Are You Eating Your Vitamins?

Hi Everyone-
Enjoy another Nutrition Article written by a student mentee Taylor from University of North Florida. Happy Holidays and Happy National Nutrition Month.

Nancy Cohen RDN LDN
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Are You Eating Your Vitamins?
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Taylor Sikes
UNF Nutrition and Dietetic Student


It’s National Nutrition Month and to celebrate we’re talking vitamins. Are you getting enough? There are all kinds of supplements and one a day pills we can take, but why do that when you could eat your vitamins at each meal?
Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E are all very important to our health and each contribute a different benefit.

• Vitamin A is good for eyesight and even helps us to see at night. The active form of vitamin A that our body uses is retinol. One of the highest amounts of vitamin A can be found in liver and fish oils. Other places to look for vitamin A are orange and yellow vegetables, leafy greens, and some tomato products.  
• Vitamin B is really more of an array of vitamins and is better known as the B Complex.
  • Folate is a B vitamin also known as B9. Folate is necessary for women who are trying to conceive and may even be needed in supplement form if enough is not being eaten through the diet. Foods high in Folate are beef liver, spinach, black eyed peas, fortified breakfast cereals, and even white rice.
  • Vitamin B12 is found primarily in animal products but is also present in fortified breakfast cereals, and enriched milk/ soy milk. B12 is related to neurological function and plays an important part in DNA synthesis.  
  • Vitamin B6 also known as Pyridoxine is used for converting homocysteine in to methionine which we need to do for conversion of carbohydrates into energy. High sources of B6 can be found in chickpeas, beef liver, yellowfin tuna and salmon.
• Vitamins C and Vitamin E are antioxidants meaning that they help to fight off bad particles that may enter or are generated in our bodies.
  • Vitamin C can be found in fruits like oranges, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, bell peppers, and even brussel sprouts
  • The active form of Vitamin C is ascorbic acid which you can look for on ingredients list
  • Vitamin E is found in almonds, avocados, spinach, sweet potatoes, and wheat germ
  • The active form of vitamin E is alpha- tocopherol so you may come across this on ingredient lists
• Vitamin D is an important factor for bone health along with calcium. The active form of Vitamin D is calcitriol so you may look for it on ingredients list but you should know that the majority of vitamin D we use comes from the sun. Other sources of vitamin D are enriched milks, and salmon. One four oz serving of salmon has your whole vitamin D dose for the day!

You may be wondering what I mean by the “active form” of these vitamins but the active form simply means that it is the form that the body accepts and uses readily, meaning no further conversions are needed within the body before it may be used.
As you can see, it’s so important to ensure that your diet is full of color and variety so that you may be receiving all of those necessary vitamins. If you need help with creating meal plans or think you may be lacking a certain vitamin, call or see your local dietitian for some guided assistance!