What they say about vitamin C. Vitamin C: the whole truth from myths to real advice. Misconceptions about vitamins

At different periods of life, our vitamin needs change.
How can we determine which vitamins we need most? What are the best sources to get them from?

Olga Ivanovna Denisova, head of the clinical pharmacology department of the Voronezh Regional Clinical Hospital, answers our readers’ questions.

“Tell me, can a woman independently understand that she lacks vitamins? What are the signs to tell when it’s time to take a multivitamin?”
Veronica Petrenko,
Krasnodar city
– Although each vitamin and microelement has its own “object of attention” in the body, vitamin deficiency manifests itself in most people with a classic set of symptoms.
These are drowsiness, fatigue, irritability, decreased attention and memory, rapid eye fatigue and decreased evening vision.
Women notice that their lips often crack, their nails peel, their hair becomes dull, breaks off, and falls out rapidly. With hypovitaminosis, people become vulnerable to all kinds of colds, boils appear, and wounds on the skin slowly heal.
Any of these symptoms should be a signal to consult a doctor and start taking multivitamins.

“Is it true that even fresh greenhouse vegetables contain fewer vitamins?”
Svetlana Danilova,
Borisoglebsk
- Unfortunately it is so. Moreover, this problem concerns not only greenhouses. Currently used methods of cultivating vegetables have led to the fact that the amount of vitamins A, B1, B2 and C in them has decreased by 30%. The vitamin E content of some vegetables has dropped significantly.
A lot depends on the soil and watering. Thus, the amount of vitamins in spinach from one crop can be 30 times less than in greens from another crop. Therefore, for example, it is extremely difficult to calculate the actual dose of vitamins received.
The content of microelements in products can vary even more significantly depending on the type of soil and fertilizers applied.
The most correct way out of this situation is to consult a doctor, who, based on the test results, will select the most suitable multivitamin complex.

“I smoke, sometimes I allow myself a few glasses of wine. What vitamins do I need most?”
Maria Lebedeva,
Naro-Fominsk,
Moscow region
– Bad habits increase our need for B vitamins. When smoking, the “consumption” of vitamins B1, B6, B12, folic acid and beta-carotene increases especially significantly. Smokers require a third more vitamin C than their non-smoking friends.
With frequent alcohol consumption, a significant deficiency of vitamin B6 and magnesium occurs. Bananas and nuts will help replenish the loss of this vitamin and microelement. And of course, to prevent health problems, you must take vitamin and mineral complexes.

"I am 29 years old. We want to conceive a second child in the near future. During my last pregnancy, I had quite severe anemia, which later manifested itself in the baby. Maybe I should take some vitamins and minerals before pregnancy?”
Serafima Pankratova,
Ivanovo
- You are absolutely right. You need to think about the health of your unborn child even before pregnancy. To decide which vitamins to use, consult your doctor. You definitely need to do tests for serum iron and hemoglobin levels in your blood. If these levels are below normal, you will need additional iron supplements.
If the tests are normal, then before pregnancy you can use any of the multivitamin complexes that do not exceed the daily dose of vitamins. Take it for about 1.5 months. Please note that in the first three months of pregnancy it is best not to take any medications at all, even multivitamins.
“What vitamins are most needed during stress?”
Galina Iskusnykh,
Moscow
– Any neuro-emotional and physical stress increases the consumption of vitamins. The body is especially sensitive to stress with hypovitaminosis. Therefore, first of all, you need to replenish your supply of vitamins. The most important vitamins during stress are B vitamins. They play an important role in the functioning of the nervous system. You can’t do without antioxidant vitamins: C, E, beta-carotene. If you have a deficiency of selenium, you need additional intake of this microelement.
But keep in mind that the healing effect of vitamins and microelements will only appear against the background of their previous deficiency. If the body receives the necessary vitamins, then you should not expect additional effects from increasing their dose.

“Is it true that vitamins from natural products are better absorbed by the body?”
Valentina Levteeva,
Rostov-on-Don
- Not certainly in that way. All vitamins produced by the medical industry are completely identical to those present in natural foods. They are identical in chemical structure.
The technology for producing vitamins and multivitamin products has been reliably proven. It guarantees high purity and good preservation of vitamins. By the way, vitamin C in medications is more preserved than in vegetables and fruits. In addition, natural vitamins can be found in foods in bound form.
However, food may contain substances that promote the physiological absorption of vitamins. That is why multivitamin complexes are recommended to be taken with meals, with a sufficient amount of liquid. If the package does not say “chewable,” then the tablet or dragee should be swallowed whole, without biting or chewing. Otherwise, some of the vitamins will be destroyed in the mouth and stomach.

What are they for, what products are they present in, do synthetic vitamins work, can you harm yourself with overdoses, and is it worth bothering with the vitamin issue in principle with a balanced diet. I’ll tell you about all this in simple, understandable language.

What are vitamins, what are they and why are they needed?

Vitamins(Latin vita - life and amin - amines) is a group of organic low-molecular compounds, different in chemical nature and physical and chemical properties, absolutely necessary for the normal functioning of the body. They are essential nutrients, since they are generally not synthesized by the human body and are supplied as part of food products. The only exception is nicotinic acid. In addition, vitamin C and a number of B vitamins are produced by normal intestinal microflora. But who has it completely normal is the question.

Why are these magical substances so necessary? Indeed, unlike macronutrients, such as amino acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, they are not plastic material and are not used by the body as an energy source, like carbohydrates or fat. The fact is that vitamins are involved in a variety of chemical transformations and have a regulating effect on metabolism. In fact, they are involved in almost all biochemical and physiological processes in the body.

There are two types of vitamins with their own specific functions:

1. Water soluble:
   • vitamin WITH(ascorbic acid) (very important for the absorption of iron, the formation of collagen - ligaments, joints, skin, strengthens the immune system);
   • R(bioflavonoids);
   • PP(nicotinic acid) (participates in many redox reactions);
   • group vitamins IN (B1– thiamine, B2-riboflavin, AT 3- pantothenic acid, AT 6- pyridoxine, AT 9- folic acid, AT 12- cobalamin) (participate in energy lipid and amino acid metabolism, in oxidation reactions and other transformations of fatty acids and sterols, are enzymes of nitrogen metabolism, participate in the breakdown of fatty acids and branched chain amino acids, are important for the nervous system, division and formation of new cells) .
2. Fat soluble:
   • vitamin A(retinol and carotenoids) (important for the eyes, the creation and functioning of the mucous membrane and skin);
   • D(calciferol) (participates in maintaining calcium homeostasis in the body; that is, the health of bones, teeth and other systems that use calcium and phosphates depends on it);
   • E(tocopherol) (biological antioxidant, protects cell membranes);
   • TO(K1 - phylloquinone, K2 - menaquinones, K3 - menadione) (participates in the process of blood clotting).

There are only 13 vitamins and their functions are actually much greater than those described above, but this is not a textbook. It is only important to understand that these are extremely important things.

But besides them there is also vitamin-like substances. They are somewhat different functionally from vitamins. Some perform a plastic function (choline and inositol). Some are synthesized in the body, for example, orotic and lipoic acids, as well as carnitine. F, that is, OMEGA-3-unsaturated fatty acids also belong to vitamin-like substances and are involved in a host of beneficial processes in the body (they have an anti-inflammatory effect, inhibit blood clotting, maintain the tone of blood vessels, normalize blood pressure, have antioxidant properties and are a structural component of cell membranes organism).

In addition, there are also so-called provitamins They are also precursors of fat-soluble vitamins, thanks to which the latter can be synthesized in the body. But these are completely higher matters.

It is more interesting to mention the main ones of the 30 known microelements, which, although in insignificant quantities (no more than 200 mg per day), are still necessary for the human body. In various types of multivitamin complexes, they are usually presented in the form of organic compounds: bromine, vanadium, iron, iodine, cobalt, silicon, manganese, copper, molybdenum, selenium, fluorine, chromium and zinc.

Interesting fact - acute iodine deficiency leads to diseases such as cretinism. Although this phenomenon no longer occurs in the form of the disease in the modern world (although in other forms - everywhere), a decrease in mental abilities of up to 15% with moderate iodine deficiency is quite a common fact. So use iodized salt and you will be happy.

We learned about the basic functions of vitamins, let's now look at the question of their content in food products.

Natural sources of vitamins

As I mentioned above, the main source of vitamins is food. Moreover, it is important that the diet is varied and here’s why:

• Vitamin A found in fish, eggs, butter, dairy products and vegetables.
• B vitamins are present almost in full in yeast, and in a separate form in eggs, meat (liver is especially rich), grain bran (this is why unrefined cereals, such as buckwheat or wholemeal bread with bran, are important), potatoes, mushrooms, hard cheeses .
• Vitamin C rich in fresh fruits (especially lemons, black currants, oranges), vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes), rose hips.
• Vitamin D present in cod liver, eggs, yeast.
• A lot of vitamin E in unrefined grain products, herbs, vegetable oils.
• Vitamin K hides in fish, greens and liver.
• Fashionable among women Biotin(vitamin H- kind of good for hair and almost grows new ones, but this is all marketing nonsense) is present in yeast, milk, egg yolk, peanuts, chocolate (real, dark), mushrooms and vegetables.

It would seem that everything is fine - we eat meat, vegetables, eggs, dairy products, cheese, cereals and get a full range of vitamins, microelements and other benefits! Why “chemistry”, everything can be obtained naturally. But there are several problems here.

The most common- How many people eat normally? Only a few, to be honest. For the most part, they live on simple carbohydrates and refined, wildly processed food garbage. There are not just vitamins, but in principle there is little that is useful.

Second problem- there are not as many vitamins even in good, high-quality food as we would like or as it seems. Yes, animals or our monkey ancestors seem to have no problems with hypovitaminosis, but all they do for days is to push all sorts of roots, leaves, grass, predators - kilograms of meat into themselves. And the difference here is that these creatures consume foods in wild, raw and unprocessed form. In this form, the consumed products contain a maximum of vitamins and microelements.

For years, man has been engaged in the selection and breeding of various agricultural crops, focusing on taste and quantitative qualities, resistance to weeds and negative environmental influences, fertility, but not on the content of vitamins. That is, there are not many of these beneficial substances even in agricultural products from grandma’s garden.

Equally important is the nuance thermal and any other treatment food that destroys vitamins, which are in the form of very delicate biological compounds. A chopped salad made from fresh vegetables loses most of its vitamins within a few hours. Vitamin C is almost completely destroyed during heat treatment. In turn, carotenoids from carrots can be fully absorbed only if they are finely grated and stewed with sour cream (contains emulsified fat). That is, there is not very much benefit from fresh grated carrots with sour cream, as it is often recommended.

In general, in natural sources vitamins are hidden behind cell walls, bound to proteins, and their absorption depends on many factors.

This moment led us to the sensitive topic of synthetic vitamins, their benefits and other fascinating issues. For example, is it possible to eat vitamin complexes all year round, and will the liver fall off if you overeat vitamins? Let's dig deeper.

Synthetic vitamins and vitamin myths

I described the first myth about getting vitamins from natural products above. The fact is that even to get the daily requirement of the simplest vitamin C, you will have to drink 3-4 liters of apple juice from fresh apples. Or eat 1.2 kg of cabbage, but a day after harvesting it loses half of its vitamin C. If we are talking about peeled vegetables and fruits, then after a few months of storage they also lose most of their vitamins, then add cooking and exposure to ultraviolet radiation (destroying vitamin E in the same oils).

If we talk about meat and animal products, we have the same problem, which takes its roots from plant-based agricultural products, which over hundreds of years of selective breeding have lost at least half of the vitamins of their wild relatives.

And all this is not to mention the quality of food for the majority of ordinary people, which leaves much to be desired. So there is nothing surprising in the presence of hypovitaminosis in 75–90% of the population post-Soviet space (incomplete satisfaction of the body in vitamins), and some may even experience avitaminosis(severe form of vitamin deficiency).

Synthetic vitamins It’s not a panacea, but sensible nutrition comes first. After all, we don’t live by vitamins alone. But they are a good help. Although there is also the opposite opinion, they say that all this is “chemistry” and evil.

Well, I won’t argue or prove my point with foam at the mouth. I will only note that I myself have been taking sports multivitamins without a break for 3-4 years now, and I perfectly remember the significant improvement in my condition after starting to take these supplements. We are talking about both general well-being and immunity.

Let's continue talking about vitamin myths, which are mostly associated with synthetic vitamins.

Synthetic vitamins are supposedly worse than natural ones

The fact is that vitamins have been well studied for a long time. Humanity has known about them for almost a hundred years and has been able to synthesize them for half a hundred years. These are fairly simple compounds, many of which are extracted from natural sources. For example, PP is from the peel of citrus fruits, and B12 is from a culture of the same bacteria that synthesize it in the intestines.

Do not forget about the “delicacy” of vitamins in their natural form, which is mentioned above. While in a chemical form in a multivitamin complex, nothing will happen to these vitamins and organic compounds of microelements. They are there in the most easily digestible form and are waiting in the wings, packaged in tablets and capsules.

Most vitamins, in principle, are simple molecules in structure and chemical analogues are no different from natural ones, at all (like vitamin C). So I recommend forgetting the nonsense about the “vitality” of natural vitamins. And you don’t have to forget. I express only my point of view, supported by logic, my own observations and mastered literature.

Many people believe in higher powers, but which power is the highest among the dozens of religions walking around the planet? Okay, I've gone somewhere wrong, let's go back to vitamins.

Conclusion- there is nothing wrong with synthetic vitamins, both in terms of their quality and absorption.

If you overeat vitamins, there will be dire consequences

Apparently, there will be consequences. But it’s problematic to overeat vitamins that much. Even if you exceed the dosage many times over for years. If you exceed it by several orders of magnitude for a long time, for example, for months, yes, you can get hypervitaminosis, but I don’t even know how hard to try. This is if we are talking about vitamins.

Minerals and trace elements are a completely different matter. But even fierce sports multivitamin complexes with amounts of substances many times higher than the basic dosages are created in such a way that it is impossible to go through minerals and trace elements, even if they are 100% in the diet, and the recommended dose of taking the same sports vitamins will be exceeded several times.

In general, the “recommended dosage” of vitamins is such a very slippery thing. After all, it is a medical dosage - the same for any adult: for a 50-kilogram miniature girl and a 100-kilogram pumped-up man. Because it is selected according to the principle of “from the minimum” and is aimed at the average, compact citizen who does not particularly strain himself. This is why I am skeptical about pharmacy vitamin complexes, which, with minimal dosages, cost a lot of money. I prefer sports vitamins. Good ones Optimum Nutrition, Olimp, GNC, Universal Nutrition and other famous world brands.

Moreover, you can only go overboard with fat-soluble vitamins that accumulate in the body and, as I mentioned above, at a dosage that is orders of magnitude (hundreds and thousands of times) higher than recommended. In reality, this is difficult to achieve. Perhaps instead of a drop of vitamin D per week, a newborn child should be given a teaspoon every day (real cases among pediatricians).

There is another reason why it is difficult to get too many vitamins. At least orally. Their absorption requires different transport systems, enzymes, special proteins, and receptors on the surface of cells. All this is strictly limited in the human body. And most of the extra vitamins will go to make your new plumbing fixtures happy.

Conclusion- it is almost impossible to overeat vitamins, but to undereat - most people are malnourished. Vitamin complexes help, better sports - cheaper and more benefits.

Vitamin allergies and addiction

Rather, an allergy may be to the dye included in the composition, flavoring fillers, but not to vitamins. Or if the molecule of a certain vitamin is similar to a drug taken previously and caused an allergy. Again, in the latter case, there is a possibility of an allergic reaction only with intramuscular or intravenous administration, and this is unlikely when the tablet passes through the gastrointestinal tract.

Getting used to vitamins, some kind of setback when you stop taking them, withdrawal symptoms or something similar - all this is a myth. Are you addicted to proteins, fats and carbohydrates? No! The same goes for vitamins. When they are available in sufficient quantities, it’s good. When there are not enough of them, hypovitaminosis occurs, but this is also not critical, although it is unpleasant. It's simple if you think about it logically.

So you can take vitamin complexes all year round and not worry about it. Especially those where there is a 100% standard of basic elements for average citizens, like 21st Century Sentry (300 tablets - enough for a year at a very modest price, compare with our pharmacy complexes).

Who is shopping on iHerb.com, by code SJW536 discount (yes, this is my referral code, I’m blatantly taking advantage of the position :))

Conclusion- an allergy to vitamins is practically unrealistic, getting used to them is nonsense.

I don't take vitamins and I feel great

Moderate polyhypovitaminosis is difficult to notice. General weakness, lethargy - well, it happens, who would think that this is due to a lack of vitamins? Brittle hair, dry skin, dandruff - it’s better to smear it all with “creams”, wash your hair with super-duper shampoo and wait for the effect. It will be about the same as sprinkling aspirin on your head to get rid of a headache. Irritability, sleep disturbances, acne and various types of dermatitis are often the result of a lack of B vitamins, and not due to a goat boss or bad heredity.

Conclusion- you may feel great with hypovitaminosis, but this does not mean that everything is fine. A person gets used to anything, even to poor general health. If you have nothing to compare with, then everything is ok.

Too many vitamins at once - they are poorly absorbed, and some complexes are better than others

I'll start from the end. As I wrote above, 13 vitamins are known and in most complexes at least 11 of them are present. All these are simple molecules, they are the same in any case, since there are certain standards for their synthesis and production. Accordingly, it is worth focusing not so much on the manufacturer (although it is better to choose well-known ones), but on the composition and the availability of exact figures regarding the presence of certain elements. If there are no exact numbers, but something like “ don't worry, dude, each capsule contains enough vitamins for you“Then it’s worth thinking about.

The difference between vitamins for certain individuals (children, adolescents, pregnant women, athletes) is only in dosages. But since it’s problematic to go through vitamins, you don’t have to worry too much. Perhaps pregnant women should be more careful and opt for regular vitamins with 100% dosages, or pay attention to the composition of uber-duper expensive special “vitamins for pregnant women” and choose a similar one that is cheaper.

For example, I give my 13-year-old son one Opti-Men tablet per day at a dosage for athletes of three tablets (I eat that much myself). The child is happy and cheerful, I am sure that he received a sufficient amount of vitamins, plus he saved money on a “special complex for 13-year-old teenagers,” which costs the same as one and a half cans of the same Opti-Men for 150 tablets, and there are much fewer substances (excluding some , like B vitamins, but there are just as many of them in Opti-Men), as well as capsules with vitamins.

As for the amount of vitamins taken at once and the composition, such as some elements will interfere with others, then, as studies show, this is also nonsense, cultivated by marketers of separate vitamin complexes. The only reasonable condition is to take vitamins during or immediately after meals, when all enzymes of the digestive system are active.

Conclusion- you shouldn’t worry about taking vitamins and dividing them into elements. Select vitamin complexes based on their composition. For adults, the more of it, the better, as long as the price is reasonable. It’s difficult to overeat vitamins.

Vitamin supplements increase mortality risk

An absolutely cruel myth with cause and effect turned upside down. Indeed, in 2007 there was a study (Bjelakovic et al., JAMA) according to which taking antioxidants increased the mortality rate by 5%, vitamin E by 4%, beta-carotene by 7%, vitamin A by 16%. This case was furiously trumpeted in the media - sensation, clicks, circulation - that's all. But few people bothered to pay attention to the fact that increased intake of vitamins is usually observed in people who already have health problems, often serious, and therefore the risk of death among them is higher. In fact, this group of citizens was mainly studied.

By the way, a famous scientist and a big supporter of vitamin C hyperdoses Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel Prizes, who spent his entire life consuming vitamins in doses that were orders of magnitude higher than recommended, actually died of cancer (prostate problems), as was prophesied for him. But he died at 93 years old.

Bottom line

How you feel about synthetic vitamins is up to you. I expressed only my opinion and cited facts.

I actively use them myself and so does my family. I felt the positive effect well, I haven’t noticed any negative ones yet. Naturally, the youngest son takes children's vitamins. The eldest is already as tall as me and plays sports (boxing), so even adults can get in just fine.

At a minimum, try with simple pharmacy multivitamin complexes, but it is cheaper to take foreign analogues with 100% daily intake of all necessary substances. In general, sports complexes are better due to the fact that it is difficult to overeat vitamins, but it is easy to undereat. Especially in the modern world with its not the most fortified products.

From late autumn to early spring, we ask ourselves the question: what vitamins to take and for how long to prevent vitamin deficiency, chronic fatigue and colds. What vitamins are needed for, where to find them, whether every person needs multivitamin preparations - we’ll figure it out together with a nutritionist and evidence-based medicine specialist Elena Motova.

What are vitamins?

Vitamins are chemical compounds vital for growth, development, metabolism and energy. They belong to micronutrients, i.e. required in very small quantities, measured in milligrams (mg) and micrograms (mcg). They are not produced in the body at all or are not produced enough, so we must get them from the external environment. The best source of vitamins for active and healthy people, according to WHO recommendations, is products of animal and plant origin.

Vitamins are credited with many wonderful properties: from treating colds to improving school performance, from increasing vitality to preventing autism. No matter what they say in advertising, the only disease that a particular vitamin can prevent or cure is a disease associated with its deficiency. For vitamin C it is scurvy, for vitamin D it is rickets in children and softening of bones in adults. If there is insufficient intake of a vitamin, hypovitaminosis occurs; if it is completely absent, vitamin deficiency occurs. There is no vitamin deficiency “in general”, which in the mass consciousness is associated with fatigue, decreased immunity, irritability and the need to run to the pharmacy for a beautiful box with a vitamin-mineral complex. There is a deficiency of specific vitamins, the reasons for which are limited or monotonous nutrition, impaired absorption of vitamins in certain diseases, as well as increased consumption, for example, during pregnancy.

Fat-soluble and water-soluble

On all sorts of websites selling “healthy” products (whatever that means), they list 30-40 vitamins in their composition. The more vitamins, the more active the sales, but in fact there are only thirteen of them. Vitamins are divided into two large groups: fat-soluble and water-soluble. The way in which vitamins are dissolved determines the way they are absorbed and stored in the body, the forms of their interaction with cells, as well as their resistance to external influences. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, E, D and K. Vitamin K is synthesized in the intestines by special bacteria; in addition, we get it from green leafy vegetables, cabbage, and liver. Vitamin D is formed in the skin under the influence of ultraviolet rays. Vitamins A and E come from foods containing animal fats and vegetable oils, respectively. In addition, beta-carotene (a precursor to vitamin A) is found in orange vegetables and fruits, as well as green leafy vegetables.

These vitamins are stored in the liver and fat tissue until they are needed by cells. Because they can be stored, we don't necessarily need to get them in our food every day. If a person eats well, the deposited vitamins will last for several months. But this is also associated with the toxicity of fat-soluble vitamins. With prolonged or excessive consumption of vitamin pills, these vitamins accumulate in the body and can cause poisoning.

Water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and eight B vitamins. Some people mistakenly believe that vitamins will make them more energetic. In fact, vitamins, including B vitamins, do not carry energy, but as coenzymes they take part in chemical reactions associated with energy metabolism. Water-soluble vitamins (except vitamin B 12) cannot be stored in the body or their reserves are extremely small. This means that we should eat foods containing these vitamins regularly. If there are too many water-soluble vitamins (for example, in the form of medications), they will not be absorbed, will not be beneficial, and will simply be excreted in the urine. On the other hand, water-soluble vitamins are easily transferred into water during cooking, and some are destroyed by light, heat and oxygen.

B vitamins are present in both animal and plant foods. Good sources include meat, liver, whole grains, legumes, green leafy vegetables and many other foods. We must remember that vitamin B 12 can only be obtained from foods of animal origin. It is necessary to have enough vitamins during pregnancy. Of particular importance is folic acid (B 9), the deficiency of which before or during pregnancy greatly increases the risk of developing severe defects of the nervous system in the fetus. Therefore, all planning pregnancy and pregnant women are recommended to take 400 mcg of folic acid per day.

Products - sources of vitamins

• cereals (cereals, pasta, bread made from unrefined flour);
• vegetables;
• fruits;
• dairy products;
• sources of protein of animal and plant origin (meat, fish, nuts, legumes);
• oils

WHO emphasizes that vitamin and mineral nutritional supplements are only needed by special, vulnerable groups of the population who cannot meet their needs through nutrition. These include the elderly, people with certain chronic illnesses, pregnant women, and those who are malnourished or malnourished, including due to dieting. Not all useful substances found in products have been deciphered. By replacing food with pills, it is likely that we are depriving ourselves of something important. In addition, the absorption of vitamins is influenced by many factors: age and gender, height and weight, physical activity, heredity, lifestyle, eating habits, individual metabolic characteristics, state of the gastrointestinal tract, etc. Understand which vitamins are missing Only a doctor can prescribe a vitamin preparation in the required form and dosage so that different vitamins do not interfere with each other’s absorption.

Sometimes taking vitamins creates a false sense of security because a person is not trying to improve their diet and eating habits, hoping that they are already getting everything they need. We believe that nutritional supplements will make us more energetic and help us cope with stress, but this is false hope. Vitamin pills will not produce any mysterious beneficial effect in the body and will not improve your health. Ironically, it is not the people suffering from nutritional deficiencies who are usually taking supplements. The only visible effect of taking them is your urine, which removes unnecessary vitamins. A systematic review combining 78 high-quality studies of antioxidant supplements found that they did not reduce the risk of mortality in either healthy people or chronically ill people. Preparations containing beta-carotene and possibly vitamins A and E even increase it slightly. The results of numerous studies contradict the myth that the more vitamins, the better.

How to preserve vitamins in food

Vitamins are destroyed by exposure to light, during long-term storage and heat treatment of products, and numerous cycles of freezing and thawing. The vitamin content in vegetables grown in open ground is higher than in greenhouse vegetables and can vary by season. If you want to preserve the maximum amount of vitamins in your food:

• do not store products, including oils, in light;
• the sooner you cook and eat what you brought from the store, the better;
• Peel and cut vegetables and fruits immediately before cooking;
• do not soak vegetables and grains in water;
• put vegetables in boiling water and cook them in a small amount of water;
Motova Elena

Spring is the best time to remember vitamins. But not so much about what everyone already knows, but about the many myths that many take for medical facts.

We will not outline the history of the discovery of vitamins and retell how each of them acts on many biochemical processes occurring in the body. Let's devote this article to practical issues that everyone already knows everything about - what in the field of vitamin therapy both patients and even doctors consider to be true and what in fact is absolutely not true. Let's start with the most important and harmful misconception.

I. Origin

Myth 1. The need for vitamins can be fully met through good nutrition.

You can't - for a number of reasons. Firstly, man “descended from the ape” too quickly. Modern chimpanzees, gorillas and our other relatives fill their bellies with huge amounts of plant food all day long, plucked straight from a tree in the tropical forest. And the content of vitamins in wild tops and roots is tens of times higher than in cultivated ones: agricultural varieties have been selected for thousands of years not for their usefulness, but for more obvious characteristics - productivity, satiety and disease resistance. Hypovitaminosis was hardly the number one problem in the diet of ancient hunters and gatherers, but with the transition to agriculture, our ancestors, having provided themselves with a more reliable and plentiful source of calories, began to experience a lack of vitamins, trace elements and other micronutrients (from the word nutricium - nutrition). Back in the 19th century, up to 50,000 poor people in Japan, who ate mainly refined rice, died annually from beriberi - vitamin B1 deficiency. Vitamin PP (nicotinic acid) is contained in corn in a bound form, and its predecessor, the essential amino acid tryptophan, is in negligible quantities, and those who ate only tortillas or hominy suffered and died from pellagra. In poor Asian countries, at least a million people a year still die and half a million go blind due to the fact that rice does not contain carotenoids - precursors of vitamin A (vitamin A itself is most abundant in liver, caviar and other meat and fish products, and the first a symptom of his hypovitaminosis is impaired twilight vision, “night blindness”).

Vitamin educational program

Vitamins (lat. vita - life)- low molecular weight organic compounds that are not synthesized in the human body (or are synthesized in insufficient quantities) and are the active part of many enzymes or starting substances for the synthesis of hormones. A person's daily need for various vitamins ranges from several micrograms to tens of milligrams. Vitamins no longer have any common characteristics; it is impossible to divide them into groups either by chemical composition or by mechanisms of action, and the only generally accepted classification of vitamins is dividing them into water- and fat-soluble.
By structure, vitamins belong to very different classes of chemical compounds, and their functions in the body are very diverse - not only for different vitamins, but also for each individual one. For example, vitamin E is traditionally considered primarily necessary for the normal functioning of the gonads, but this role at the level of the whole organism is only the first to be discovered. It protects unsaturated fatty acids of cell membranes from oxidation, promotes the absorption of fats and, accordingly, other fat-soluble vitamins, acts as an antioxidant, neutralizing free radicals, and thereby prevents the formation of cancer cells and slows down the aging process, etc. (to understand how he does it, you first need to study a three-kilogram biochemistry textbook). For most other vitamins, the most visible symptom to the naked eye is also considered the main one, according to which it was once discovered. So the belief that vitamin D helps against rickets, C helps against scurvy, B12 is necessary for hematopoiesis, etc. is another common misconception about vitamins.
Water-soluble vitamins are vitamin C (ascorbic acid), P (bioflavonoids), PP (nicotinic acid) and B vitamins: thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), pantothenic acid (B3), pyridoxine (B6), folacin, or folic acid (B9), cobalamin (B12). The group of fat-soluble vitamins includes vitamins A (retinol) and carotenoids, D (calciferol), E (tocopherol) and K. In addition to 13 vitamins, approximately the same number of vitamin-like substances are known - B13 (orotic acid), B15 (pangamic acid), H ( biotin), F (omega-3-unsaturated fatty acids), para-aminobenzene acid, inositol, choline and acetylcholine, etc. In addition to the vitamins themselves, multivitamin preparations usually contain organic compounds of microelements - substances necessary for the human body in negligible amounts (no more than 200 mg per DAY) quantities. The main of the approximately 30 known microelements are bromine, vanadium, iron, iodine, cobalt, silicon, manganese, copper, molybdenum, selenium, fluorine, chromium and zinc.

Moderate and even severe hypovitaminosis in Russia is present in no less than three-quarters of the population. A similar problem is dysmicroelementosis, an excess of some microelements and a deficiency of other microelements. For example, moderate iodine deficiency is a widespread phenomenon, even in coastal areas. Cretinism (alas, only as a disease caused by the lack of iodine in water and food) no longer occurs, but, according to some data, iodine deficiency reduces IQ by about 15%. And it undoubtedly leads to an increase in the likelihood of thyroid diseases.

A soldier of the pre-revolutionary Russian army, with a daily energy expenditure of 5000-6000 kcal, was entitled to a daily allowance, including, among other things, three pounds of black bread and a pound of meat. One and a half to two thousand kilocalories, which is enough for a day of sedentary work and lying down, guarantees you a lack of approximately 50% of the norm for about half of the known vitamins. Especially in the case when the calories are obtained from refined, frozen, sterilized products, etc. And even with the most balanced, high-calorie and “natural” diet, the lack of some vitamins in the diet can reach up to 30% of the norm. So take a multivitamin - 365 tablets per year.

Myth 2.Synthetic vitamins are worse than natural ones

Many vitamins are extracted from natural sources, like PP from the peel of citrus fruits or like B12 from a culture of the same bacteria that synthesize it in the intestines. In natural sources, vitamins are hidden behind cell walls and are associated with proteins, of which they are coenzymes, and how much of them you absorb and how much is lost depends on many factors: for example, fat-soluble carotenoids are absorbed an order of magnitude more fully from carrots, finely grated and stewed with emulsified fat with sour cream, and vitamin C, on the contrary, quickly decomposes when heated. By the way, do you know that when natural rosehip syrup is evaporated, vitamin C is completely destroyed and only at the last stage of preparation is synthetic ascorbic acid added to it? In the pharmacy, nothing happens to vitamins until the end of the shelf life (and in fact, for several more years), and in vegetables and fruits their content decreases with each month of storage, and even more so during culinary processing. And after cooking, even in the refrigerator, it happens even faster: in a chopped salad, after a few hours, there are several times less vitamins. Most vitamins in natural sources are present in the form of a number of substances similar in structure, but different in effectiveness. Pharmaceutical preparations contain those variants of vitamin molecules and organic compounds of microelements that are easier to digest and act most effectively. Vitamins obtained through chemical synthesis (like vitamin C, which is made both bio-technologically and purely chemically) are no different from natural ones: in structure they are simple molecules, and there simply cannot be any “vital force” in them.

II. Dosage

Myth 1. Horse doses of vitamin... help with...

Articles on this topic regularly appear in the medical literature, but after 10-20 years, when enough disparate studies on different population groups, with different dosages, etc. accumulate to conduct a meta-analysis, it turns out that this is another myth. Typically, the results of such an analysis boil down to the following: yes, a lack of this vitamin (or other micronutrient) is associated with a greater frequency and/or severity of this disease (most often with one or more forms of cancer), but a dose of 2-5 times higher than the physiological norm, does not affect either the incidence or the course of the disease, and the optimal dosage is approximately the same as indicated in all reference books.

Myth 2. A gram of ascorbic acid per day protects against colds and in general against everything in the world.

Twice Nobel laureates are also mistaken: hyper- and megadoses of vitamin C (up to 1 and even 5 g per day with a norm of 50 mg), which came into fashion at the instigation of Linus Pauling, as it turned out many years ago, do not benefit ordinary citizens. A reduction in the incidence (by several percent) and duration of acute respiratory infections (by less than one day) compared to the control group taking the usual amount of ascorbic acid was found only in a few studies - among skiers and special forces who trained in the winter in the North. But there won’t be much harm from megadoses of vitamin C, except perhaps hypovitaminosis B12 or kidney stones, and even then only in a few of the most zealous and fanatical supporters of ascorbinization of the body.

Myth 3. It is better to have too few vitamins than too many.

It takes a lot of effort to get enough vitamins. Of course, there are exceptions, especially for the minerals and microelements included in most multivitamin complexes: those who eat a serving of cottage cheese every day do not need additional calcium, and those who work in a galvanic shop do not need chromium, zinc and nickel. In some areas, in the water, soil and, ultimately, in the bodies of people living there, there are excess amounts of fluorine, iron, selenium and other trace elements, and even lead, aluminum and other substances, the benefits of which are unknown, and the harm is beyond doubt. But the composition of multivitamin tablets is usually selected so that in the vast majority of cases they cover the micronutrient deficiency of the average consumer and guarantee the impossibility of a serious overdose even with daily and long-term use in addition to the usual diet of several tablets.

Hypervitaminosis in most cases occurs with prolonged consumption of vitamins (and only fat-soluble ones that accumulate in the body) in doses that are orders of magnitude higher than normal. Most often, and even then extremely rarely, this occurs in the practice of pediatricians: if, out of great intelligence, instead of one drop a week, you give a newborn a teaspoon of vitamin D a day... The rest is borderline anecdotal: for example, there is a story about how almost all the housewives in the village bought a vitamin D solution stolen from a poultry farm under the guise of sunflower oil. Or - they say, this also happened - after reading all sorts of nonsense about the benefits of carotenoids, “preventing cancer,” people began to drink liters of carrot juice a day, and some of this not only turned yellow, but drank to the point of death. It is impossible to absorb more than the maximum vitamins determined by nature through the gastrointestinal tract with a single dose: at each stage of absorption into the intestinal epithelium, transmission into the blood, and from it into tissues and cells, transport proteins and receptors are required on the surface of cells, the number of which is strictly limited. But just in case, many companies package vitamins in jars with “child-resistant” lids - so that the baby does not gobble up the mother’s three-month supply at once.

III. Side effects

Myth 1. Allergies can occur from vitamins.

An allergy can develop to some drug that you have taken before and part of the molecule of which is similar in structure to one of the vitamins. But even in this case, an allergic reaction can occur only with intramuscular or intravenous administration of this vitamin, and not after taking one tablet after a meal. Sometimes allergies can be caused by the dyes, fillers and flavoring agents contained in the tablets.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away?

The Russian analogue of this proverb - “the bow cures seven ailments” - is also incorrect. Vegetables and fruits (raw!) can serve as a more or less reliable source of vitamin C, folic acid (vitamin B 9) and carotene. To get the daily requirement of vitamin C, you need to drink 3-4 liters of apple juice - from very fresh apples or canned, which contains approximately as many vitamins as indicated on the package. Leafy vegetables lose about half of their vitamin C within a day after harvest; peeled vegetables and fruits lose about half of their vitamin C after several months of storage. The same thing happens with other vitamins and their sources. Most vitamins decompose when heated and under the influence of ultraviolet light - do not keep a bottle of vegetable oil on the windowsill so that the vitamin E added to it does not deteriorate. And when boiling, and even more so when frying, many vitamins decompose every minute. And if you read the phrase “100 g of buckwheat contains...” or “100 g of veal contains...”, you have been deceived at least twice. Firstly, this amount of vitamin is contained in the raw product, and not in the finished dish. Secondly, kilometer tables have been wandering from one reference book to another for at least half a century, and during this time the content of vitamins and other micronutrients in new, more productive and high-calorie plant varieties and in pork, beef and chicken fed by them has decreased on average by half. True, many foods have recently been fortified, but in general it is impossible to get enough vitamins from food.

Myth 2. With constant intake of vitamins, addiction to them develops.

Getting used to air, water, as well as fats, proteins and carbohydrates does not scare anyone. You will not receive more than the amount for which the vitamin absorption mechanisms are designed - unless you take doses that are orders of magnitude larger than necessary for several months or even years. And the so-called withdrawal syndrome is not typical for vitamins: after stopping taking them, the body simply returns to a state of hypovitaminosis.

Myth 3. People who don't take vitamins feel great.

Yes - in much the same way as a tree growing on a rock or in a swamp feels great. Symptoms of moderate polyhypovitaminosis, such as general weakness and lethargy, are difficult to notice. It can also be difficult to guess that dry skin and brittle hair should be treated not with creams and shampoos, but with vitamin A and stewed carrots, that sleep disturbances, irritability or seborrheic dermatitis and acne are signs not of neurosis or hormonal imbalance, but of a lack of vitamins B. Severe hypo- and vitamin deficiencies are most often secondary, caused by some disease in which the normal absorption of vitamins is disrupted. (And vice versa: gastritis and anemia - a violation of hematopoietic function, visible to the naked eye by the blueness of the lips - can be both a consequence and a cause of hypovitaminosis B12 and/or iron deficiency.) And the connection between hypovitaminosis and increased morbidity, up to a higher incidence of fractures with deficiency vitamin D and calcium or an increased incidence of prostate cancer with a lack of vitamin E and selenium, is noticeable only in a statistical analysis of large samples - thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people, and often when observed for several years.

Myth 4. Vitamins and minerals interfere with the absorption of each other.

This point of view is especially actively defended by manufacturers and sellers of various vitamin and mineral complexes for separate use. And in support, they cite data from experiments in which one of the antagonists entered the body in the usual amount, and the other in ten times larger doses (above we mentioned hypovitaminosis B12 as a result of infatuation with ascorbic acid). Expert opinions on the advisability of dividing the usual daily dose of vitamins and minerals into 2-3 tablets differ exactly the opposite.

Myth 5. “These” vitamins are better than “Those” ones.

Typically, multivitamin preparations contain at least 11 of the 13 vitamins known to science and approximately the same number of mineral elements, each from 50 to 150% of the daily value: there are fewer components, the shortage of which is extremely rare, and substances that are especially useful for all or individual population groups - more, just in case. The standards vary in different countries, including depending on the composition of the traditional diet, but not by much, so you can not pay attention to who set this standard: the American FDA, the WHO European Bureau or the People's Commissariat of Health of the USSR. In drugs from the same company, specially designed for pregnant and lactating women, the elderly, athletes, smokers, etc., the amount of individual substances may vary several times. For children, from infants to teenagers, optimal dosages are also selected. Otherwise, as they once said in a commercial, everyone is the same! But if the packaging of a “unique natural food supplement made from environmentally friendly raw materials” does not indicate the percentage of the recommended norm or does not say at all how many milli- and micrograms or international units (IU) one serving contains, this is a reason to think.

Myth 6. The newest legend.

A year ago, news spread across the media around the world: Swedish scientists have proven that vitamin supplements kill people! Taking antioxidants on average increases the mortality rate by 5%!! Separately, vitamin E - by 4%, beta-carotene - by 7%, vitamin A - by 16%!!! Or even more - probably a lot of data on the dangers of vitamins remains unpublished!

It is very easy to confuse cause and effect in a formal approach to mathematical data analysis, and the results of this study have caused a wave of criticism. From the regression equations and correlations obtained by the authors of the sensational study (Bjelakovic et al., JAMA, 2007), one can draw the exact opposite and more plausible conclusion: those older people who feel worse, get sick more and, accordingly, are more likely to die. But another legend will probably circulate in the media and public consciousness for as long as other myths about vitamins.

If you take vitamins that you don't need, you're not only wasting your money, but you're also putting your health at risk. Let's look at the myths and real facts about this!

Myth 1: Anyone can benefit from a multivitamin.

Vitamin supplements became popular in the early twentieth century when people found it difficult or even impossible to obtain a wide variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the year. In those days, diseases associated with vitamin deficiency were quite common: bowed legs and ribs due to rickets, skin problems caused by pellagra. These days, the likelihood of you being severely deficient in vitamins is low if you eat an average diet. Many modern products are enriched with vitamins. Of course, many people would still benefit from eating more vegetables, but multivitamins still can't replace them. There are approximately twenty beneficial ingredients in multivitamins, and hundreds in plant sources. If you simply take multivitamins without monitoring your diet, you are missing out on many nutrients that could improve your health.

Myth 2: Multivitamins will compensate for a poor diet.

Health insurance in pill form? If only it were that simple! Studies involving more than one hundred and sixty thousand middle-aged women have shown that multivitamins are not all that effective. According to scientists, those women who take multivitamins are not at all healthier than those who do not take them, at least when it comes to serious diseases such as cancer or heart attack. Even women with poor diets do not improve their health by taking multivitamins.

Myth 3: Vitamin C will help fight colds

In the seventies, Nobel laureate Linus Pauling popularized the idea that vitamin C could help prevent colds. Nowadays, in every pharmacy you can find plenty of different products with vitamin C. But don’t give in to the illusion! In 2013, researchers analyzed new data and came to a disappointing conclusion: vitamin C does not help protect against colds. The effect is noticeable only in people with serious loads: marathon runners, skiers, soldiers. Of course, it is important not only to consider the ability to prevent disease. Taking the vitamin reduces the extent of the disease, but the effect is practically unnoticeable. Typically, an adult has a cold twelve days a year. Taking vitamin C will reduce this amount by one day. Children can go from twenty-eight days of a cold to twenty-four. Additionally, taking vitamin C every day can make cold symptoms less severe. In short, decide for yourself whether the minimal benefits are really worth the constant purchase of vitamins. It may be easier to include vitamin C-rich foods in your diet to naturally strengthen your body.

Myth 4: Taking vitamins prevents cardiovascular disease

For a time, researchers theorized that vitamins C and E, as well as beta-carotene, helped prevent cardiovascular disease by reducing plaque buildup in the arteries. B vitamins also seemed promising because folic acid, B 6 and B 12 help break down the amino acid homocysteine, and high levels of homocysteine ​​lead to cardiovascular disease. Unfortunately, not a single assumption was confirmed. An analysis of seven experiments with vitamin E found that consuming this substance does not reduce the risk of heart attack or death from a heart attack. Studies have also been conducted on beta-carotene: taking dietary supplements with this substance even slightly increases the likelihood of death. Testing vitamin C also did not lead to a positive result. B vitamins do reduce homocysteine ​​levels, but this does not affect the risk for the heart. Recent studies have shown that vitamin D 3 improves heart function, but further experimentation is required. Instead of popping pills, it's best to eat as varied a diet as possible, regularly eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Myth 5: Taking vitamins protects against cancer

Researchers know that unstable molecules known as free radicals can damage the DNA of cells and increase the risk of cancer. Additionally, antioxidants are known to help stabilize free radicals, theoretically making them less harmful. So why not take antioxidants to protect your health? Unfortunately, research currently does not show any positive effect from such measures. In several experiments, scientists tried to test the benefits of taking vitamins, but they never found confirmation of this. Your risk of developing cancer remains the same whether you take the pill or not. B vitamins do not help, neither E nor C work, beta-carotene is also useless. One study found that taking vitamin D and calcium supplements reduced the risk of cancer, but the difference was so small that it was not worth taking into account. Simply put, this can be chalked up to coincidence.

Myth 6: Vitamins won't hurt anyway

Previously, it was common to think that vitamins may not always be beneficial, but they certainly do not harm. However, research has shown that this is the wrong approach. There has been a large study of beta-carotene tablets. Scientists wanted to discover whether consuming the antioxidant would prevent lung cancer and death among smokers. However, the results were shocking: it turns out that antioxidant pills can lead to cancer in both men and women! For example, consuming B6 and B12 may increase the likelihood of developing lung cancer. There is an experiment indicating that high doses of folic acid may increase the risk of bowel cancer. Vitamins are safe when you get them from food, but in pill form they can act like medicine. This can lead to unpredictable, sometimes dangerous consequences. Take vitamins if your doctor recommends them.

Truth: Vitamin D May Be Beneficial

Research has shattered faith in most vitamins, but there are exceptions. Scientists suggest that vitamin D may protect against a range of problems. For example, men with normal levels of vitamin D reduce their risk of heart attack by 50 percent. Getting enough vitamin D reduces the risk of many types of cancer. This vitamin is associated with sunlight: the body produces it when the rays hit the skin. However, many people spend too much time indoors and don't get enough of the vitamin. However, even if you decide to take nutritional supplements, remember that everything is good in moderation.

Truth: Women planning pregnancy need vitamins

There is a group of people who should take multivitamins: expectant mothers. Women who get enough folic acid seriously reduce the likelihood of having a child with spinal defects. It is recommended to take four hundred micrograms of folic acid daily while planning pregnancy. In other cases, folic acid is not so important. According to statistics, a deficiency of this substance can be noted in only one percent of people.