Vitamins for Skin and Hair Care! Part 1.

Vitamins (from lat. vita - Life) - a physiologically active organic compounds of different chemical nature. They are absolutely necessary for normal life. They are indispensable nutrients (except nicotinic acid), because they are not synthesized in the human’s body and come mostly with the food. Vitamins are involved in all processes of metabolism in the organism.

So, the main source of vitamins is vegetable and meat. People know more than 20 natural vitamins in plants and meat. The value of certain foods that support health was recognized before vitamins were discovered and studied. For example, even the ancient Egyptians knew that feeding a patient with liver helps to cure evening blindness, a disease caused by deficiency of vitamin A.

Remember! Well-balanced diet provides the human organism with vitamins and minerals completely. Most people do not need additional use of drugs

Vitamins in food

Vitamin A (retinol). Pro-vitamin A or carotene, contained in plants, turns into vitamin itself in the human body. You can find carotene in carrots, tomatoes, beets, parsley and onions, St. John's wort, nettle, yarrow, melon, pumpkin, gooseberry, raspberry, plums, currants, apricots, peaches, fruits of sea buckthorn, wild rose, nuts. Lack of vitamin A in the body can lead to hair fragility, dryness and peeling of skin, wrinkles, acne, or brittle nails.

Vitamin B1 (thiamin) is needed for different forms of acne, seborrhea, pigment spots, dermatitis, prolapse and poor hair growth, hair graying. This vitamin is contained in the nettles, bananas, grapes, raspberries, lemons, watermelons, flax, cabbage, potatoes, beets, pubs, strawberries, wheat and rice bran, St. John's wort.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) helps with seborrhea, seborrheic hair loss, pink and ordinary acne, cracks and sores in the mouth corners and rejuvenates ageing skin. This vitamin is found in cereals, pubs, cabbage, potatoes, onions, apricots, oranges, lemons, strawberries, raspberries, sea buckthorn, nettles, rhubarb, chamomile.

Homegrown Vitamins and Minerals

Looking for one more reason why growing some of your own vegetables and fruit makes sense? Take into account the one you might not have considered: nutritional content. While the washed and waxed produce at your local supermarket might look full of vitamins and minerals, a recent scientific report finds otherwise.

In fact products in the US not only tastes worse than it did ages ago, it also contains smaller amount of nutrients. The average vegetable found in today's supermarket is anywhere from five to forty percent lower in minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium and zinc, than those harvested just fifty years ago. Three kinds of facts point toward declines of some nutrients in fruits and vegetables available in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Today's vegetables might be bigger, but if you think that means they contain more nutrients, you would be wrong. Gigantic products contain more 'dry matter' than anything else, which dilutes minerals and vitamins. So, when it comes to growing food, less is more. Also, there is the 'genetic dilution effect,' in which selective breeding to increase crop yield has led to declines in protein, amino acids, and many minerals. Because nearly ninety percent of dry matter is carbohydrates, when breeders select for high yield, they are, in fact, selecting for high carbohydrate with no assurance that dozens of other vitamins and minerals will all increase in proportion to yield.'

Thanks to the growing rise of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, modern yield are being produced faster than ever before. However, quick and early harvests mean the produce has less time to absorb nutrients either from synthesis or from the soil, and minerals like potassium in some fertilizers often hinder plant's ability to take up nutrients. Monoculture farming is one more characteristic of the modern days - have also led to soil-mineral depletion, which, in turn, affects the nutrient content of crops. These facts provide evidence that supplementing your store-bought vegetables with store-bought vitamins and minerals might not be the solution either. When in doubt, grow your own and, if you can't do that, buy from those farmers, who are taking good care of their soil.

Vitamins and Minerals ABC

Vitamins and minerals are called micronutrient elements. They are needed in much smaller quantities than the proteins, fats and carbohydrates, but also play an important role in healthy nutrition. They help the body to function normally and stay healthy. Some minerals implemented in the body tissues, for example, bones and teeth contain calcium and fluoride, and blood contains iron.

Iron is an essential component of red blood cells and is essential for maintaining normal functioning of all cells of the body. Anemia caused by iron deficiency - the most common nutritional problem in the world. This problem can be very serious for children and women of childbearing age, especially for pregnant women, but also affects men and older women. It leads to a sluggishness (low working ability), problems in learning, poor growth and development, increased morbidity and maternal mortality during childbirth. The best sources of iron are meat, fish, poultry, liver and other internal organs. Iron is also found in beans, dark green vegetables with large leaves and dried fruit, but this iron is not assimilated as iron from animal food. Vitamin C, along with vegetables - sources of iron, can help digestion and utilization of more iron.

Vitamin A is essential for building and maintaining healthy tissues throughout the body, especially the eyes, skin, bones and tissues of the respiratory system and digestive system. It is very important for the effective functioning of the immune system. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to night blindness, serious eye injury and even to permanent blindness. Vitamin A deficiency can also lead to increased sickliness and death from infections. Vitamin A is found in natural form in foods of animal origin, particularly in breast milk, liver, eggs and many dairy products. However, many fruits and vegetables contain a dark pigment called carotene, which the body can transform into vitamin A. Carrot, dark yellow and orange sweet potatoes, mangoes and papaya are rich in carotene.

Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid, vitamin B12 and biotin belong to the so-called group of vitamin B. Vitamin B are required for cleavage of carbohydrates, fats and proteins into energy and for use in the construction and rebuilding of body tissues. The shortage of these vitamins can lead to serious consequences, including muscle weakness, paralysis, mental abuses, violations of the nervous system, problems with digestion of food, cracking and peeling of the skin, severe anemia and heart failure.

Folate (folic acid, folatsin) is required for formation of healthy red blood cell, and its deficiency is usually the cause of anemia among women and children. Lack of folate during pregnancy can cause birth defects. It is important to eat the food rich in vitamin B daily - the dark green vegetables, ground nuts, beans, peas, cereals, meat, fish and eggs.

Vitamin C is needed to enhance the absorption of iron to form the collagen (connective tissue) that bind the cells of the body and serve as antioxidants. Prolonged deficiency of vitamin C can lead to fatal scurvy. Symptoms of scurvy include bleeding gums, painful and swollen joints. Most fruits, especially citrus and guava as well as many vegetables, including potatoes, are good sources of vitamin C. Fresh fruits and vegetables are vitamin C rich.

Vitamin D is especially important to help the body to assimilate calcium. Cod-liver oil, eggs and milk contain vitamin D; the skin on sunlight also produces it. Lack of vitamin D can cause rickets - a disease that softens and deformed bones of young children.

Calcium and phosphorus are important for maintaining the body and strong healthy bones and teeth. Milk and dairy products are an excellent source of calcium and phosphorus.

Iodine is essential for normal growth and development. Lack of iodine in the diet can lead to exophthalmic goitre (swelling of the thyroid gland) and mental deficiency. Iodine is contained in marine products and products grown in iodine rich soils. In areas with a low content of iodine is necessary to add iodine in food, typically using iodized salt.