Vitamins – Do we really need them?

Abstract

Vitamins are substances that the human body needs to grow and develop normally. We get vitamins from food, because the human organism either does not produce enough of them, or none at all. Your body can also make vitamins D and K and vitamin from B complex vitamins. The main sources of vitamins are: fruit, vegetables, meat. Vitamins are classified as either water-soluble or fat-soluble. Vitamins perform many roles in our body: they help shore up bones, heal wounds, and bolster the immune system. They also convert food into energy, and repair cellular damage. Insufficient amounts of vitamins in the diet may cause deficiency diseases such as night-blindness, beriberi, anaemia, scurvy, rickets, bleeding diathesis. However, a group of researchers are now saying that vitamins may be doing some people more harm than good when they are taken in higher doses than recommended. According to Dr. Edgar Miller (2005) from Johns Hopkins University, ‘High-dosage vitamin E supplementation may increase all-cause mortality’.