Vitamins
A natural vitamin can be defined as a concentrated nutrient derived from a quality natural source, with maximum retention of the natural material, no artificial colors, sweeteners, or preservatives used. vitamins play an integral role in the metabolism of fat i.e. weight loss and other fat burning pathways. The role of many vitamins is to help make possible the processes by which other "nutrients are digested, absorbed and metabolised or built into body structures. To get all the vitamins you need in the desired amount to maintain a healthy body, you would have to come up with some type of optimum diet and maintain that every day for the rest of your life which is impossible to do for anybody. Most of the foods we eat in the restaurants for instance have been processed to the point that they have little or no nutritional value left when they end up on your plate. A lot of restaurants tend to reheat food and to keep the food warm under heat lamps, which causes the level of vitamin A, B1 and C to be pretty much depleted in the food. Women especially between the ages of 13-40 run a risk of deficiency in calcium and iron if they eat out a lot.
Vitamins can be categorised as
Fat Soluble Vitamins
Vitamin A: Vitamin A is one of the most versatile vitamins with roles in such diverse functions as vision, maintenance of body linings and skin, bone growth and reproduction.
Vitamin D: Vitamin D and it's derivatives are all sterols. Certain sterols when exposed to ultraviolet light undergo small structural changes that are of importance in nutrition, they are called vitamin D2 and D3.
Vitamin E: Vitamin E and it's derivatives are the tocopherols. There are four different types, alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherol.
Vitamin K: Vitamin K exists in nature in two forms - K1 and K2, but only vitamin K1 is nutritionally important. Natural Vitamin K1 is yellow oil, soluble in fat solvents, but only slightly in water.
Water Soluble Vitamins
Ascorbic Acid - Vitamin C: It is a white crystalline substance like sugar, stable, when dry, in air and light. It is soluble in water and easily oxidised in alkaline solution and on exposure to heat, light and traces of metals especially copper.
The B-Group Vitamins: The B vitamins have much in common, they act as part of coenzymes, in that they combine with an inactive protein to form an active enzyme.
Biotin - Vitamin B4: Biotin is one of the most active biological substances known in living matter. It is mostly bound to protein, probably as the coenzyme of several enzymes.
Cyanocobalamin - Vitamin B12: Cyanocobalamin is named for its content of the mineral cobalt.
Nicotinic Acid (Niacin) - Vitamin B5: Niacin is a white crystalline substance readily soluble in water and resistant to heat oxidation and alkalis.
Pantothenic Acid - Vitamin B3: Pantothenic acid is a constituent of coenzyme A and is present in all living matter. It's distribution in natural foods is so wide-spread that deficiency of the vitamin is unlikely to occur in human beings except perhaps when processed foods form large proportions of the diet.
Pyridoxine and Related Compounds - Vitamin B6: consists of three closely related chemical compounds - pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine with similar physiological actions.
Riboflavin - Vitamin B2: Riboflavin is a yellow crystalline substance, slightly soluble in water but not in fats. Though stable to boiling in an acid solution, in an alkaline solution it is readily decomposed by heat.
Thiamine - Vitamin B1: Thiamine is a white crystalline substance, readily soluble in water but not in fat or fat solvents. It is rapidly destroyed by heat in neutral or alkaline solutions.