Vitamin B

Vitamin B is a water-soluble vitamin that exists in three major chemical forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine. It performs a wide variety of functions in your body and absolutely irreplaceable for your good health. There are a whole group of vitamins with joint name vitamin B. As a matter of convenience for non medical men they have different numbers that are easier to get by rote than their names as pharmaceutical substances.

Importance:
• necessary for the synthesis and breakdown of amino acids, the building blocks of protein;
• aids in fat;
• the most important frame to maintain the central nervous system;
• benefit in the removal of excess fluid;
• provides healthy skin;
• helps maintain a proper balance of sodium and phosphorous in the body.

Symptoms of deficiency:
• exanthema
• loss of muscular control
• anemia
• nervousness
• hyposomnia
• mouth disorders
• muscular weakness
• dermatitis
• loss of hair
• slow learning

The B vitamins are eight water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cellular metabolism:

• Vitamin B1 (deficiency causes panneuritis epidemica, symptoms of this nervous system disease include weight loss and nervous breakdown);

• Vitamin B2 (deficiency causes ariboflavinosis, symptoms may include cheilosis (cracks in the lips), high sensitivity to sunlight);

• Vitamin B3 (deficiency, along with a deficiency of tryptophan causes pellagra, symptoms are aggression, dermatitis, hyposomnia, weakness, obnubilation and diarrhea);

• Vitamin B5 (deficiency can result in acne and paresthesia);

• Vitamin B6 (deficiency may lead to anemia, depression, dermatitis, high blood pressure);

• Vitamin B7 (deficiency may lead to infants’ neurological disorders and growth inhibition) the secondary name is vitamin H;

• Vitamin B9 (deficiency results in a macrocytic anemia, in pregnant women can lead to birth defects) the secondary name is vitamin M;

• Vitamin B12 (deficiency causes macrocytic anemia, memory loss and other cognitive scarcity. It can also cause symptoms of mania and mental affection).

The richest natural sources of vitamin B:

B1 - crops, ale-yeast, liver, oranges, pea, raisins, potatoes, rough rice, kidney bean;

B2 - eggs, liver, meat, milk, buckwheat, porridge oat, sprouted kernel, banana;

B3 - oranges, peanut, banana, pea, sprouted kernel, broccoli, eggs, liver, meat, milk, sunflower seeds, lens;

B6 - ale-yeast, liver, chicken meat, curd, potatoes, buckwheat, pea, sprouted kernel, cabbage, sunflower seeds, lens, soy, hazel-nut, banana, shellfish, salmon;

B9 - ale-yeast, banana, sprouted kernel, cabbage, beans, green leaf vegetables, punch, lettuce, beet-root, grass, chicory, citrus, citrus juice, liver, meat, lens;

B12 - eggs, liver, bonito, sardine, alec, cottage cheese, chicken meat, beef, flounder, liverwurst, milk, dairy produce, swiss cheese;

B4 - eggs, liver, peanut, sprouted kernel, cabbage, porridge oat, rice, soy, lens;

B8 - sprouted kernel, cabbage, melon, carrot, potatoes, beet-root, tomatoes, strawberry.

Vitamin A

The detection of vitamin A have fallen within a period from 1906 to 1917 when a "fat-soluble factor A" (vitamin A) was discovered practically shortly before a "water-soluble factor B" (Vitamin B). It was first synthesized in 1947 by two David Adriaan van Dorp and Jozef Ferdinand Arens.

This vitamin plays an essential role in vision, particularly night vision, normal bone and tooth development, reproduction, and the health of skin and mucous membranes (the mucus-secreting layer that lines body regions such as the respiratory tract). Vitamin A is also a well known antioxidant, a protective chemical that may reduce the risk of certain cancers.

So Vitamin A is significant in a variety of body functions, such as:
• Vision
• Gene transcription
• Immune function
• Embryonic development and reproduction
• Bone metabolism
• Haematopoiesis
• Skin health (is necessary to maintain normal skin health)
• Reducing risk of heart disease
• Antioxidant Activity

There are two sources of dietary vitamin A. Active forms, which are immediately available to the body, are derived from animal products. These forms are known as retinoids. Precursors, also known as provitamins, which must be converted to active forms by the body, are obtained from fruits and vegetables containing yellow, orange and dark green pigments, known as carotenoids, the most well-known being beta-carotene.

Vitamin A is abundant in

- Animal products: liver, butter, milk toppings, cheese, vitellus, fish-oil, liver of sea animals;
- Bright orange vegetables: carrots, a pumpkin, a sweet potato, tomatoes;
- Dark green sheet vegetables: spinach, dock, sheet cabbage, beet leaves, marrow squash, grass, chicory;
- Bright orange fruit: apricots, a melon-muskmelon, a mango, watermelon, sea-buckthorn;
- Sea-buckthorn-oil.

Vitamin A is fat-soluble and body can preserve it. Most of the vitamin A you get is preserved in the liver. When it is necessary, the liver releases some vitamin A, and it is delivered by the blood to the particular part of the body.

Recommended daily intake:

Children: 1-3 years – 300 mg\day, 4-8 years – 400 mg\day;
Teens: boys 9-13 years – 600 mg\day, boys 14 -18 years – 900 mg\day, girls 9-13 years – 600 mg\day, girls 14 -18 years – 700 mg\day;
Females: after 20 years – 700 mg\day;
Pregnancy: before 19 years – 750 mg\day, after 19 years – 770 mg\day;
Lactation: before 19 years – 1200 mg\day, after 19 years – 1300 mg\day;
Males: after 20 years – 900 mg\day.