Discover the power of water-soluble vitamins and unlock the secrets to optimal health in this enlightening episode with your host, Leonila Campos. Join us as we explore the incredible benefits of vitamin C, from boosting collagen production and aiding in wound healing to enhancing iron absorption and acting as a powerful antioxidant. With a recommended daily intake of 75-90 milligrams, Leonila shares a wealth of natural sources for vitamin C, such as bell peppers, broccoli, strawberries, and kiwis, all while cautioning against the risks of overconsumption through supplements. Get ready to nourish your body with the right balance of nutrients, the natural way.
Step into the world of water-soluble vitamins as we dive into the vast array of dietary sources rich in B vitamins. Leonila takes us on a journey through the importance of a varied diet, highlighting the significance of including foods like edamame, lentils, nutritional yeast, and fortified cereals to meet our body's daily needs. With functions ranging from red blood cell creation to nerve function, B vitamins are essential for our overall health. Learn why a holistic approach to nutrition is key, and discover how the symphony of nutrients in a balanced diet harmonizes to support our well-being. Tune in and nourish your knowledge today!
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
Discover the power of water-soluble vitamins and unlock the secrets to optimal health in this enlightening episode with your host, Leonila Campos. Join us as we explore the incredible benefits of vitamin C, from boosting collagen production and aiding in wound healing to enhancing iron absorption and acting as a powerful antioxidant. With a recommended daily intake of 75-90 milligrams, Leonila shares a wealth of natural sources for vitamin C, such as bell peppers, broccoli, strawberries, and kiwis, all while cautioning against the risks of overconsumption through supplements. Get ready to nourish your body with the right balance of nutrients, the natural way.
Step into the world of water-soluble vitamins as we dive into the vast array of dietary sources rich in B vitamins. Leonila takes us on a journey through the importance of a varied diet, highlighting the significance of including foods like edamame, lentils, nutritional yeast, and fortified cereals to meet our body's daily needs. With functions ranging from red blood cell creation to nerve function, B vitamins are essential for our overall health. Learn why a holistic approach to nutrition is key, and discover how the symphony of nutrients in a balanced diet harmonizes to support our well-being. Tune in and nourish your knowledge today!
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
Hi, hi, welcome back to another episode in the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. I am your host, leonila Campos, registered dietitian, and today we're going to talk about water-soluble vitamins. I did an episode a few weeks ago on fat-soluble vitamins, so if you haven't had a chance to listen to that episode, I recommend going back to it and listening to it. But today I wanted to discuss water-soluble vitamins because we also want to talk about them. So, a water-soluble vitamin what that means is that it dissolves quickly in the body. Right, it's water-soluble. We're mostly made out of water, so it makes sense. But because of that reason, it must be replenished daily. Right, it also gets absorbed into our tissues and our bloodstream, and then any excess that we intake is excreted through the urine, right, and so that's one of the reasons why we need them on a daily basis. But, just like with the fat-soluble vitamins, we want to get our water soluble vitamins ideally from food. Right, because there is that less likelihood of getting any a high too much of the amount. Right, also, because supplements should be just that to supplement whatever, whatever we don't get, for whatever reason. But if we're able to get them through food, which I'm going to talk about, it's better. Now, there are two types of water-soluble vitamins. Usually we combine them, but it's vitamin C and all your B vitamins, which are about eight of them. So it's vitamin B1, b2, b3, b5, b6, b7, b9, and B12. So those are your B vitamins. We're going to go over each of them. So, starting with vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, it helps heal our wounds and infections. It helps our body absorb iron. Usually, that's one of their recommendations when someone has a low iron or anemia right, iron anemia they recommend to hopefully to take your iron supplements with vitamin C because it helps in the body to absorb better, versus just taking it by itself the iron by itself. So remember that, right? If, for some reason, you're taking iron supplements prescribed by your doctor, take it with something with vitamin C, which we're going to go over.
Speaker 1:
What kind of food sources are contain vitamin C? But vitamin C also helps make collagen in the body and it acts as an antioxidant, right? And so what collagen is? It's a fibrous protein or a type of protein in our connective tissues that we find in various parts of our bodies, right? It helps with our nervous system, immune bone cartilage and blood. So vitamin C helps make collagen that way, and it is also an antioxidant, which an antioxidant is a substance that protects our cells damage, so think of it as like a night right that protects our cells and it also neutralizes free radicals, right, which damage our cells essentially. So, and that's what an antioxidant is.
Speaker 1:
The daily recommendation, or the daily intake for vitamin C is 79 to 90 milligrams a day, and the way or what are some high vitamin C-containing foods. A couple of bell peppers will give you 190 milligrams, so you can add bell peppers to your meals and you get pretty much what you need in that day with just consuming that. But you also find it in broccoli. One cup will give you about 132 milligrams. A cup of strawberries will give you 85 milligrams. So these are high vitamin C foods. One large orange will give you 98 milligrams foods. One large orange will give you 98 milligrams and one kiwi will give you 90 milligrams. So if you just decide to eat one kiwi every day, or one kiwi for the first week, then you get that vitamin c that you need just from that specific fruit.
Speaker 1:
Um, a little bit of vitamin c here, because that is one of the things that I hear often is oh, I'm taking a vitamin C supplement to help me not get sick. Right Now the amount is quite high, usually over I don't know a dozen percent or whatever, and that is actually not recommended to do it consistently on a daily basis. And that is actually not recommended to do it consistently on a daily basis. I'm going to link a report that I found that talks about hypervitaminosis, meaning the high amount of vitamins that you consume and they affect in the body, and so this specific article says that it's not recommended to chronically consume or, you know, take vitamin C supplements for a long period of time that are higher than two grams or 2,000 milligrams a day, because that can lead to serious issues like arthritis right, like stomach ulcers, arthritis right Like stomach ulcers, stomach pain right, because it is acidic. But that also affects your kidneys right. It's interesting because I have a new client and she came to me because of a recurrence of kidney stones and so, as we were doing some research, oxalates right, which are found in food, that can affect right, it can affect the kidney stones. So taking too much vitamin C can accumulate or stimulate the accumulation of oxalates and that affects the kidney. So then more stones get formed right and so that doesn't help with the elimination of the stones. So if you have kidney issues, right, and so that doesn't help with the elimination of the stones. So if you have kidney issues, right, or if you have recurrence of kidney stones, right.
Speaker 1:
Taking these high vitamin C amounts coming from supplements, right. This is not coming from food, because you get from food, your body's able to use what it needs and then you get rid of it right away. But with these high amounts of vitamin C, your body can only do so much as to get rid of that amount. Again, you're getting rid of it through the urine, which your kidneys have to do that work. So the recommendation here is saying if you're taking more than 2,000 milligrams a day, that's a high amount, so it's not recommended. Again, because you get these other symptoms that can indicate that you're exceeding the amount of vitamin C. Again, usually this is mostly because you're intaking it in a supplement form.
Speaker 1:
You know, if you're taking something for, like I don't want to get sick, right, which is okay. But if you're able to get it through food, even better, because you're getting more than just the vitamin C, right, you're getting fiber, you're getting these other nutrients too. So if you're wanting to increase your intake of vitamin C when you're sick have oranges, have guava, have broccoli, bell peppers because they're going to give you this higher amount, but you're also going to get these other nutrients too, versus a supplement that is giving you a huge amount, right, and you do that forever, and then you're having these other health issues. So that's. I wanted to share that with you, because I did see that with one of my recent patients that she mentioned that. You know, when I started to have more of a recurrence of these kidney stones, I was in this health kick of adding all these supplements and taking this high vitamin C supplement because I wanted to stay healthy. Right, and that's totally fine if we want to, you know, optimize our health, but let's totally find it. We want to, you know, optimize our health, but let's do that with food first, and then, if we're struggling, right, okay, let's add a supplement that is only giving us, you know, no more than 100% of what we need or what's recommended is specified on the bottle. Right, we don't need this mega doses. So that that's for your vitamin C.
Speaker 1:
Now for your B vitamins. Right? There are eight B vitamins, and those B vitamins support and promote a wide variety of functions, which include our energy levels, our red blood, cell growth, infection prevention, brain function, cell health and metabolism, and so they are essential. Right, we have to get them from food. So let's start with the vitamin B1. So vitamin B1 is also called thiamine, and they're used in the body. It basically helps with conversion of food to energy, it helps our nervous system, it helps with cell growth and functions, and the recommendation is 1.1 to 1.2 milligrams a day, and you can get B vitamin or thiamine from beans, lentils, peas, sunflower, sesame seeds, brown rice, tofu and asparagus. So you can add a variety of these foods throughout the week and you can get the B vitamins. You can get thiamine from those foods. Excuse me Now, b2 is riboflavin, and riboflavin helps with the compression of food to energy, just like B1 or thiamine.
Speaker 1:
It helps with vision and skin health. It helps break down fats, asteroids and drugs, and the daily recommended amount is 1.1 to 1.3 milligrams a day, and you can get it from almonds and spinach and peas, kale, soybeans and mushrooms. Now I don't want you to feel overwhelmed with like how am I going to remember all this information? It's too much. I'm going to include a handout for you so you can have, you can remember, you can use, right, if you're like, okay, I want to make sure that I'm getting a variety of nutrients, a variety of these vitamins, on a daily basis or a weekly basis. You'll have that resource as well, so you can go back to it and you can use it as a reference. So don't worry, my friend, don't panic here.
Speaker 1:
Okay, vitamin B3 or niacin. Niacin also helps with the conversion of food to energy. It helps with the production and repair of DNA. It helps with your skin health, your nervous and digestive system and the overall health of it. The recommendation, the daily recommendation, is 14 to 16 milligrams a day. You can get them through lentils, whole grains, mushrooms, asparagus, leafy greens and peanut butter. So have a variety of nutrients. So if you hate asparagus, that's okay, you can have mushrooms. If you hate mushrooms, okay, leafy greens or peanut butter or lentils. That's another way to get niacin too. B5 is pantothenic acid. It also helps with the conversion of food to energy. It helps with hormone and cholesterol production in making and breaking down of fats, helps with hormone and cholesterol production in making and breaking down of fats, and the daily recommendation is 5 milligrams and you can get pantothenic acid or vitamin B5 from shiitake, mushrooms, avocados, potatoes, lentils, peanuts, sunflower seeds and sun-dried tomatoes.
Speaker 1:
Vitamin B6, or Paradoxine. Paradoxine helps in protein and amino acid metabolism, super important during pregnancy. So you'll see, mostly of all your B vitamins and prenatal vitamins, that you can also get them from food, which we're going to go over in a moment. It helps in the creation of red blood cells and the creation of neurotransmitters. You need about 1.3 milligrams a day and you can get them from chickpeas, potatoes, pistachios, sunflower seeds, brown rice, wheat, flour, biotin or vitamin B7. It helps again with the conversion of food to energy, carbohydrate and fat metabolism, regulation of gene expression, and you need about 30 micrograms a day and you get them through peanuts, cauliflower, oats, almonds, broccoli, sweet potatoes and strawberries. I mean there's a lot of other nutrients of other foods that will give you biotin, but these are the ones that have a high amount Folate or vitamin B9, it helps in the creation of DNA and blood cells, cell growth and division, amino acid metabolism, and the daily recommendation is 400 micrograms, with the exception during pregnancy.
Speaker 1:
During pregnancy it actually doubles Again, because it makes sense right, there is a high amount of cell growth and division that is happening at a rapid rate. More amino acids are needed, so you need a metabolism of the amino acids in the creation of DNA, right? You're creating a human being, so there is a higher need of folate, and that's usually recommended to start way before pregnancy happens. So if someone knows that, hey, I want to get pregnant or I'm thinking about pregnancy, obviously speaking to your doctor about it. But considering increasing this amount of these foods or consulting with your doctor about taking a supplement at least three months before that happens, because you want to make sure that your body is absolutely ready to start that process, right? That's one of the. It's also recommended because it decreases the risk of spina bifida during that super important time when the fetus is growing.
Speaker 1:
So you can get folate from edamame, mangoes, lentils, asparagus, spinach, avocados, broccoli and corn. Vitamin B12, covalamin it helps with red blood cell creation and development, nerve and neurological function, dna production, and we need 2.5 micrograms a day. We can get vitamin B12 from nutritional yeast, nori, shiitake, mushrooms, fortified cereals, plant-based milks. If it has been added to, like the vitamin water, you can get them through there too. So those are some examples of foods where you can get these B vitamins, of foods where you can get these B vitamins.
Speaker 1:
Again, as a recap, right for the B vitamins, you have vitamin B1, or thiamine vitamin B2, or riboflavin, vitamin 3, or niacin vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid vitamin 6, or paradoxine vitamin 7, or biotin vitamin B9, or folate vitamin B9, which is folate vitamin B12, or covalamin I'll probably maybe consider doing an episode on the difference between covalamin and these other forms of B12, because I know there's so many out there and that could be a confusion, right, in terms of more of the supplementation of it of it. But the important thing here, right, is that if we're adding a variety of these foods and you can see that there's some food here that has different types of B vitamins, and so the idea here is to add a variety of these foods so you can get not only one type of B vitamin. So you can get not only one type of B vitamin, but multiple types of the B vitamins, right, and also vitamin C, because we saw that strawberries have vitamin B7 and also have vitamin C. So when you think about vitamins that way, okay, let's make sure that I'm adding a variety of these foods throughout the week, throughout the month. A variety of these foods throughout the week, throughout the month we can have the amounts that we need, versus I'm going to rely on a supplement, right, that? The supplement might give me a high, a really high amount, but it's not giving me other things. It's not giving me antioxidants, it's not giving me fiber. So, food first, always. Then, if you need a supplement, talk to your healthcare provider, talk to your doctor or your dietician so you can talk about that and figure out if this is something that you need. But again, food first and then you talk about something else. Again, I'm going to link or I'm going to add the resource in the show notes, so you have it.
Speaker 1:
The main thing again is we want to make sure that we have the vitamin C and the B vitamins, which are your water-soluble vitamins, on a daily basis from food, right? These are vitamins that we need and we don't absorb them, meaning we don't store them. Rather, we of course, absorb them, but we don't store them like fat-soluble vitamins. So we need to have them on a daily basis to make sure that we are getting those nutrients consistently. We don't need megadoses, right?
Speaker 1:
I talked to you about having high amounts of vitamin C. Over 2,000 milligrams a day can affect your kidneys, can affect the accumulation of oxalates, which can lead to more kidney stones. There are other symptoms that having a high vitamin C causes to you, and then the article that I'm going to link in the show notes also talks about hypervitaminosis of all your B vitamins. So what are some of the symptoms that you can get if you're getting a high amount of these three vitamins too? Just so, that way you are aware and you know so. If, for some reason, you're having like these issues and you don't know why and there's, you know they're doing all kinds of tests and you're taking these high, mega doses of vitamins could be a possibility, why that is so, anyway, my friend, I wanted to.
Speaker 1:
I know this was going to be a quick episode, but I wanted to talk about your water-soluble vitamins, because I did an episode on the fat-soluble vitamins. So why not the water-soluble vitamins, right? So, just as a recap, our water soluble vitamins dissolve quickly in the body, right. They must be replenished daily, coming from food and they are absorbed into our tissues and bloodstream and the excess is excreted through the urine. We don't store them, right, essentially Because we use them usually right away. Excess is excreted into the urine. So you'll have that resource of the different types of vitamins and the whole food dietary sources, so where you can get them.
Speaker 1:
Again, the main thing here is not to be super hyper-focused on like, oh my gosh, I need to get my vitamin B1 every single day. Again, if you're having these balanced meals, if you're having this variety of food, different foods on a weekly basis right, not always only eating broccoli, or not always only eating I don't know mushrooms then you're going to get these nutrients that your body needs, as long as you have that variety, right? If you don't maybe start there, okay, maybe every week I'll try to add a different type of vegetable to get those different type of nutrients. So if you have any questions, you know where to find me. You'll have the information in the show notes. If you want to look at my face, go to my YouTube video. You'll see that the video. Look at my face go to my YouTube video. You'll see that the video episode in my YouTube channel. And that is it for now, my friend. I hope this is helpful. Take care, stay strong. No-transcript.