Time to drink vitamins

It’s the beginning of March. We experience weakness, loss of energy, decreased attention and apathy. It is customary to associate this with a lack of sunlight, and most importantly, with winter-spring beriberi. But is beriberi so terrible for a modern person and what are the simple methods of dealing with it? Commented by nutritionist and therapist Anna Belousova.

You can recognize vitamin deficiency on your own, without the participation of a doctor. “Each vitamin deficiency has its own symptoms, many of which, by the way, were described long before the discovery of the vitamins themselves,” says Anna Belousova. – So, information about scurvy (avitaminosis C), which is manifested by bleeding gums, tooth loss, severe pain in the joints and weakness, appeared as early as the 2th century. Even earlier, “night blindness” was described – visual impairment at dusk (avitaminosis A). The word “zaedy” – cracks in the corners of the mouth – was known long before their cause was discovered: vitamin BXNUMX deficiency.

Recognize vitamin deficiencies

However, in the modern world, vitamin deficiency, that is, a sharp or complete depletion of vitamin reserves, is not common. And this is understandable: now we eat fresh vegetables and fruits all year round, the pharmaceutical industry offers us the widest range of synthesized vitamins and vitamin complexes, our knowledge of their role in the normal functioning of the body makes us include them in our daily diet. “But doctors are constantly faced with hypovitaminosis (vitamin deficiency). The main signs of hypovitaminosis most often elude our attention: fatigue, decreased ability to work, deterioration in sleep, memory, mood swings, we attribute to the change of seasons. But it is precisely these changes in our condition that are the “first sign” of winter-spring hypovitaminosis, ”the nutritionist clarifies.

It can seriously damage our health. Frequent colds in late winter – early spring, changes in the external condition of the skin (dryness, peeling or, on the contrary, increased fat content), brittle nails, tarnishing or severe hair loss should alert us. Moreover, these signs are already talking about a serious deficiency of vitamins.

Natural or synthesized?

What vitamins can we get from food, and not drink pharmaceutical preparations? “All natural products (both animal and plant origin) are our main sources of vitamins. Another thing is that, alas, we cannot consider them as full-fledged suppliers of vitamins,” says Anna Belousova. – The reason for this is modern agricultural technologies, due to which the content of vitamins in food products is greatly reduced. It would be possible to get out of the difficulty by simply eating more food, but this will increase the calorie content of our diet, and therefore the risk of developing obesity. Therefore, the most reasonable today is to enrich the diet with vitamins through their additional intake in the form of food supplements. It is not always easy to choose a vitamin preparation for yourself among the variety that is now on sale, but giving preference to forms containing phytonutrients (plant extracts), we will not be mistaken. “Phytonutrients contain vitamins in the most “recognizable”, accessible form for our body, and the ratio between various vitamins in plant extracts is exactly as Mother Nature intended for their maximum effectiveness. In addition, in addition to vitamins, phytoextracts contain minerals, flavonoids, catechins, pigments and many other substances necessary for our health,” explains the nutritionist.

In our body, biochemical processes take place daily, in which vitamins are involved. Therefore, we need most of them daily. The exception is fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, K – they can accumulate in the body and are excreted more slowly than other vitamins. But this happens only when fat-soluble vitamins are constantly supplied to the body in large quantities. Nutritional supplements such as Nutrilite’s Double X can help you provide your body with vitamins every day in a comprehensive way, thanks to their rich content of phytonutrients. Double X includes 13 vitamins, 9 minerals and 21 active concentrates from 24 different plant sources.

But are vitamins shown to everyone? And isn’t their intake dangerous for people suffering from disorders of the cardiovascular system, gastrosphere, immunity, and some types of cancer? “In general, chronic diseases, including cancer, are not a contraindication to taking multivitamin preparations. Vitamins have their own side effects, but they appear only when it comes to a serious overdose of vitamin preparations, the nutritionist explains. – And allergic reactions occur more often not even on the vitamins themselves, but on the accompanying components that make up the tablets or capsules. They are most often manifested by various reactions from the skin (rash, redness, etc.). Sometimes there is an allergy to vitamins of group B and vitamin C, and it should be noted that an allergic reaction often develops on vitamins obtained synthetically, and less often on vitamins from natural raw materials. Allergy to vitamins has been actively studied recently. And not without reason: most people who respond to taking multivitamin preparations calmly tolerate ordinary foods, which contain no less vitamins that are “dangerous” for them.

Health pledge

Vitamins regulate the metabolic processes of our body, but are not always able to speed them up or slow them down. Although there is a direct connection: B vitamins accelerate the metabolism of fats, proteins, carbohydrates; vitamin C and bioflavonoids slow down the aging process of the skin, making the bonds between its structures stronger and more elastic. Vitamin A accelerates the restoration of mucous membranes, and vitamin D – bone tissue. And yet the most important function of vitamins is to maintain balance in our body, which, in fact, helps us to ensure health.