Vitamins, minerals and where to find them

EileenG

Here's a list of the main vitamins and minerals, and good food sources of them

Vitamin A: liver, kale, sea vegetables.
Vitamin B1: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, wheatgerm
Vitamin B2: Marmite, organ meat, almonds, cheese.
Vitamin B3: Marmite, peanuts, canned fish, organ meats.
Vitamin B5: Liver, egg yolk, broad beans
Vitamin B6: wheatgerm, oily fish, nuts
Vitamin B12: liver, canned fish, rabbit
Folic acid: yeast, legumes, broccoli and green veg, liver.
Vitamin C: red pepper, blackcurrents, parsley, green veg.
Vitamin cod liver oil, oily fish, butter, eggs
Vitamin E: most oils, nuts, avocado.
Calcium: sea vegetables, cheese, tofu, sardines
Iron: meat, sea vegetables, pistachio, green veg.
Magnesium: cocoa, nuts
Potassium: sea vegetables, dried apricot, nuts
Zinc: oysters, wheatgerm, sesame seeds, liver.

Sasquatch76

Thanks Eileen - a handy little list!

brianthebard

potatoes contain vit C.

El_Dangeroso

If you use fitday then they give you a little breakdown of your food nutrition by micronutrients. It's kinda cool, some things I've noticed:

No vitamin K measurement, assumes vitamin A retinol and beta-carotene are equal.

It's really hard to get your quota of magnesium (grain sources don't count as the phytic acid binds it, it's probably a net gain, but not by much, unless you ferment them), plus a lot of the nutrients of foods in the database are based on vegetables grown in perfect soil as opposed to the mineral-depleted kind we have now, Potassium is replaced in soil by the grower, but magnesium is not. Hence why magnesium is one of the very few nutrients I supplement.

For potassium you have to eat a lot of vegetables to get enough of. If you're getting leg-cramps at night, this is probably the reason why, most of us on average manage barely 70% of the RDA, even less if you're restricting food intake for weight loss. You have to get 70% or more of your potassium from diet as large dose supplementation runs the risk of sudden cardiac death. Coconut water is a good source, that and tomato puree. I use both to make up the difference on the days that I don't quite hit the veggie target.

You don't need as much vitamin C if you eat low sugar.

You don't need as much vitamin E if you don't eat nuts or seeds or their oils. (This was one of the conclusions of the Lyon diet-heart trial)

Here's a menu for 1,800 cals that hits every nutrient RDA:

2 boiled eggs with 1tbsp butter

100g Sardines with 100g spinach and mushrooms fried in 1tbsp butter on a low heat.

50g Nuts, macadamia nuts, raw

200g Beef, cooked, lean and fat eaten with 100g Turnip and 100g Broccoli steamed with 1tbsp coconut oil on top and 30g Tomato puree

1 carton coconut water

The above menu is 65% fat (doesn't look like it does it? ), 24% protein and 11% carbs. Omega 6 is below 4% total calories and is balanced with omega 3 (provided the eggs are pastured). It's also gluten free and low in fructose.

John Victor

Choosing the right quality vitamin supplement is must. It is not always possible to eat a well balanced diet at least in this western pace. With the help of vitamin supplement you can get the amount of vitamin required by the body. It is widely available in almost all the offline and online stores.

--Kaiser--

John Victor wrote: »

Choosing the right quality vitamin supplement is must.

I don't think there is any evidence that synthetic vitamins have the same effect as naturally occurring vitamins.

Link

Link 2

Link 3

You are better off trying to get all the proper nutrients through food.

JackieO

I take a multi-vitamin fairly sporadically it has to be said but I just feel it nearly impossible to eat a well balanced diet and ensure you are getting everything. I'm never sure whether I'm better taking it or not.

I certainly make the OH avoid multi-vitamins as I'm always concerned about the impact of fortified iron on his bloods - he is already a prime candidate for heart problems (based on family history) and I've read enough to know that men should not be taking iron supplements.

Myself, I tend to take a multivitamin tablet 3/4 days a week.

BTW - what are sea vegetables?

Khannie

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

It's really hard to get your quota of magnesium (grain sources don't count as the phytic acid binds it, it's probably a net gain, but not by much, unless you ferment them)

Suppose you do ferment them? because I do with my oat pancakes. Overnight at least.

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

plus a lot of the nutrients of foods in the database are based on vegetables grown in perfect soil as opposed to the mineral-depleted kind we have now, Potassium is replaced in soil by the grower, but magnesium is not. Hence why magnesium is one of the very few nutrients I supplement.

For potassium you have to eat a lot of vegetables to get enough of. If you're getting leg-cramps at night, this is probably the reason why, most of us on average manage barely 70% of the RDA, even less if you're restricting food intake for weight loss. You have to get 70% or more of your potassium from diet as large dose supplementation runs the risk of sudden cardiac death. Coconut water is a good source, that and tomato puree. I use both to make up the difference on the days that I don't quite hit the veggie target.

Ok, now I supplement magnesium, most days (i.e. when I remember to, but it's not massive on the priority list). I use this. I would take 1 or maybe 2 a day. Recommended dose on the bottle is 3 but for long story reasons I don't do that.

Now having read your post and having to go to the supermarket to buy some dinner before training (I'm stuck in the office 'til training), I decided I'd forgo my usual tomato based sauce and puree it up instead. So I stuck about 100g of puree on my vegetables. Then I went here and it says I'm only get 20mg from that.

Is that correct? I was a bit disappointed.

WildBoots

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

I don't think there is any evidence that synthetic vitamins have the same effect as naturally occurring vitamins.

Link

Link 2

Link 3

You are better off trying to get all the proper nutrients through food.

+1 for this.

Other good ways to increase vitamin and mineral intake include:

• Vegetable juicing
• Fresh sprouts (easy to grow on window sill)
• Wheatgrass juice
• Superfoods like chlorella and spirulina (Chlorella is the most common superfood taken by the Japanese, who happen to be the longest living race on Earth).

Iristxo

WildBoots wrote: »

+1 for this.

Other good ways to increase vitamin and mineral intake include:

• Vegetable juicing
• Fresh sprouts (easy to grow on window sill)
• Wheatgrass juice
• Superfoods like chlorella and spirulina (Chlorella is the most common superfood taken by the Japanese, who happen to be the longest living race on Earth).

I am interested in increasing my intake of magnesium naturally if I can, for personal reasons (I hear it can greatly affect moods). I am not thinking of suplementing right now, partly because of this:

http://www.acu-cell.com/acn.html

As well as in the link, I have read in many places many times that achiving equlibrium between the different minerals in the body can be quite tricky and that it is actually this equilibrium that counts more than the actual intake of each of them, hence suplementing being dangerous because you mess around with that equilibrium.

Do you use spirulina and chlorella? If so, how much, and what the exact benefits?

Khannie

Iristxo wrote: »

I am interested in increasing my intake of magnesium naturally if I can, for personal reasons (I hear it can greatly affect moods). I am not thinking of suplementing right now, partly because of this:

http://www.acu-cell.com/acn.html

there's not one reference on that page!

El_Dangeroso

Khannie wrote: »

Suppose you do ferment them? because I do with my oat pancakes. Overnight at least.



Ok, now I supplement magnesium, most days (i.e. when I remember to, but it's not massive on the priority list). I use this. I would take 1 or maybe 2 a day. Recommended dose on the bottle is 3 but for long story reasons I don't do that.

Now having read your post and having to go to the supermarket to buy some dinner before training (I'm stuck in the office 'til training), I decided I'd forgo my usual tomato based sauce and puree it up instead. So I stuck about 100g of puree on my vegetables. Then I went here and it says I'm only get 20mg from that.

Is that correct? I was a bit disappointed.

Hey Khannie, I was recommending tomato puree for potassium, not magnesium, sorry if that wasn't clear.

Fermenting oats would indeed massively increase the availability in magnesium for sure, forgot to mention that. But our magnesium deficient soils you can't take the value in fitday or other nutrition databases for granted. I find it very difficult to consistantly get magnesium from dietary sources and I reckon there is about half the magnesium in veg and grains than fitday says there is.

Iristxo wrote: »

I am interested in increasing my intake of magnesium naturally if I can, for personal reasons (I hear it can greatly affect moods). I am not thinking of suplementing right now, partly because of this:

http://www.acu-cell.com/acn.html

As well as in the link, I have read in many places many times that achiving equlibrium between the different minerals in the body can be quite tricky and that it is actually this equilibrium that counts more than the actual intake of each of them, hence suplementing being dangerous because you mess around with that equilibrium.

I don't think that article says that you have to hit the ratio exactly 1:1 (which is impossible to know anyhow.) but they do recommend 400mg of magnesium oxide which is a completely unabsorbable form (and has almost immediate gastric consequences if you take even a tiny bit too much:eek:), better use citrate or glycinate.

I recommend 400-500mg a day, this is a normal intake and will not cause any adverse symptoms. They give up to 10g a day injected directly into pregnant women to treat some conditions in pregnancy, even at that level very few adverse reactions are observed.

I have done a LOT of research on magnesium, it's a very safe supplement to take as long as it's in the normal range, one of the safest.

Khannie

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

sorry if that wasn't clear.

Haha. Sorry, it was very clear, I just had magnesium on the brain.

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Fermenting oats would indeed massively increase the availability in magnesium for sure, forgot to mention that. But our magnesium deficient soils you can't take the value in fitday or other nutrition databases for granted. I find it very difficult to consistantly get magnesium from dietary sources and I reckon there is about half the magnesium in veg and grains than fitday says there is.

Ok, cool. I'll stick with the 1 or 2 supplemental magnesium tablets a day then.

Khannie

ok, one further question on potassium then: I usually make up an oul' sports drink for before training. I would add salt to it. Obviously this is fine because I sweat a LOT. I know though that ORT drinks like dioralite have sodium and potassium in them. Now I do occasionally get leg cramps, though I noticed they went away for the most part when I upped my salt intake (just table salt / sodium). Would it be a good idea to throw some potassium chorlide ("lo salt") into the drink too?

When I say I sweat a lot, I really mean it. Like nearly every day I would sweat the guts of a kilo of sweat on top of "normal" sweating. Sorry for the grossness.

brianthebard

JackieO wrote: »

I certainly make the OH avoid multi-vitamins as I'm always concerned about the impact of fortified iron on his bloods - he is already a prime candidate for heart problems (based on family history) and I've read enough to know that men should not be taking iron supplements.

You can get male multi-vits without iron if he's that concerned.

Khannie wrote: »

Ok, now I supplement magnesium, most days (i.e. when I remember to, but it's not massive on the priority list). I use this. I would take 1 or maybe 2 a day. Recommended dose on the bottle is 3 but for long story reasons I don't do that.

Being nosey, but can I ask what the long story is? I take 3 of those tablets if I think to take any, although if I've been taking them for a week or two every night (rare but sometimes I remember to) then I might reduce the dose.

Khannie

brianthebard wrote: »

Being nosey, but can I ask what the long story is?

Sure, it's not that long really. They were totally messing up my dreams, to the point that it was interfering with my sleep. Don't forget that I'm small though. Mostly I walk around at around 65KG.

brianthebard

Yeah figured it might be cause of your weight all right, I get dreams from too, but I've often found that the night after will be worse even if I don't take any more tablets that night.

El_Dangeroso

Khannie wrote: »

ok, one further question on potassium then: I usually make up an oul' sports drink for before training. I would add salt to it. Obviously this is fine because I sweat a LOT. I know though that ORT drinks like dioralite have sodium and potassium in them. Now I do occasionally get leg cramps, though I noticed they went away for the most part when I upped my salt intake (just table salt / sodium). Would it be a good idea to throw some potassium chorlide ("lo salt") into the drink too?

When I say I sweat a lot, I really mean it. Like nearly every day I would sweat the guts of a kilo of sweat on top of "normal" sweating. Sorry for the grossness.

Haha no probs! Yep good ol' lo-salt will do the trick. Or you can buy 99mg tabs of potassium and grind up two of them into the mix. My favourite electrolyte replacer is coconut water, it's so refreshing, perfect PWO (or post-hangover!). It is an acquired taste though.

eclectichoney

Khannie wrote: »

Sure, it's not that long really. They were totally messing up my dreams, to the point that it was interfering with my sleep. Don't forget that I'm small though. Mostly I walk around at around 65KG.

I use Cal-Mag-Zine tablets from H&B and found this as well sometimes when I took it in the evening but now I take them in the morning and have not had any problems. Touch wood / pillow

brianthebard

pretty sure calcium reduces the effectiveness of magnesium and/or zinc. Someone smarter will be able to say for sure.

Khannie

Think they compete for absorption alright.

Hennybug

JackieO wrote: »

BTW - what are sea vegetables?

Just googled them as i'm trying to up my iron and it's seaweed

EileenG

Dulse is a classic Irish seaweed that I often eat as a snack. And things like nori are now available for adding to soups etc.

JackieO

Do you mean dillisk Eileen?

It was while since I tried this. Remember it tasting very salty.

Might be something you could throw into a stiry fry maybe.

Must pick some up next shop.

Where would I get coconut water? I haven't seen it in the health food shop at all - but I mainly go to H&B and I don't think they have the best selection always.

EileenG

I think the Nourish health food shops have it in the drinks cabinet.

Maybe it's called dillisk here. I always call it dulse. www.mcuniverse.com/uploads/pics/080_dulse_01.jpg

eclectichoney

brianthebard wrote: »

pretty sure calcium reduces the effectiveness of magnesium and/or zinc. Someone smarter will be able to say for sure.

Khannie wrote: »

Think they compete for absorption alright.

Ah sugar! There's always something I get wrong! That's a bit stupid to make a supplement with the three. Grrr I'm not a happy girl. No wonder i wasn't getting side effects from the mag lol.

Big thanks Bri & Khannie

Khannie

eclectichoney wrote: »

That's a bit stupid to make a supplement with the three.

It would seem that way alright. Like Brian I only have a limited understanding of it. The zinc and magnesium supplement I take is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach though, to avoid the calcium competition.

brianthebard

It seems quite common though to get calcium in the z-m supps, which leads me to completely guess that they put it in on purpose to perhaps limit the drowsyness you might get from taking the tablets. Most non trainees aren't interested in the recovery and sleep benefits of z-m and probably want to take their vitamins in the morning rather than at night on an empty stomach, so seems like the way to make that possible is to add calcium(?)

EileenG wrote: »

I think the Nourish health food shops have it in the drinks cabinet.

Maybe it's called dillisk here. I always call it dulse. www.mcuniverse.com/uploads/pics/080_dulse_01.jpg

Don't suppose you have any recipes for that or carrageen moss? Think I'm more likely to eat enough of the seaweed if its mixed in with other stuff....

El_Dangeroso

brianthebard wrote: »

Don't suppose you have any recipes for that or carrageen moss? Think I'm more likely to eat enough of the seaweed if its mixed in with other stuff....

You can chuck a handful of any seaweed into a stew and it won't taste too strongly of it. I hate the taste of seaweed, it's unbearably salty to me. I do use kelp granules instead of salt which is a handy way of getting all the minerals.

eclectichoney

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

You don't need as much vitamin E if you don't eat nuts or seeds or their oils.

This one has me a little puzzled - I always thought nuts contained quite high levels of Vitamin E, or is there something else in them (e.g. another mineral etc.) which is blocking the absorption of the vitamin E then? I generally eat 25-50g of mixed nuts a day, so do I need more vitamin E then? Or did you mean the second don't??


Sorry for the overload of questions in this thread from me, It's just I am about to place an iherb order and don't want to miss anything i should be getting whilst I'm at it!

Thanks

El_Dangeroso

eclectichoney wrote: »

This one has me a little puzzled - I always thought nuts contained quite high levels of Vitamin E, or is there something else in them (e.g. another mineral etc.) which is blocking the absorption of the vitamin E then? I generally eat 25-50g of mixed nuts a day, so do I need more vitamin E then? Or did you mean the second don't??


Sorry for the overload of questions in this thread from me, It's just I am about to place an iherb order and don't want to miss anything i should be getting whilst I'm at it!

Thanks

They do yep, that keeps the oils in them nice and fresh. What I meant is that the RDA is based on someone with a fair consumption of seed oils which don't have their own vitamin E for the most part so you have to get it from elsewhere. Just no need to stress if you don't hit the RDA for vitamin E if your not eating things that require it (namely vegetable oil).

Hope that helps and don't stress about this stuff to much! You're already way ahead of the pack just by even considering this stuff. Most people eat the most tremendous crap and get along relatively fine. That's what I tell myself when I feel I'm obsessing a bit.

metamorphosis

Marcos001 wrote: »

Vitamins and minerals are very much essential nutrients in our body to lead a healthy life. There are 13 known vitamins and each has different roles within the body. Most of the vitamins are present in fresh leafy vegetables, fruits, Milk and milk products, poultry, egg, meat, etc. Vitamins are also available in the form of supplements in many online and offline vitamin stores.

_____________________

<snip>

Way to state the obvious. I was clueless to that.


Id love to get my hands on actual studies of mineral and vitamin absorption of food versus that of supplements (pref the two versus each other in the one study). Temple, if you are reading this, you more than likely do - could ya linkey if not too much trouble, or anyone else?

El_Dangeroso

ULstudent wrote: »

Way to state the obvious. I was clueless to that.


Id love to get my hands on actual studies of mineral and vitamin absorption of food versus that of supplements (pref the two versus each other in the one study). Temple, if you are reading this, you more than likely do - could ya linkey if not too much trouble, or anyone else?

I know that vitamins are definitely better absorbed with food, whether they come from a tablet or in the food.

I also know that the oil in fish is better ulilised than refined fish oil. Not aware of a definitive study that tests all nutrients, be a good idea for a study, but it would be so expensive to get the exact nutritional breakdown of what people ate, to be properly scientific you can't really rely on databases, they're a rough guide at best.

I was actually talking to a researcher the other day. She's doing research in mice that are genetically engineered to get heart-disease (it's normally really hard to induce heart plaque in mice). I asked what she was feeding the mice, she said 'Oh, a western style high fat diet.' She was feeding them nothing of the sort, the mice were getting lab chow infused with oxidised cholesterol. Something totally unrecognisable as food to mice and humans.

It's the sad state of science at the moment where synthetic chemicals in a bag are considered analogous to real food.