Top 10 Vitamins for Winter

Winter for many people seems like a time of feeling less energy, increased muscle and joint pains, broken bones, sinus problems, and of course, the flu. There are many different reasons people get sick or feel the blahs, but one reason may be a Vitamin deficiency or too much of a Vitamin stored in your body. Also, taking Vitamin supplements can interfere with some medications, so be sure to tell your doctor if you are taking any Vitamins when you go for that winter heart stress test after working out in the gym.

Before you go popping that winter blahs vita energy pack every morning, you need to check with your Doctor and develop a Vitamin plan as part of your total winter physical exam. You may be surprised to learn some of the risks of taking too many Vitamins, but also what can happen if you don't take enough Vitamins.

The 13 Essential Vitamins for Life

There are 13 Vitamins that our body must have to survive: A, C, D, E, K and all the B vitamins, which are B3 (niacin), B6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine), B12, thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, biotin, and folate. To see a really good list of what foods you can eat to get each of these Vitamins, and the daily recommended doses depending on your age and medical condition, click here for the National Institutes of Health Vitamin and Mineral Fact Sheets. You can also find more information about side effects for taking too little or too much of each of these Vitamins.

Vitamin B6 is essential in helping the body make white blood cells to fight off infections. Many vegetarians need to take a Vitamin B12 supplement because a deficiency can cause nerve damage. People taking blood thinners or a daily dose of aspirin need to be careful how much Vitamin K they take. Our body makes Vitamin D and Vitamin K, but there can be health problems when there is too much or too little of these Vitamins.

Vitamin K is used by the body to help with normal clotting of the blood. A Vitamin K shot is usually given to all newborn babies to help prevent bleeding around the brain. Newborns often have a vitamin K deficiency because they do not get much vitamin K before birth and they have not yet acquired the bacteria that produce the vitamin. Vitamin K deficiency can cause bleeding and bone problems in adults.

A Closer Look At Vitamin D and Vitamin A: The Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Most people get all the vitamins they need from the food they eat, but the winter months can change how our body absorbs and stores certain Vitamins. For example, your body produces Vitamin D when it is exposed to sunlight, something we have less of in the winter. If you do not get enough Vitamin D, you can get rickets, which is a weakening of the bones that can cause breaks and deformity. However, just taking Vitamin D may not do the trick since your body needs Calcium to effectively absorb and use the Vitamin D it has stored. You also need Vitamin A to help prevent night blindness, something that happens more in the winter since the days are shorter.

Your body does different things with Vitamins much like a bear hibernating in the winter. Your body can store some Vitamins in your fat cells so it can use them when it needs them. Vitamins A and D are two of those kinds of Vitamins that the body stores for use later. Age also plays a factor in how your body uses Vitamins. Older people with a Vitamin D deficiency have a higher risk for hip fracture, while teenagers with a Vitamin D deficiency have increased risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and metabolic syndrome.

You must be careful not to take too many of these Vitamins because you may experience the following side effects:

Side Effects of Too Much Vitamin A (which is retinol, retinal, retinoic acid): vomiting, headache, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, clumsiness, birth defects, liver problems, possible risk of osteoporosis. If you drink high amounts of alcohol or you have liver problems, high cholesterol levels or don't get enough protein your risk for side effects from too much Vitamin A can increase.

Side Effects of Too Much Vitamin D (which is calciferol): vomiting, nausea, poor appetite, constipation, weakness, weight loss, confusion, heart rhythm problems, deposits of calcium and phosphate in soft tissues.

A Closer Look At Vitamin C, The B Vitamins and Folic Acid

There are some Vitamins that the body uses right away and does not store them in fat cells. Those are Vitamin B3, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and Folic Acid. These are water-soluble Vitamins and the kidneys will remove any of the excess of these Vitamins from your body. Let's look at what these Vitamins do for you and some of the side effects of too many of these in case your kidneys aren't working so good.

Vitamin C helps the body form collagen in blood vessels, bones, cartilage and muscle. Collagen is a connective tissue that the body uses to keep things attached to each other.

The Vitamin B family is essential to your body for healthy blood cells, metabolism, energy, and a healthy immune system. Vitamin B6 is especially important for helping the organs in your body to make white blood cells and fight infections.

Folic Acid is a synthetic form of folate that the body uses to make new cells. Folate is needed to make DNA and it can prevent changes to DNA that help prevent some forms of cancer.

There are some side effects of having too many water-soluble Vitamins in your body:

Side Effects of Too Much B-3 (niacin): flushing, redness of the skin, nausea

Side Effects of Too Much B-6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine): nerve damage to the limbs that might cause numbing, trouble walking, pain

Side Effects of Too Much Vitamin C (ascorbic acid): kidney stones, increased iron absorption, nausea

Folic Acid (folate): High levels may hide signs of B-12 deficiency, a condition that can cause nerve damage

Sources:

National Institutes of Health
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitamins.html

U. S. Food and Drug Administration
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm118079.htm