Getting Vitamins From Interesting Sources
By Dane C. Fletcher

Vitamins are especially important to bodybuilders that they are very vital to the building of muscles. Not only do they take part in the very many chemical reactions that take place but also determine the absorption of other nutrients. This means that you may be taking the other nutrients religiously but because of a poor intake of some vitamin, those nutrients can’t be absorbed as well as they are supposed to.

This gives your body and added deficiency not because you’re not ingesting those nutrients but because your body is simply not absorbing them. There are two categories of vitamins namely fat soluble and water soluble vitamins. As the names suggest, fat soluble vitamins depend on fat for both their absorption and transportation around the body. Water soluble vitamins also need water for both absorption into the body as well as transportation around the body. Here are some of the essential vitamins that you simply can’t do without.

Vitamin A is one of the fat soluble vitamins and is a requirement if you are to have healthy teeth and bones. Some people refer to it as the eye vitamin because of the vital role it plays in your eye sight. It is especially essential for night vision and a deficiency or excess can both adversely affect your vision. It is also responsible for the synthesis of protein and the production of glycogen.

Vitamin B is water soluble and it generally consists of 8 water soluble vitamins namely: vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9 and B12. B1 is responsible for energy production and is essential for a healthy heart and nervous system. B2 helps in the recovery of worn out tissue and helps cells utilize oxygen. B3 does cell metabolism and at the same time is responsible for carbohydrate absorption. This is a good example of how other nutrients are dependent on vitamins. B5 is gotten from most of the foods that you eat and like B1; it is responsible for converting food into energy. B6 helps in the synthesis of proteins and converts them into energy. B9 produces red blood cells and last but certainly not least; vitamin B12 produces genetic material ad ensures that your nervous system is working properly.

Vitamin just like vitamin B is also water soluble. Commonly referred to as ascorbic acid, vitamin C is an antioxidant thus protects your cells from oxidation. It takes part in the metabolism of amino acids and is responsible for the absorption of iron. Again another example of the interdependence between vitamins and minerals.

Vitamin D is fat soluble and is essential for the absorption of calcium into the body. As you know calcium is involved in muscular contractions and it maintains a high bone density. In short it is one mineral that the bodybuilder especially cannot do without. Vitamin D is also responsible for the absorption of phosphorus which as you know is responsible for the production of high energy molecules.

The next time you want to skip the vegetable salad and fruit puddings that are packed with vitamins you’ll think twice.

Dane Fletcher is the world’s most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday.com. If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit www.BodybuildingToday.com, the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

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