Vitamins Are Organic Or Inorganic

Preparing a dinner plate with tomatoes cherries grapefruit eggs avocado chicken apples and lettuce

Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients required past the torso to conduct out a range of normal functions. Nevertheless, these micronutrients are not produced in our bodies and must be derived from the nutrient we eat.

Vitamins are organic substances that are generally classified as either fat soluble or water soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin Thou) dissolve in fat and tend to accrue in the body. Water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins, such every bit vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folate) must dissolve in h2o before they tin be absorbed by the trunk, and therefore cannot be stored. Any water-soluble vitamins unused by the body is primarily lost through urine.

Minerals are inorganic elements present in soil and water, which are captivated by plants or consumed past animals. While you're likely familiar with calcium, sodium, and potassium, there is a range of other minerals, including trace minerals (e.g. copper, iodine, and zinc) needed in very small amounts.

In the U.S., the National University of Medicine (formerly the Found of Medicine) develops food reference values called the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for vitamins and minerals. [ane] These are intended equally a guide for good nutrition and as a scientific basis for the development of food guidelines in both the U.S. and Canada. The DRIs are specific to age, gender, and life stages, and cover more than xl nutrient substances. The guidelines are based on available reports of deficiency and toxicity of each nutrient. Learn more about vitamins and minerals and their recommended intakes in the tabular array beneath.

Recommended Daily Intake of Vitamins and Minerals for Adults

*Vitamin (Common Names)*	Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Daily Adequate Intake (AI)*		*Upper Limit*
*Vitamin (Common Names)*	Women	Men	*Upper Limit*
Vitamin A (preformed = retinol; beta-carotene can be converted to Vitamin A)	700 micrograms (2,333 IU)	900 micrograms (3,000 IU)	three,000 micrograms (about 10,000 IU)
Thiamin(vitamin B1)	1.1 milligrams	i.2 milligrams	Non known
Riboflavin (vitamin B2)	ane.one milligrams	1.iii milligrams	Non known
Niacin (vitamin B3; nicotinic acrid)	14 milligrams	sixteen milligrams	35 milligrams
Pantothenic Acid (vitamin B5)	5 milligrams*	5 milligrams*	Non known
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxal, pyridoxine, pyridoxamine)	Ages nineteen-50: one.3 milligrams Ages 51+: one.v milligrams	Ages nineteen-50: 1.3 milligrams Ages 51+: i.vii milligrams	100 milligrams
Biotin (vitamin B7)	thirty micrograms*	thirty micrograms*	Not known
Folate (Folic acid; vitamin B9)	400 micrograms	400 micrograms	1,000 micrograms
Vitamin B12	2.4 micrograms	2.4 micrograms	Non known
Vitamin C	75 milligrams* (Smokers add 35 milligrams)	90 milligrams* (Smokers add 35 milligrams)	2,000 milligrams
Choline	425 milligrams*	550 milligrams*	iii,500 milligrams
Vitamin D (calciferol)	Ages 19-50: fifteen micrograms (600 IU) Ages 51-70: 15 micrograms (600 IU) Ages 71+: 20 micrograms (800 IU)	Ages nineteen-fifty: 15 micrograms (600 IU) Ages 51-70: 15 micrograms (600 IU) Ages 71+: 20 micrograms (800 IU)	100 micrograms (4,000 IU)
Vitamin Eastward (alpha-tocopherol)	15 milligrams	xv milligrams	one,000 milligrams
Vitamin K (phylloquinone, menadione)	90 micrograms*	120 micrograms*	Non known
*Mineral*	Recommended Dietary Assart (RDA) or Daily Adequate Intake (AI)*		*Upper Limit*
*Mineral*	Women	Men	*Upper Limit*
Calcium	Ages 31-l: i,000 milligrams Ages 51+: i,200 milligrams	Ages 31-l: 1,000 milligrams Ages 51+: 1,200 milligrams	2,500 milligrams
Chloride	Ages xix-50: 2.3 grams* Ages 51-70: 2.0 grams* Ages 71+: 1.viii grams*	Ages 19-50: ii.3 grams* Ages 51-70: 2.0 grams* Ages 71+: i.viii grams*	Non known
Chromium	Ages 31-50: 25 micrograms* Ages 51+: 20 micrograms*	Ages 31-50: 35 micrograms* Ages 51+: 30 micrograms*	Not known
Copper	900 micrograms	900 micrograms	10,000 micrograms
Fluoride	3 milligrams	iv milligrams	10 milligrams
Iodine	150 micrograms	150 micrograms	1,100 micrograms
Iron	Ages 31-50: xviii milligrams Ages 51+: viii milligrams	Ages 31-50: 8 milligrams Ages 51+: eight milligrams	45 milligrams
Magnesium	Ages nineteen-30: 310 milligrams Ages 31-70+: 320 milligrams	Ages 19-30: 400 milligrams Ages 31-70+: 420 milligrams	350 milligrams (from supplements)
Manganese	ane.viii milligrams*	two.3 milligrams*	11 milligrams
Molybdenum	45 micrograms	45 micrograms	2,000 micrograms
Phosphorus	700 milligrams	700 milligrams	Ages 31-lxx: 4,000 milligrams Ages 71+: 3,000 milligrams
Potassium	Ages fourteen-eighteen: 2,300 milligrams* Ages 19+: 2,600 milligrams*	Ages 14-18: iii,000 milligrams* Ages 19+: iii,400 milligrams*	Not known
Selenium	55 micrograms	55 micrograms	400 micrograms
Sodium	1,500 milligrams*	1,500 milligrams*	Non determined; however a chronic disease run a risk reduction intake has been established
Zinc	eight milligrams	11 milligrams	twoscore milligrams
* Denotes Adequate Intake (AI). An AI is a recommended intake when an RDA tin't exist determined. RDA is the average daily dietary intake sufficient to meet the food requirement of 97-98% of salubrious individuals in a particular grouping according to stage of life and gender.

What about multivitamins?

A diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, practiced protein packages, and healthful fats should provide near of the nutrients needed for good health. Just not everyone manages to eat a healthful diet. Multivitamins tin play an of import office when nutritional requirements are non met through diet alone. Learn more nearly vitamin supplementation.

Did you know?

Vitamins and their precise requirements have been controversial since their discovery in the late 1800s and early on 1900s. It was the combined efforts of epidemiologists, physicians, chemists, and physiologists that led to our modern twenty-four hours understanding of vitamins and minerals. After years of observation, experiments, and trial and error, they were able to distinguish that some diseases were non caused by infections or toxins—a common belief at the fourth dimension—but by vitamin deficiencies. [2] Chemists worked to identify a vitamin'due south chemical structure so it could be replicated. Shortly after, researchers determined specific amounts of vitamins needed to avoid diseases of deficiency.

In 1912, biochemist Casimir Funk was the first to coin the term "vitamin" in a enquiry publication that was accustomed past the medical community, derived from "vita" meaning life, and "amine" referring to a nitrogenous substance essential for life. [3] Funk is considered the begetter of vitamin therapy, as he identified nutritional components that were missing in diseases of deficiency like scurvy (too little vitamin C), beri-beri (too lilliputian vitamin B1), pellagra (too trivial vitamin B3), and rickets (too little vitamin D). The discovery of all vitamins occurred by 1948.

Vitamins were obtained merely from food until the 1930s when commercially fabricated supplements of certain vitamins became bachelor. The U.S authorities also began fortifying foods with specific nutrients to prevent deficiencies common at the time, such as adding iodine to salt to forbid goiter, and adding folic acid to grain products to reduce birth defects during pregnancy. In the 1950s, most vitamins and multivitamins were bachelor for auction to the full general public to preclude deficiencies, some receiving a good amount of marketing in popular magazines such as promoting cod liver oil containing vitamin D as bottled sunshine.

References

Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride (1997); Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acrid, Biotin, and Choline (1998); Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids (2000); Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin Chiliad, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Fe, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc (2001); and Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D (2011). These reports may exist accessed via world wide web.nap.edu.
Semba RD. The discovery of the vitamins. Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2012 Oct 1;82(five):310-5.
Piro A, Tagarelli M, Lagonia P, Tagarelli A, Quattrone A. Casimir Funk: his discovery of the vitamins and their deficiency disorders. Ann Nutr Metab. 2010;57(ii):85-8.

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