) in it. And the ripening process is actually a delayed decay process, in which substances harmful to the human body are formed in the plant. Of course, many tricks have been invented today in order to slow down the decay processes: processing fruits and vegetables with special gas, waxes, but nature cannot be outwitted. And behind the beautiful red skin of a surprisingly ripe, say, apple.

To everything else, it is worth adding that vitamins are necessary for the body in a strictly defined amount, which means that a lack of vitamins will cause certain failures in systems and organs, as well as an excess of them.

For such cases, vitamin complexes were invented, synthesized on the basis of plant components or obtained by artificial reproduction of formulas of natural substances.

We all know for sure how to eat food containing provitamins or vitamins. It is enough to make a multi-component and varied diet. But not many people know how to use vitamin preparations correctly.

Let's list a few rules, guided by which, you can safely use factory vitamins as a supplement to your diet:

Vitamin preparations are a set of biologically active substances, which means that under any circumstances, their intake will affect the state of the body (in a good or bad sense) and this fact must be taken into account, that is, vitamin supplements cannot be taken just like that, uncontrollably and out of place.
Vitamin preparations are used precisely as an additive to food, which already contains a certain amount of plant provitamins or vitamins of animal origin.
The vitamin preparation must exactly complement the food. Let's say that your diet lacks some products that provide replenishment of a particular vitamin, and in this case, the pharmaceutical industry produces vitamins not in the form of complexes, but in the form of separate preparations containing a certain vitamin.
The seasonality of vegetables and fruits leads to the fact that at certain intervals the body does not receive the necessary complex of nutrients, including vitamins. This must be taken into account when using vitamin preparations.
Some substances impede the absorption of vitamins (sleeping pills, laxatives, tannins, antacids), interfere with their synthesis (antibiotics, improper combinations of vitamins with each other and with minerals), destroy vitamins (alcohol, nicotine, antibiotics) or promote their excretion from the body (diuretics).
The most common reasons for prescribing vitamin preparations are considered seasonal illnesses, vitamin deficiencies, prolonged stressful situations, prolonged physical activity (including sports), pregnancy and breastfeeding, and the harmful nature of the environment.

When deciding on the regular intake of vitamin preparations, you need to ask the question: "Do you really lack these vitamins and in this amount?" To answer this question correctly, first make a blood test (complex extended for a group of vitamins or for each of the vitamins), which will clarify the quantitative and qualitative composition of vitamins entering the body. This is necessary in order not to earn yourself hypervitaminosis. And also remember that in certain diseases vitamins are contraindicated (oncology), there are diseases in which not all vitamins can be consumed, since they will not benefit, but harm health (diabetes mellitus, stomach or intestinal ulcers, and others).