The word from the nutritionist
Vitamins: truth or myth?
Anti-aging, anti-oxidant, anti-stress and so on and so forth... the myth of vitamins is today very rooted in our culture. They are added everywhere: in alimentary products, in beverages and also in the cosmetics. What are exactly the vitamins?
The vitamins are a heterogeneous group of chemical substance, necessary in small quantity in your body, that have various functions: they contribute to the generation of energy, have an antioxidant action against the free-radical, aid your body to eliminate the slags and toxic substances, improve your immune system, participate to the conversion of sugars, fats and proteins. The vitamins cannot be synthesized in the body (except the vitamin D) and have be regularly introduced with the alimentation. They are contained in meat, fish, vegetable, fruit and cereal.
The vitamins have very different functions and chemical structures, for these they are divided into two groups: water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and vitamins of b group) and liposoluble vitamins (vitamins A, E, D, K). Only the liposoluble vitamins can be stored in the liver and in the fat issues, in this way they constituting a reserve for when the organism has need. For the production of vitamin D, important for the health of your bones, is necessary the sunbathing. The content of vitamin in the food is sensitive at different factors: the heat, the light and the time are the main causes of the destruction of vitamins.
Fruit and vegetable, if are stored for much time before their consumption, will lost high quantity of vitamins. High quantity of water-soluble vitamins are also lost both washing the vegetable before cooking and peeling them, in fact, these substances are most concentrated near the peel. The vitamins C is the most instable one: it is sensible to the heat, the water and the oxygen. It is released to the water during the cooking, it is oxidized during the air exposition and, in presence of “riboflavina” is degraded for the exposition of the light.
Published 07 January 2019