What are Vitamins and Minerals?

Vitamins

The complex substances we call 'vitamins' are essential for our well-being; without them, our health would suffer and eventually we would get deficiency diseases such as scurvy, rickets and berri-berri. Although we can make some vitamins ourselves within our own bodies, the quantity we make is not enough to maintain our health, so we need to make sure we obtain sufficient nutrients from our diet.

Because they occur naturally in food, eating a varied, colourful and balanced diet is the best way of doing this. But not all of us eat healthily all of the time and, at times like these, vitamin supplements can help.

Vitamins have a number of alternative scientific names, which are listed on food packaging and on supplements labels. Sometimes, substances are referred to as vitamins, although they are not officially recognised as such. Beta-carotene is a good example.

Minerals

Like vitamins, minerals are substances needed in our diet to keep the body healthy. They cannot be made by the body and must be obtained daily through diet or supplementation. Some minerals are required in tiny amounts, while others are needed in slightly larger quantities.

The minerals required in small amounts are sometimes called 'micronutrients'.