We have long known that there is a difference between taking vitamin supplements and consuming the same nutrients as part of a balanced diet. This is true for both children and adults. Even though we seek help with our poor food habits, the best nutrition is serving a wide variety of whole, fresh foods as much as possible. The most high-vitamin foods of all are fresh fruits and vegetables. Foods high in naturally occurring carbohydrates and proteins contain more vitamins and minerals than high fat foods.
The following are some examples of nutrient rich foods:
Vitamin A promotes normal growth and development, tissue and bone repair, and healthy skin, eyes, and immune responses. Good sources include milk, cheese, eggs, and yellow-to-orange vegetables like carrots, yams, and squash.
Vitamin B (B2, B3, B6, & B12) aids metabolism, energy production, and healthy circulatory and nervous systems. Good sources include meat, chicken, fish, nuts, eggs, milk, cheese, beans, and soybeans.
Vitamin C promotes healthy muscles, connective tissue, and skin. Good sources include citrus fruit, strawberries, kiwi, tomatoes, and green vegetables like broccoli.
Vitamin D promotes bone and tooth formation and helps the body absorb calcium. Good sources include milk, cheese, and yogurt (especially fortified dairy products), egg yolks, and fish oil.
Calcium helps build strong bones as a child grows and is necessary to maintain strong bones as adults mature. Good sources include milk, cheese, yogurt, tofu, and calcium-fortified orange juice.
Iron builds muscle and is essential to healthy red blood cells. Iron deficiency is a risk in adolescence, especially for girls once they begin to menstruate. However, too much iron can have adverse effects in some adults. Good sources include beef and other red meats, turkey, pork, spinach, beans, and prunes.
The message (a familiar mantra): eat as well as you can, get regular exercise, don’t smoke, everything in moderation. Don’t waste your money on vitamins and supplements that offer things that are too good to be true. Someday we’ll understand more.
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