Contents
- Vitamin A: worry-free growth
- Vitamin B1: full of energy
- Vitamin B2: antioxidant
- Vitamin B3: cell building
- Vitamin B5: the jack of all trades
- Vitamin B6: to make hemoglobin
- Vitamin B8: real baby skin
- Vitamin B12: against anemia
- Vitamin C: full of energy
- Vitamin D: anti-rickets
- Vitamin E: the protector
- Vitamin B9 (folic acid): the nervous system
- Vitamin K: anti-hemorrhage
- Excess vitamins are as dangerous as deficiencies!
- Vitamins that are very difficult to store
- Vitamin D in children: beware of the risk of overdose with food supplements
- In video: 5 Tips To Fill Up With Energy
Vitamin A: worry-free growth
The role of vitamin A
Vitamin A is the vitamin for growth par excellence, but also for eyesight. It maintains the suppleness of the skin and strengthens the immune system.
During pregnancy, it plays an essential role in the constitution of the organs of the fetus.
For the young child: necessary for growth
Where can you find vitamin A?
In most very colorful fruits and vegetables: peaches, apricots, carrots, (parsley, spinach, lettuce, etc.)
In milk and dairy products (non-skimmed)
In foods of animal origin (butter, fatty fish, egg yolk, lamb liver, veal …)
Fried and grilled foods decrease its presence in food.
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency: vision problems, which can go as far as blindness; weight loss, fatigue, repeated infections; drying of the skin and mucous membranes, brittle nails, dull hair. Women may suffer from painful periods, recurring migraines, feeling very nervous or anxious.
For the newborn: increased risk of infection.
For toddlers: slowing or even stopping growth and reduced bone strength.
In case of overdose: during pregnancy, fetal malformations.
Vitamin B1: full of energy
The role of vitamin B1?
Vitamin B1 helps in the production of energy and promotes digestion.
During pregnancy: it is essential for the development of the baby, especially his nerves and eyes.
If you are breast-feeding: it promotes lactation.
Where can you find vitamin B1?
In whole grains (especially rice)
In dried vegetables (to be introduced into baby’s diet from 15 months) and dried fruits (from two years old)
In offal, pork, fish and egg yolk
In milk, brewer’s yeast
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In the event of deficiency: disturbance, even paralysis, of the nervous system. Memory impairment, fatigue, headache, irritability.
For the expectant mother: increases the likelihood that the baby is too low birth weight and that the mother has cramps.
Increased needs in the case of an infectious disease.
Vitamin B2: antioxidant
The role of vitamin B2
It ensures the nutritional balance and plays an essential role in the production of energy (in particular in the use of lucids, lipids and proteins). It also prevents skin problems.
During pregnancy: its presence is very important at the time of fertilization and in the first days of the development of the embryo.
For infants: vitamin B2 is essential for normal development.
Where can you find vitamin B2?
In meat, fish and eggs
In green vegetables
In milk, cheese
In cereals and wholemeal bread
In brewer’s yeast and wheat germ
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency: no specific deficiency with regard to vitamin B2. Associated with a general insufficiency in group B vitamins, it can cause skin and mucous membrane disorders, muscle cramps, asthma and migraines.
For the future mother: delay in the development of the embryo
For infants: developmental delay.
Vitamin B3: cell building
The role of vitamin B3
Helps build nerve cells and, like other B vitamins, participates in energy production.
It also helps fight against pellagra, a skin disease.
Where can you find vitamin B3?
In meat, offal, fish
In pulses (from 15 months) and fruits
In brewer’s yeast and wheat germ
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In the event of deficiency: deficiencies are relatively rare. They can cause nervous and digestive disorders or skin lesions.
Vitamin B5: the jack of all trades
The role of vitamin B5
Energy production, healing, infection control, production of red blood cells … Vitamin B5 participates in many reactions of our metabolism.
Where can you find vitamin B5?
In meat, offal, egg yolk
In cereals and yeast
In pulses (from 15 months) and fruits
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
There is no specific deficiency: vitamin B5 is very present in many foods of animal and plant origin.
Vitamin B6: to make hemoglobin
The role of vitamin B6
Essential for the assimilation of proteins and amino acids for DNA synthesis. Also contributes to the formation of hemoglobin and prevents skin disorders. Protects the nervous system.
During pregnancy and for infants: promotes cell growth and reproduction.
Where can you find vitamin B6?
In green vegetables, potatoes and fresh fruits
In egg yolk, meat and offal
In whole grains
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In the event of deficiency: disturbance of the blood systems (anemia, immune problems) and nervous systems; skin disorders (possibility of developing pellagra if it is associated with a vitamin B3 deficiency).
Vitamin B8: real baby skin
The role of vitamin B8
It protects the skin and prevents hair loss. It also conditions the proper use of carbohydrates and fats.
Where can you find vitamin B8?
In egg yolk, mushrooms, legumes, chocolate and yeasts.
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency: associated with a general deficiency in B vitamins, it can lead to dryness of the skin and dermatosis, state of fatigue, depression.
Vitamin B12: against anemia
The role of vitamin B12
It is involved in the formation and protection of red blood cells. But also at the level of the metabolism of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates; it is therefore essential for growth.
During pregnancy: it is essential for the training of the baby’s central nervous system.
Where can you find vitamin B12?
In meat, offal, egg yolk, oily fish and shellfish
In dairy products
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency: anemia
Vegan, be careful: vitamin B12 has the particularity of not being found in any food of plant origin.
Vitamin C: full of energy
The role of vitamin C
Vitamin associated with “tone” because it helps fight fatigue and increases resistance to infections. Also promotes absorption of iron from the intestine and plays an important role in repairing fractures (calcium binding).
During pregnancy: vitamin C strengthens the placenta
For toddlers: important for resisting infections.
Where can you find vitamin C?
In citrus fruits, red fruits, kiwi
In leafy vegetables (spinach, watercress, cabbage, etc.)
It is destroyed by tobacco.
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency
Bleeding gums, loosening of the teeth, repeated infections, fatigue. In extreme cases, appearance of scurvy (fever, anemia, hemorrhages, gastroenteritis).
In case of overdose
For the mother-to-be and her baby: if you take vitamin supplements during pregnancy, Baby, used to receiving high-dose vitamin C, may experience a lack at birth.
Vitamin D: anti-rickets
The role of vitamin D
By facilitating the assimilation of calcium and its fixation, it is essential for our bone system.
During pregnancy: it ensures the strength of the baby’s skeleton
For young children: the secret to worry-free growth.
Where can you find vitamin D?
Take the sun! The body produces this vitamin itself using the sun’s rays.
In eggs, butter, dairy products (not skimmed)
In the liver and fatty fish.
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency: rickets
For pregnant women: if your pregnancy takes place in winter, your doctor may prescribe a supplement.
For young children: as a preventive measure, an additional contribution (in the form of drugs or fortified milk) is essential for children under 3 years old.
Vitamin E: the protector
The role of vitamin E
It protects our cells and therefore has “anti-aging” virtues. It would participate in the prevention of certain cancers and cardiovascular diseases. It promotes fertility.
During pregnancy: protective of the baby’s brain
Where can you find vitamin E?
In cereals and wholemeal bread
In vegetable oils and margarines
In leafy vegetables
In eggs and liver
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
No
Vitamin B9 (folic acid): the nervous system
The role of vitamin B9
It plays a major role in the multiplication of cells and partly conditions the proper functioning of the nervous and cerebral systems.
During pregnancy: it is essential for the normal development of the baby’s central nervous system.
Where can you find vitamin B9?
In green vegetables and pulses (from 15 months)
In whole grains
In fermented cheese
In brewer’s yeast and wheat germ
In meat, offal (liver) and eggs
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency
Anemia, fatigue, depression, anxiety, insomnia; digestive and neurological disorders.
For future mothers: be careful! Vitamin B9 deficiency can cause bleeding leading to abortion in early pregnancy, stunted growth of the baby in utero, premature birth as well as low birth weight and fetal malformations, especially neurological.
Aggravating factors: malnutrition, alcoholism or anti-epileptics; expect twins or have already had several children. The need for vitamin B9 increases greatly during pregnancy, and food is not always sufficient to provide enough folic acid. This is why your doctor may prescribe a supplement for you.
Vitamin K: anti-hemorrhage
The role of vitamin K
It actively participates in the process of blood clotting.
For this reason, it plays an essential role during pregnancy, childbirth and in infants.
Where can you find vitamin K?
It is made in the intestines from bacteria.
In most green vegetables
In the liver, the eggs
It is destroyed by excessive alcohol consumption.
What are the risks in case of wrong dosage?
In case of deficiency: risk of bleeding
For pregnant women: if vitamin K intakes were insufficient during pregnancy, a deficiency is possible at birth. For this reason, your doctor may prescribe a supplement for the newborn baby, as a preventive measure.
For infants: a vitamin K deficiency increases the risk of intracranial hemorrhage from 1 month. In the breast-fed child, the needs are not covered, so a regular additional intake (prescribed by the doctor) is necessary until the food diversification.
Excess vitamins are as dangerous as deficiencies!
Let’s repeat it, a varied diet naturally provides all the vitamins in sufficient quantities. Better to follow the advice of the pediatrician concerning the baby’s diet, than to make him swallow nutrients in the form of drugs or foods known as “vitamin-enriched” … First, it is not certain that the body of your child stores a lot of these vitamins (most of them are passed in the urine anyway). Then, and above all, the exceeding the recommended amounts can be very dangerous.
Vitamins that are very difficult to store
Note that the vegetables very quickly “lose” their “reserves” of vitamins after picking (40 to 90% after a day’s storage for vitamins B and C). Peeling also removes a good part of it. So stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables!
Good to know: frozen products have more vitamins than a fresh product that has been kept in the refrigerator for too long.
Most vitamins are sensitive to water, air, or light (or all three). So do not store food for too long, do not soak the food you wash and use airtight and opaque packaging. About the cooking, it also destroys a large part of the vitamins (especially vitamin C). Note that steaming preserves vitamins better than traditional cooking.
Vitamin D in children: beware of the risk of overdose with food supplements
Two health agencies remind health professionals and parents of the importance of using drugs, and not food supplements containing vitamin D, to avoid any risk of overdose, dangerous, in young children. The instructions and the pharmaceutical qualities are indeed not the same.
The use of vitamin D-based food supplements is not without risk in adults, but also in children. Two health agencies, ANSM * and ANSES **, issue the alert on this subject, following cases of vitamin D overdose in this form recently reported in several young children. Consequently, in collaboration with the learned societies of Pediatrics, the National College of Midwives and the Poison Control Centers, they wish to sensitize health professionals, as well as parents, on “the risk of overdose associated with the administration food supplements with vitamin D in children, especially infants. “
For example, in 2020, two serious cases vitamin D poisoning have been reported to ANSES following the intake by infants of a food supplement purchased on the internet, the dosage of which was particularly high (10 IU per drop). However, as these two agencies explain, “these cases are manifested by hypercalcemia (excessive levels of calcium in the blood) which can have serious consequences, such as kidney damage like lithiasis / nephrocalcinosis (calcium deposit in the kidney). To prevent this risk, they ask health professionals and parents to ensure that drugs are preferred over food supplements.
Vitamin D and food supplements: the associated risks
Health agencies have indeed learned that health professionals or parents sometimes prefer to substitute certain vitamin D drugs by food supplements which are enriched, because of preservatives or essential oils that these drugs may contain. Among those, in the form of drops, cited in their additional opinion available online: the specialties Adrigyl (1 drop = 333 IU of vitamin D3), Deltius (1 drop = 200 IU) and ZymaD (1 drop = 300 IU of vitamin) . Also, the use of vitamin D-based food supplements in children can be risky for several reasons.
The first being that the vitamin D concentration per drop is sometimes very high (up to 10 IU), with what more is a possible absence of recommendation of doses according to age. The second risk concerns a dosage error when switching from the drug to a food supplement or when changing food supplements. Added to this is the “presence on the market of a large number of products with different concentrations / dosages, sometimes within the same brand (products worded differently with a risk of confusion, or even of multiple doses, in the event of association between products containing vitamin D). », Add the agencies.
“Too much vitamin D can be as dangerous as ‘not enough'”
Finally, food supplements may contain other vitamins, like vitamin K, for which there is no recommendation for daily administration to children, or calcium causing an increased risk of kidney damage. Vitamin D in medicines, like food supplements, is of animal or plant origin. If food supplements meet regulations to secure their use, the ANSM and ANSES specify that “the instructions for medicines containing vitamin D guarantee readable information in terms of doses, precautions for use, risk of adverse effects and overdose. “
Another difference according to them: “drugs present a level of requirement concerning the quality of raw materials, manufacturing and dosage control in each production batch, higher than that of food supplements. These are safe, controlled and quality products that allow a reliable supply and safety of use. »What behavior should parents therefore follow? They should not forget that in children vitamin D is essential for bone growth, this is why it is prescribed from the first days of life to prevent rickets, a disease characterized by insufficient bone mineralization and deformities.
Thus, “giving your child too much vitamin D can be as dangerous than not administering enough. », Summarize the organizations. These also insist on the fact of avoiding purchases on the Internet, which may turn out to be non-compliant with the regulations, and conclude on the importance of “properly controlling the doses given to your child and not multiply products containing vitamin D, to avoid overdoses that could disrupt kidney function. “In addition, ANSES informs that it plans to soon publish an update of the nutritional benchmarks, including those for vitamin D with the aim of improving the contributions provided by food. Alexandra Bresson