The answer is yes
Do I need to take vitamins?
In the "Point of View" post-science format introduces readers to the opinions of experts on current problems of society, education and science. In the new issue, we asked our authors to express their point of view about the need to take vitamins.
Due to the transition of a person to a sedentary lifestyle, the amount of food consumed in humans has evolutionarily decreased. It enters the body mainly after cooking, which also leads to a decrease in the content of vitamins in it. The daily dose of thiamine (vitamin B1) is 1.5 milligrams. To get it during the day, a person needs to eat 800 grams of bread made from coarse flour. To replenish the daily dose of vitamin A – 2 kilograms of carrots, the daily dose of ascorbic acid – 5 lemons. To date, it is believed that it is almost impossible to ensure the natural intake of the necessary amount of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) into the body together with food.
Vitamins that are sold at the pharmacy are complete synthetic analogues of natural vitamins. They are necessary to perform all the metabolic functions inherent in them in the body. Vitamin and mineral complexes, which are sold in pharmacies and have the registration status of dietary supplements, as a rule, contain components in doses at the level of daily nutritional requirements and fill the body's needs for micronutrients. Often, under one brand, manufacturers produce not one product, but a line of vitamin and mineral complexes for different age categories. This makes it possible to take into account the needs of people of these categories both from the point of view of the qualitative composition of the components and from the point of view of the quantitative composition.
Vitamins are recommended to be taken in courses lasting 2-3 months with a break of 2-3 weeks. Despite the fact that in summer and autumn we consume a large amount of vegetables and fruits, studies show that hypovitaminosis is year-round. Therefore, even in the summer months, it is advisable not to stop taking vitamins. It is necessary to take complexes, since the action of vitamins in the body is interconnected. In addition, many vitamins are coenzyme and are activated in the human body when interacting with trace elements. Individual vitamins are prescribed in exceptional cases in therapeutic dosages – as a rule, with a laboratory-confirmed deficiency.
Evgeniya Shikh, MD, Professor, Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Propaedeutics of Internal Diseases, Director of the Institute of Professional Education of the First Sechenov Moscow State Medical University.
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Vitamins are essential nutrients and enter the human body with food. Vitamins that we buy in a pharmacy or specialized departments of stores are most often obtained by chemical means, less often by biotechnological or extraction from natural raw materials. However, they are identical in chemical structure and biological activity to their natural counterparts. At the same time, the digestibility of vitamins from vitamin-mineral complexes or biologically active food additives is often higher than that of vitamins from food products, where they are often in a bound form.
On the market of biologically active food additives there is a very wide range of different forms of vitamin and mineral complexes: tablets, capsules, marmalade, lollipops, lozenges, drops, patches and so on. Which form of vitamins to prefer is the consumer's choice.
Many people think that the lack of vitamins is most acute in the spring, but this is characteristic only of vitamin C, the source of which is fresh fruits and vegetables, because their consumption decreases in the spring. For B vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins, seasonality is uncharacteristic in principle. Consumption of foods with reduced nutritional value (high content of added sugar, trans-isomers of fatty acids, salt, low content of vitamins and minerals) leads to a permanent lack of vitamins in the human body. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce vitamin and mineral complexes or biologically active additives, as well as fortified foods into the diet. Particular attention to the intake of vitamin and mineral complexes should be paid to those who, for one reason or another, adhere to a diet: the exclusion of certain foods from the diet can lead to a lack of vitamins.
With the existing structure of nutrition, the majority of the population has polyhypovitaminous conditions (lack of several vitamins). Therefore, it is useful to take not monovitamin supplements, but multivitamin or vitamin-mineral complexes. In addition, a number of vitamins enhance the physiological effects of each other, that is, promotes the conversion of vitamins into their active forms.
A person's diet, even if it is as diverse as possible, balanced in calories and the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, is unable to fully satisfy the body's needs for vitamins. The amount of food needed to provide the physiological needs of the body with vitamins can be calculated in kilograms. For example, to meet the body's needs for vitamin B1, which is responsible for the proper functioning of the nervous, digestive and cardiovascular systems, it is necessary to eat 800 grams of wheat bread, 0.5 kilograms of pork or 1 kilogram of beans per day. This approach will naturally lead to excess body weight. It should be noted that not all food products are able to provide the body with a complete list of vitamins. Thus, food of plant origin contains vitamins D and B12 in minimal amounts, which "strict" vegetarians should pay special attention to.
Natalia Zhilinskaya, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Vitamins and Minerals of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "FITZ Nutrition and Biotechnology".
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Of course, there is a benefit from the vitamins that we buy at the pharmacy, and it has been proven. Systematic long-term use of vitamin and mineral complexes in recommended doses can prevent or slow down the development of many diseases. These include such eye diseases as age-related macular degeneration, cataracts; diseases of the cardiovascular system and their complications. Adequate provision of vitamins in children leads to an increase in hemoglobin levels, the development of motor skills, cognitive functions, and reduces morbidity.
The lack of vitamins can and should be replenished by taking vitamin complexes containing at least ten vitamins – there are thirteen of them in total – in doses approaching 100% of the recommended daily intake. This is indicated on the label as a percentage. In such complexes, the doses are close to the physiological needs of a person – they are also called preventive. Vitamins must be taken constantly, because we always have a shortage of them, all year round. In the winter-spring period of 2015-2018, a survey of conditionally healthy children aged 4-14 years attending kindergartens in Dmitrov, Moscow and Yekaterinburg was conducted. Vitamin C deficiency was detected in 25-35% of children, vitamin B2 – in 30-40%, B1 – in 50-69%, B6 – in 67-76% of the examined children. Approximately 20% of children were provided with all the vitamins studied, polyhypovitaminous conditions (simultaneous deficiency of three or four vitamins) - in 30-45% of children. The adult population most often lacks vitamins D, B2, carotene and their combinations. Vitamin A deficiency is observed in certain groups of the population: pregnant women, residents of the Russian north, patients with tuberculosis. Workers of harmful industries, children with obesity were found to lack vitamin E, and vegetarians – vitamin B12. Of the 1,200 adults and 300 children surveyed in 2015-2017, only 14% of adults and 16.8% of children did not have vitamin deficiency. At the same time, a deficiency of several vitamins was found in 22% of adults and 39.6% of children. In all cases, people who took vitamins even irregularly were better provided with them. Since there is a deficiency of not just one vitamin in the body, but several at once, and often a normal supply of one vitamin is necessary in order for another vitamin to turn into its active form in the body, then simultaneous intake of a complex of vitamins will be more effective.
It is important to understand that even a perfectly constructed, balanced diet, designed for 2500 kcal per day for adults, does not provide the necessary amount of most vitamins: the deficiency is at least 20%. The fact is that the energy consumption of a modern person is much less than that of previous generations, so he needs less food than he once did, but the body's needs for vitamins and minerals for metabolic processes have not decreased. Increasing the amount of food consumed is a path to obesity, since modern people are not able to spend additional "eaten" calories. The diet should be balanced and varied. The second way is to include vitamin–rich foods in the diet (bread, dairy products, breakfast cereals, drinks), one serving of which contains from 15 to 50% of the recommended daily intake of vitamins. It is necessary to take vitamins during meals with food. Then they are mixed with food and go through a normal physiological path in the body. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D, vitamin K, provitamin A, i.e. beta-carotene) are better absorbed in the presence of fats. While a large amount of dietary fiber leads to a decrease in the absorption of vitamins.
The intake scheme is as follows: it is necessary to take an increased dose of vitamins during the course of a month – 200-300% of the recommended intake, and then switch to a constant intake at a dose of 50-100%. Small doses – about 15% of the norm – do not give the desired effect.
Besides, you can't expect a miracle from vitamins. Their intake solves only those problems that were caused by a lack of vitamins. For example, many problems with hair, nails, and skin are a consequence of a lack of vitamins. However, in the fight against serious diseases, vitamins alone are not enough.
Vera Kodentsova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Vitamins and Minerals of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "FITZ Nutrition and Biotechnology".
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