3 Vitamins You Should Get From Your Food
While vitamin supplementation is great, especially in the case of vitamin D and other vitamins and minerals that most people aren’t getting enough of, some vitamins are simply better to get from your diet. Below are three supplements that easily can, and should, be obtained from diet alone.
Vitamin B12
Being the largest and most structural complex vitamin, the process of creating B12 supplements is more difficult than many other vitamins. This leads to more difficulty creating supplements that function in the same way getting the vitamin from your diet does.
The best way to get vitamin B12 is to eat meat. However, if you’re a vegetarian, other animal products such as eggs and milk are good substitutes.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A deficiency is very common in undernourished people, especially in developing countries. However, as highlighted in the article What Does Vitamin A Do? while supplements address deficiency, there are so many different forms of vitamin A that most supplements aren’t able to properly replicate all of the naturally-occurring subcategories of vitamin A.
The best sources of vitamin A are colorful fruits and vegetables.
Antioxidants
Antioxidant vitamins and supplements are controversial, because it’s still unclear whether they actually extend life span. We know what oxidative stress causes damage to cells and that antioxidants seem to combat that, but recent research has suggested that oxidative stress may be important for long term health. Much in the same way muscle tissue grows stronger by being damaged by exercise and then healing, it is believed that oxidative stress causes an adaptive response to strengthen cells.
Furthermore, trials where participants take antioxidant supplements haven’t demonstrated an increase in life span. However, those who get more antioxidants in their diet tend to live longer. For this reason, it’s best to get antioxidants from fruits and vegetables.