Ever wondered how the unsung heroes of the vitamin world play a crucial role in your wellbeing? Wrap your head around the complexities of fat-soluble vitamins—A, D, E, and K—as I, Leonila Campos, guide you through their journey from plate to cell. With a voice that's as colorful as the fruits and veggies rich in these nutrients, I'll walk you through their key functions in vision, skin health, immunity, and more. Discover how to get these vital nutrients working in harmony with the fats in your meals for optimal health, and grab your downloadable educational handout in the show notes for a deeper dive.
Navigating the world of dietary supplements can be a minefield, but fear not—I've got the map. From the antioxidative might of Vitamin E to the essential blood clotting prowess of Vitamin K, I separate fact from fiction. I dissect the differences between Vitamin D2 and D3, spotlighting the power of a balanced plate over popping pills. For those with conditions affecting nutrient absorption, such as IBS or cystic fibrosis, I stress the importance of specialist guidance. And for anyone contemplating supplements, I preempt the pitfalls of overdoing a good thing with advice on staying within those all-important upper intake limits. Tune in, take charge of your nutrient knowledge, and enrich your health with every listen.
Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com
Ever wondered how the unsung heroes of the vitamin world play a crucial role in your wellbeing? Wrap your head around the complexities of fat-soluble vitamins—A, D, E, and K—as I, Leonila Campos, guide you through their journey from plate to cell. With a voice that's as colorful as the fruits and veggies rich in these nutrients, I'll walk you through their key functions in vision, skin health, immunity, and more. Discover how to get these vital nutrients working in harmony with the fats in your meals for optimal health, and grab your downloadable educational handout in the show notes for a deeper dive.
Navigating the world of dietary supplements can be a minefield, but fear not—I've got the map. From the antioxidative might of Vitamin E to the essential blood clotting prowess of Vitamin K, I separate fact from fiction. I dissect the differences between Vitamin D2 and D3, spotlighting the power of a balanced plate over popping pills. For those with conditions affecting nutrient absorption, such as IBS or cystic fibrosis, I stress the importance of specialist guidance. And for anyone contemplating supplements, I preempt the pitfalls of overdoing a good thing with advice on staying within those all-important upper intake limits. Tune in, take charge of your nutrient knowledge, and enrich your health with every listen.
Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com
Hey, hey, welcome back to another episode in the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. I am your host, leonila Campos, registered dietitian, so pardon me for my raspy voice. For some reason, I lost my voice on Monday, like Monday afternoon. I was totally fine Monday morning and then by the afternoon like I was struggling with my voice and so, yeah, anyway, so you're going to hear my voice being different. That's okay. I might drink some water to help me, but we're doing okay here. So I wanted to do this podcast on fat-soluble vitamins just because I do get a lot of questions from my clients and my patients about vitamin supplementation. Is it needed, is it something that we should get? And so I wanted to start with the fat-soluble vitamins and then in another episode I will talk about water-soluble vitamins, because it's a bigger category, and so let's start there and then in the show notes always go to the show notes, because there are usually links to resources. In today's episode, I'm also adding a handout that you can use as an educational handout for your reference, but I'll be also adding some links to different studies or resources that talk more about the fat-soluble vitamins and the upper limits and all that. So if you're driving or if you're busy, you don't have to stop, but you can always go back to the show notes and you'll find that information there. I really appreciate your support and listening. If you feel that this episode or any of the other episodes that I've done are helpful or that are going to help your I forgot my mic, oh, my goodness are going to help a family member or a friend, make sure to share that episode with them in my podcast. And if you haven't followed me or subscribed to my podcast channel, please do so as well. I also have a YouTube channel, so I usually upload my videos because I record with camera on, so you know if you're thinking about okay, who is this person, how does she look like? You can go to my YouTube video from my YouTube channel, which I also link in the show notes, and you can also view the video, because a lot of the times I share my screen and then I show you what I'm talking about, and sometimes having a visual really helps, okay, so let's get started Now.
Speaker 1:
What are fat soluble vitamins? So the first thing to define is what a vitamin is right and it's just a smaller molecule and it is under micronutrients, right. Micro means small, small nutrient and so fat-soluble vitamins. We have vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. So we have four fat soluble vitamins a, d, e and k and they are called fat soluble vitamins because when we consume anything that has those vitamins, we absorb them in the small intestine. We're in the presence of fat, right, but also they are stored in our liver. They are stored in our fat tissue. So essentially, we don't need to have them like every single day because, you know, as we consume them, our bodies store them, right. So that's the main thing.
Speaker 1:
That are fat-soluble vitamins. Again, it's vitamin E, d, e and K. They are absorbed in the small intestine in the presence of fat. So what does that mean? It means that if we have a meal that has fat soluble vitamins in that meal, we're going to absorb that. If there is a presence of fat in our meals, which most of the times there is some kind of fat if we're having protein, even if it's a lean piece of protein, there's going to be fat. Even if we have tofu, tofu has a healthy fat, so we're going to absorb it there. We're going to go more into detail. If, like what? If I don't need any fat, right, although I don't recommend that we need fat, right, healthy fats, we still need them, and so, if that is the case, right, adding a little bit of olive oil. Right, if you're having a salad, which, again going back to my previous episodes of making your meals balanced, adding that protein will take care of that fat factor, or a recommendation. So I do want to um share my screen so that way I can show you the handout that I created for you as a reference, and then in the handout, it talks about each of those fat soluble vitamins. So let me go here so I can share my screen with you and, like I said, you're going to have this handout handy so you can use it.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so let's zoom in to the vitamin A. Oh, that's a lot. Go up here, okay. Okay, vitamin A. The main functions of vitamin A are vision, right, your eyesight, skin rejuvenation, bone and tooth growth, reproduction and immunity, and the recommendation for women is about 700 micrograms a day, or 900 micrograms a day for men, and some of the food sources where we can get vitamin A are liver, fish, eggs, dairy products, mangoes, papaya squashes, carrots, sweet potatoes and maize Think of, like your, like orangey vegetables or fruits. They are going to be high in vitamin A, fruits they are going to be high in vitamin A. So, again, if you add a variety of these foods, you don't have to isolate, like you don't have to be so particular about I need to always have. You know these foods right. What is going to matter in the end? To try to get a variety of these vitamins and any other vitamins and any other nutrients and second, focusing on that balancing of the meals right, adding a variety, even a variety, week by week or every two months. You add, like, different colors of vegetables and fruits, because you get the different nutrients right. If we always eat the same food food, then you are always getting the same nutrients coming from that food. So the more variety that you add, the better.
Speaker 1:
The next, uh, fat soluble vitamin is vitamin d. Not surprisingly here, um, a high amount of population is deficient in vitamin D. It's also called the sunshine vitamin, because we need sun to convert the active form of vitamin D in our skin and so if we're always inside then we don't have that. We're not getting that conversion as often. But some of the functions are mineralization of bones right, it makes our bones stronger. It's a link there With bone health. It also helps our immune system and neuromuscular function, like our brain function and some of the recommendations here for vitamin D. It's about five micrograms a day for men, same thing for women, and some of the food sources are like fatty fish, where I think of salmon or fish, liver oils, egg yolks, cheese, beef, liver, mushrooms, um more so, mushrooms that have been treated with UV light.
Speaker 1:
Right, because the vitamin D is converted into or is added to those plant sources, and in a little bit I'll go more into detail between the difference of vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. So that way you know what that is. And then anything that is fortified with vitamin D right, like your milks, your plant-based meals, that is fortified with vitamin d, right, like your milks, your plant plant-based meals, your fortified juices, cereals if they're fortified pretty much with any other vitamin, you can also get a source there. Now, again, if we're adding these nutrients coming from a variety of sources and and you go with your doctor, vitamin D is usually a vitamin that is checked more often than any other vitamins. Again, because there is dialing of deficiency in the majority of the population. And so if you go to your doctor's office and they tell you you're vitamin D deficient. A lot of the times they'll give you a vitamin D supplement, and we'll talk about supplements in a little bit as well. But that doesn't mean that you don't have to do some work there, right? Just making sure that you still try to get a variety of vitamin D coming from food sources if possible, but definitely taking your vitamin D supplements as prescribed. Because, again, even though we need a small amount of these micronutrients, we still need them. Right? If we're deficient or if for some reason, we are not getting enough, we can only get them from two ways, right? Either from food or from a supplement, and so if we're not getting them, then we can get into these deficiencies.
Speaker 1:
Vitamin E is next and the functions. It acts as an antioxidant, it stabilizes our cell membranes. Right, it helps with creating these healthy cells and, just in general, our healthy body, and so the recommendation, right um, it for women is about seven milligrams a day, and then for men it's about 10 milligrams a day. And some food sources, um are almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, trout, salmon, red pepper, turnip, greens, butternut squash, avocado, mango and kiwi. Those are some of the vitamin E sources, and let's see.
Speaker 1:
Let's move on to vitamin K. Vitamin K the main functions are synthesis of blood clotting proteins and bone proteins. So if you've had a baby, usually the baby will get like vitamin K, like a vitamin K supplement again, because babies they don't have they don't have vitamin K at all, and so they need that right as soon as they are born to help them with like blood clotting and to make sure they're not. You know, they start to bleed and then obviously, as we start to get as a baby, you get nutrients either from breast milk or formula and you get that vitamin k. And as you get older, then we can get vitamin k from kale, collard greens, broccoli, spinach, cabbage. Then we can get vitamin K from kale, collard greens, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, blackberries, blueberries, kiwi, and those are some of the food sources where we can get vitamin K.
Speaker 1:
If one of the questions that I get asked about vitamin K is like do I need to stop eating these foods if I'm on a like a thinner medication? These foods if I'm on a like a blood thinner medication, and the only difference is that what's not recommended is not to add a high amount, right? If you've been eating these foods with no problem, then you can continue to eat them unless otherwise advised by your doctor, because maybe your labs are showing otherwise, but it's usually not recommended to increase right these food sources and you start to take a blood thinner or something of that nature. But anyway. So I am going to again give you access to this little handout that you can have. Again. You don't really have to worry about am I getting enough, right? Or do I have to track every single one of these vitamins? You don't right.
Speaker 1:
As long as you're getting a variety and a combination of these nutrients, you know, on a regular basis even if it's not every single day, but maybe, you know, every week you get some sort of a combination of these fat-soluble vitamins Again, because your body is able to absorb them and store them. You should be okay. Now there are some conditions that do affect our fat-soluble absorption, and one of them is irritable bowel syndrome, again, and not only fat soluble vitamins but maybe other vitamins too, because when you think about your small intestine, that's where most of the nutrients get absorbed, and so if there are issues with our small intestine, we're going to have other deficiencies, not only fat soluble vitamins, but also, if you have issues with pancreatitis, inflammation of your pancreas, cystic fibrosis, possibly some other autoimmune diseases, that affects the absorption of these vitamins in general, and so, if that is a concern that you have, you can always ask your doctor or your healthcare provider to check your fat-soluble vitamins just to make sure that, if you're deficient, you start adding more of these foods or, if it's needed, you can get a supplement. But those will be the main things when it comes to the fat-soluble vitamins, the food sources, some of the recommendations. Now there is another handout that I have here which I wanna share with you as well, just so that way you have a visual. Let me see if I can find it here. Okay, so this is more of like a study. So if you're like, this is really complicated, um, you know you don't have to get a headache from it, but I just want to add it as another resource that you can have for the fat soluble vitamins, right?
Speaker 1:
One of the main things I did want to mention here is the difference between vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. So, essentially, vitamin D2 is coming from your plant sources versus vitamin D3 is coming from your animal sources. Either way, your body can use that and convert it into an active form of vitamin D and you can use it and convert it into, like a vitamin, an active form of vitamin d, and you can use it, um see, yeah, the what I like about this article is that it does talk about the combination of these fat soluble vitamins and how they work together, again, um, to keep us healthy, essentially, and to prevent maybe some cancers and prevent some other conditions. So if you're into that, you can read this article. Again, I'm going to link it in the show notes, but if you don't, that's okay, you don't have to, but again, it has those recommendations. Okay.
Speaker 1:
So how about supplements? Right, do we need to add supplements? Now? Supplements, um, are useful, right, you can, you can really benefit from them if there is a deficiency or if, for sure, you're like I've tried and I cannot seem to get a variety of these foods that are going to give me this vitamin d or this vitamin, this fat soluble vitamins. Can I take a supplement? So, number one, you always have to talk to your healthcare provider, your doctor, about adding any kind of supplements, even more so fat-soluble supplements, because, again, we store them right, and so we don't need to have this huge megadosis. There's something called the upper limit for each of the vitamins and minerals too, which I'll find an article for you and you can reference that as well and so meaning that there's an upper limit of each of the nutrients that consume in a supplement form. That can be dangerous, right?
Speaker 1:
So the first line of intervention as dietitians or as a dietitian, is let's try to get these nutrients from food right. Again, not only because we're going to get the vitamins, the fat-soluble vitamins, from that food. For example, if we're having carrots right, we're also getting other antioxidants, we're also getting fiber, and so when we add food, we're not only getting the fat-soluble vitamins, we're getting a variety of other nutrients. So that will be the first intervention. And then, if we're really struggling to do that, um, or if we have a deficiency, right one, your doctor is going to address that. But the other thing too, is that, okay, the guidance on the supplement right.
Speaker 1:
Again, we don't need these mega doses. Usually most supplements are going to have what is called the daily value, the percentage daily value, or the percentage that is recommended. We don't need to have like 1,000%, right? Because, again, specifically for these fast-soluble vitamins, you're going to store them. You don't need these mega doses and also you might not have to take them every single day, right, you can take them again. Talk to your health professional once or twice a week, right, or something like that, so that way you can supplement, right, whatever you're not getting from food, the that supplement that you're that you're consuming, um, I'll be doing, probably, another episode on just supplementation, like what to look for, um, because that's also needed. Not all supplements are going to be the best option, and so, and also making sure that you do your due diligence as to the purity of the supplement and what else is added to this supplement. So, anyway, there is that.
Speaker 1:
There is another handout that I found that I will be also adding to the show notes, but I can just show you so that way you can see that again. If you, if you are just listening, don't worry, you can always go to my YouTube channel and look at that, or you can view the resource in the show notes. This one is done by the Colorado State University Extension and it does a really good job at explaining what vitamins are, what the fast-soluble vitamins are, and then the quick facts about them and then food sources, of course. So then you can use that as well as another resource. It talks about the recommended dietary allowance, right, the RDA for vitamin D and all your fast-soluble vitamins. So you can look into that.
Speaker 1:
Another thing that I really like about this handout is that it talks about too much of having that specific vitamin. So to give you an example, right, too much of vitamin a. Vitamin A toxicity includes dry and itchy skin, headache, nausea and loss of appetite. Signs of severe overuse over a short period of time, including dizziness, blurred vision and slower growth, blood vision and slower growth. Um, vitamin a toxicity can also cause severe birth defects and may increase the risk of bone loss and hip fractures.
Speaker 1:
So, um, there's that there as well, right? So if you're like, okay, I want to make sure that you know I don't one, prevention is key, right? So if you're taking these faster level vitaminsuble vitamins in these megatoses you know like over a thousand percent of the RDA, or you know just too much of it on every single, on a daily basis, then what you can do is just stop them for a little bit. Right Again, because your body's storing them, so it's not like you're going to become deficient. But if you have the ability right to eat a variety of these foods, focus there instead, right, if you have these other health conditions that I mentioned cystic fibrosis, pancreatitis, irritable bowel disease or syndrome then talk to your um, your health routine routine, to give you more guidance there. But, again, if you're able to eat, it's better to get these nutrients from food first. So, anyway, there is that handout for you.
Speaker 1:
So, just to recap here, this episode is about fat-sol soluble vitamins. Right, I describe, I define what a fat soluble vitamin is, what is a vitamin in essence? And I talked about each of the fat soluble vitamins vitamin A, d, e and K, what their functions are, the recommendations in the food sources. There is a handout for you that you can use. You can share it with whoever you want to share it with. You can put it on your fridge if you want, or like a little binder and there's. I'm going to add these other links of other resources that you can use.
Speaker 1:
Right, again, thinking a supplement is not going to be a replacement of food, right? Unless, again, if for some reason, medical reason you're not able to get a variety of these foods, then you can, you know, use your supplement, but food is first. And, yeah, any questions that you have, again, you can always reach out to me, you can put it in the comments, you can go to my YouTube channel, you can email me at fieldbyleo at gmailcom and you can reach out to me, or you can call me or send me a text at 559-512-0404. Okay, I'll be doing another episode on the water water soluble vitamins, which is the rest of the vitamins. It is a bigger category, so I'll spend a little bit more time there. But again, you'll have resources that you can use as a reference. All right, my friend? Well, thank you for joining me today. Remember to stay strong and stay healthy and safe. I will see you and talk to you in another episode. Bye-bye for now.