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Find Right Vitamins for You

Submitted by Elizabeth on June 18, 2010

Importance of Vitamins: Vitamins do you good, and are great for nourishing your body. First speak with your doctor and ask him if you need vitamin supplements and if he can recommend any particular essential vitamin supplements. Generally, vitamins nutritional supplements are recommended for the overall health and if a person is suffering from some health problems that can be cured with the right vitamin supplements.

Taking vitamins: Vitamin mineral supplement are actually meant to supplement your diet. This gives you extra minerals and vitamins, in case you are not able to get those from your diet or if you have health problems.

Children and multivitamins: Children are often given vitamin supplement for the extra dosage of vitamins that could supplement their regular meals. We suggest you speak with a doctor before giving supplements to your child.

Finding the right vitamin supplement: Here is some information to help you find right vitamin.

Vitamin A: If you are taking this particular vitamin, then you need to take less than l0,000 IU of it.

Too much of it can increase the risk of birth defects.

Beta-carotene: The best way to get this vitamin is through orange and green vegetables and fruits. It is advisable to take up to l5, 000 IU beta-carotene. When you take beta carotene, the body converts it into vitamin A.

Folic Acid: Folic acid is good women, particularly those who are planning a family and are pregnant.

0.4 mg or 400 ug of folic acid can decrease the risk of birth defects such as cleft palate and spina bifida.

Vitamin D: People over 50 years of age should take multi-vitamin supplements with 400 IU. The natural and healthier way to get vitamin D is through fatty fish, milk and sunshine.

Phosphorous: You may need less than 500 mg of this as you can get phosphorous from food products.

Iron: 0-10 mg of iron is fine for people who do not lose iron regularly. These would be men and post-menopausal women.

Pre-menopausal women as well as children have less iron in their bodies, so they should take about 10-14 mg of it. Too much of iron can cause constipation. You can get iron naturally from red meat.

Choosing the right vitamin: It is important to know how to choose the right vitamin supplements.

You need to read the label of the vitamin supplements, so that you know what you are going to get in the pack.

Consult a doctor for the right information.

The pack needs to have the USP on the label.

A vitamin supplement should have hundred percent of the daily value of vitamins like B12, B5, B3, B2, B1, D, and folic acid. About 20 micrograms or more of vitamin K should be in the supplement too. There should be forty to fifty percent of the vitamin A can be beta carotene, while vitamin A should be 5,000 IU or less. The supplement should have the daily value of chromium, selenium, iodine, zinc, and copper.