Until the last time, I uploaded 4 articles about nutrients viewed as keywords during the corona pandemic. As the current COVID-19 momentum is fading, the number of confirmed cases is decreasing, and as the duty to wear an outdoor mask is lifted, society seems to be gradually recovering.
Of course, I am skeptical as to whether the majority of the people are going through the process of reaching herd immunity after suffering an infection, but I think it is really fortunate that our lives are gradually normalizing.
However, the emergence of new mutations can lead to a sharp increase in the number of confirmed cases again, and other infectious diseases may occur, so we cannot slow down our vigilance. Nevertheless, the corona pandemic of more than two years was an opportunity for humanity to learn how to respond to infectious diseases, and I expect it to be overcome in a better way in the future.
I mentioned it briefly when I mentioned the keyword of immunity last time, but if we cannot control all external conditions, I think that increasing our internal strength is a reasonable strategy to prevent infectious diseases.
In other words, maintaining homeostasis by properly and balanced intake of various factors that are involved in the functions of our body is a little extreme that can “make you less sick” in interaction with external factors (risk of infection such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.) It is an essential way to “survive”.
Therefore, I would like to upload an article about vitamins and active vitamins that have been talked about in recent years over the next several times.
# Essential vitamins for body function
Although vitamins are already known as essential elements for survival in the early 20th century, they are so-called steady sellers and hot items that have been reported to be involved in the prevention and treatment of diseases until recently.
And a very important feature is that our body cannot synthesize it on its own, but must be ingested from the outside (of course, vitamin D is synthesized in the skin under sunlight). Now, let’s take a look at vitamins and find out about the meaning of active vitamins.
Vitamins are essential nutrients that our body needs but cannot produce on its own. Currently, 13 types of vitamins are known, and they can be divided into fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins according to the properties of substances.
Fat-soluble vitamins: vitamins A, D, E, and K
Water-soluble vitamins: vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12, vitamin C
Vitamin deficiency can lead to several diseases and can be fatal. Vitamin A deficiency, which I once memorized during school days, is night blindness, vitamin B deficiency is beriberi, vitamin C deficiency is scurvy, etc. Vitamin deficiency causes fatal diseases and threatens life.
However, such extreme deficiency is rarely found in Korea at present. Because the nutritional status has improved incomparably with the past. Therefore, it is thought that the era of vitamins for maintaining life has already come to an end, and it can be said that it is now time to consider the role of vitamins in changing physiological activity, that is, maintaining health, preventing diseases, and treating diseases.
The characteristics of each vitamin are as follows.
First of all, the B vitamins have the highest number of vitamins. As mentioned above, the B vitamins include 8 vitamins.
1. Vitamin B group (for convenience, some vitamins are described as groups).
(A) First, vitamin B1 (thiamine) is closely involved in carbohydrate metabolism and is known to be directly related to diabetes by normalizing sugar metabolism by acting on the liver and muscles. It is also reported that it is distributed in the brain and affects normal brain functions.
(B) Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is also used as a coenzyme for enzymes that play a role in the metabolic pathway of carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids, which are the three major nutrients, and is known to play an important role in energy metabolism.
(C) In addition, vitamin B3 niacin, which is a component of the coenzymes NAD and NADP, essential for energy generation in the body, and nicotinamide, an amide derivative thereof, are also classified as vitamin B3. Niacin is also used as a prescription drug for hyperlipidemia.
(D) Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is an essential substance for the use of protein and amino acids, and vitamin B9 (folic acid) is essential for cell and blood formation and is necessary for the normal development of the fetal neural tube. It is a must-take vitamin.
In addition, vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamine) is an essential substance for normal folic acid metabolism and at the same time helps the formation of myelin that protects nerves. For this reason, it is also called neurovitamin.
In addition, these three vitamins B6, B9, and B12 perform a very important detoxification function by converting the toxic substance homocysteine produced in the body into the essential amino acid methionine.
(E) Vitamins B5 (pantothenic acid) and B7 (biotin) are known to particularly help skin and hair health as they have a characteristic that affects protein metabolism.
2. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
Vitamin C, a representative antioxidant, plays an important role in iron absorption as well as antioxidant activity, helping to treat anemia, and also helps skin health by helping collagen synthesis.
It is for this reason that scurvy caused by vitamin C deficiency is caused by a lack of collagen synthesis.
3. Vitamin D (calciferol) and E (tocopherol)
Vitamins D and E, which are representative fat-soluble vitamins, are mainly formulated with omega 3, a fat-soluble nutrient, and distributed as products. Vitamin D is an essential vitamin for bone health. Deficiency can cause problems with bone formation and cause rickets.
Vitamin D is a vitamin that can be synthesized by itself when exposed to sunlight. However, as modern people increase indoor activities and use sunscreens for various purposes, vitamin D deficiency issues are emerging.
As mentioned in the previous article, recent reports that vitamin D is closely related to immune function have been published one after another, and it is also found that there is a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and increased prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. The association with depression is also being studied. If there is an opportunity in the future, I would like to introduce a special feature of vitamin D in one place.
Vitamin E, another fat-soluble vitamin, is a vitamin known for its powerful antioxidant effect, and it helps blood circulation and is known for its skin-protective effect as it is included in cosmetics.
4. Vitamin A (retinol)
Vitamin A is an essential vitamin for eye health and is marketed as an eye health supplement along with structurally similar substances such as lutein and zeaxanthin.
5. Vitamin K
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble quinone component and can be divided into vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin K2 (menaquinone). Vitamin K1 is abundant in fresh vegetables, and vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods such as cheonggukjang.
Vitamin K1 is a blood coagulation factor and is essential for hemostasis. On the other hand, vitamin K2 has other activities, and vitamin K2 has osteoblastic action, which helps in bone formation. In foreign countries, it is formulated with calcium and magnesium and used as a supplement to help bone health.
