Billy Gale, age 10, of Omaha, Nebraska, for his question:
Why do we need vitamins?
A car needs wheels to get from here to there; a clock need hands to point to the passing moments. Your body performs a multitude of miracles with chemicals and it needs vitamins to make them work. If this or that vitamin is missing, the body cannot do certain jobs to keep itself healthy. The skin may get scuffy or the muscles may grow weak and weary, bones may become fragile or wounds may refuse to heal. When vitamins are missing for a long time, the body breaks down altogether.
We know that we must breathe and also eat regular meals to keep going. But the real miracles go on inside. The body uses oxygen to change the food we eat into various usable chemicals. It uses more oxygen to build and repair itself and change food into peppy energy. These chemical miracles go on behind the scenes. But they cannot go on without help from various chemicals called vitamins.
The body must be given healthy helpings of ready made vitamins to keep going. The plant world offers most of them in fresh fruits and vegetables, in yeasts and whole grain cereals. Other vitamins are served to us in lean meats, fish and dairy foods. Actually, the body needs more than 20 different vitamins to do hundreds of different jobs.
Biochemists know a lot about some of them and a little about others. The problem is hard because vitamins work in very complex ways. Each one does several different jobs and some of their duties overlap. For example, vitamin A is needed to keep the skin and nerves healthy, to build strong bones and teeth, to help breathing and digestion. This same busy vitamin also helps the eyes to see their best when the light is dim.
Naturally, you want to get your share of vitamin A. You can get it from milk and eggs, from fish and liver, green and yellow vegetables and by eating carrots. Add lean meat, whole grain cereals and dairy products and you also get daily helpings of the various B vitamins. Your body needs BI to change food into energy, to keep its heart beating and to soothe its nerves. It needs B2 to keep its skin healthy and to heal its wounds. Healthy teeth, gums and nerves also need B6 and so do red blood cells. The blood, skin and nerves also need daily doses of other B vitamins to stay healthy.
The A and B vitamins cannot do a good job without the magic of vitamin C. The body needs healthy helpings of C for the teeth, bones and skin and all the other busy cells need it every day. The plant world serves vitamin C in citrus juice and other fruits, also in salads and fresh vegetables.
Someday the experts will learn a lot more about the various vitamins, how they work and why the body cannot get along without them. We also need to know what our daily doses should be and the best way to take them. The C and B vitamins are very fragile. Fruit and vegetables soon lose them and more float away in the cooking of vegetables. Some experts think we should take extra vitamins in capsules, just to make sure that we get our share.