Vitamins & Minerals
Introduction
What are vitamins and minerals?
There are now considered to be 12 essential vitamins and 14 essential major minerals. They are termed ‘essential’ because if they are sufficiently deficient in our diet, we will eventually suffer from diseases resulting from that deficiency, e.g. scurvy from inadequate supply of vitamin C and rickets from inadequate supply of vitamin D.
The Essential Vitamins List
- Biotin (vitamin B7, vitamin H)
- Folate (folic acid, vitamin B9, vitamin M)
- Niacin (vitamin B3, vitamin P, vitamin PP)
- Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5)
- Riboflavin (vitamin B2, vitamin G)
- Thiamine (vitamin B1)
- Vitamin A (retinol)
- Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, or pyridoxal)
- Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)
- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
- Vitamin D (cholecalciferol, ergocalciferol, calcitriol)
- Vitamin E (tocopherol)
- Vitamin K (naphthoquinoids)
Vitamin K is essential, but it is produced by our gut flora and so doesn´t have an RDA. Therefore, it is often omitted from supplements.
The Essential Major Minerals List
- Calcium (Ca)
- Chloride (Cl)
- Copper (Cu)
- Chromium (Cr)
- Iodine (I)
- Iron (Fe)
- Magnesium (Mg)
- Manganese (Mn)
- Molybdenum (Mo)
- Phosphorus (P)
- Potassium (K)
- Selenium (Se)
- Sodium (Na)
- Zinc (Zn)
The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is the daily amount of these vitamins and minerals which is necessary to prevent deficiency diseases, but may not be the amount of a vitamin or mineral that is optimum for good health.
Vitamins and minerals are collectively the most popular dietary supplements in the UK with approximately 40% of adults taking a vitamin/mineral product every day at least once per week.
What are the main categories?
The vitamins and minerals can be divided into three main categories
Multivitamins and Minerals
- Adults
- Over 50’s
- Childrens
- Womens
- Pregnancy
Multivitamins
- Adults
- Childrens
- B-Complex
Individual Vitamins and Minerals
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin D
- Folic acid and vitamin B12
- Calcium and magnesium
- Zinc
- Other
To learn more about these categories go directly to the SC Product Assessments.
It is important to recognise that some products are multivitamins and provide no minerals, whilst multivitamin & mineral products provide both nutrient groups.
BUYING TIP - If the value for money of a multivitamin and mineral product is virtually the same as a multivitamin only product then you are getting the minerals for next to nothing!