A vitamin is an organic compound that your body needs to carry out a certain reaction. Your body has no way to create vitamin molecules itself, so the vitamin molecules must come in through food that you eat. The human body is known to need at least 13 different vitamins.  They are listed below:

• Vitamin A (fat soluble) – Retinol; comes from beta-carotene in plants (When you eat beta-carotene, an enzyme in the stomach turns it into Vitamin A.)
• Vitamin B (water soluble):
• B1 – Thiamine
• B2 – Riboflavin
• B3 – Niacin
• B6 – Pyridoxine
• B12 – Cyanocobalamin
• Folic acid
• Vitamin C (water soluble) – Ascorbic acid
• Vitamin D (fat soluble) – Calciferol
• Vitamin E (fat soluble) – Tocopherol
• Vitamin K (fat soluble) – Menaquinone
• Pantothenic acid (water soluble)
• Biotin (water soluble)

Inside the body, vitamins are used in many unique ways. For example, one of vitamin A’s main roles is in the production of retinal. Retinal is used within the rods and cones in your eyes to sense light. There is no way for your body to produce retinal without vitamin A, and without retinal you cannot see.

Online Resource:   www.HowStuffWorks.com

Uncle Sam

The United States Department of Agriculture has a web site with a wealth of invormation on food nutrients such as vitamins and miracles.  Click here to link to it.

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