Essential vitamins good for health

We hear a lot about vitamins these days, and not just mom barking, “Take your vitamins!”

We’re more likely to hear, “Take your vitamins because they’ll prevent cancer and heart disease and keep your bones strong.”

But will they? And if a little is good for you, is a lot better?

Linus Pauling claimed that mega doses of vitamin C would stave off the common cold. Were his claims backed by science? What are vitamins anyway?

Millions of little chemical reactions take place in our bodies every day. Somehow the food we eat needs to turn into energy to drive the engines that keep us going. If left to their own devices these reactions would take forever and our engines would go nowhere. This is where vitamins come in. They act as catalysts to spur the reactions. Vitamins are essential for normal growth and activity.

Except for vitamin D, which our bodies produce when we are exposed to sunlight (a preciously rare commodity here during an Inland Northwest winter), we don’t make our own vitamins. We need to consume them, and a well-balanced diet will get us most of what we need, and we don’t need a whole lot for normal body functions.

It wasn’t until the last few centuries that diseases like rickets and scurvy were found to be the result of dietary deficiencies. Scurvy, the result of too little vitamin C, led to the death of many sailors who, away at sea for months and even years, ate only nonperishable foods. No fresh oranges for those sailors. But a clever Scottish naval surgeon found that he could cure scurvy with oranges and lemons. The British navy began distributing rations of lime juice for sailors on long sea voyages. (In case you wondered why British sailors are called limeys, now you know!)

Fortunately, we don’t have to deal much with vitamin deficiency diseases in this country. Many of our foods are fortified with vitamins, and most Americans don’t have to worry about malnutrition. But these diseases are still common in developing countries where poverty, drought and war mean food supplies are anything but guaranteed. It’s been said that there is enough food in this world to go around; we just have to get it to the right places.

Lately, medical literature has been filled with confusion about the benefits of supplemental vitamins. We do know it is possible to get too much of a good thing, especially when we’re dealing with the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fat-soluble vitamins are not eliminated from the body easily and build up in the liver. Vitamin A is essential for normal bone growth, but recent studies show that too much vitamin A increases the risk of hip fractures in post-menopausal women. While too little vitamin D may lead to weakened bones, too much can lead to high blood calcium levels and kidney failure.

Even water-soluble vitamins like C and B can cause problems in mega doses. Too much vitamin C can cause stomach upsets. Too much vitamin B can affect peripheral nerves leading to decreased position sense and ataxia, the loss of control of body movement.

Much has been touted about the antioxidant properties of vitamins E, C and beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A). Perhaps they can help prevent heart disease or even stave off cancer. But the scientific jury is still out on this one.

Here’s what we do know: Women of childbearing age should make sure they get enough folic acid by way of diet or supplements to decrease the risk of brain and spinal cord abnormalities in their children. We should make sure we get enough vitamin D to keep our bones strong.

A well-balanced diet and a multivitamin supplement should do the trick for all our vitamin needs.