Making Vitamins

 

Vitamins are only needed in very tiny quantities. The human body does not make its own vitamins and so needs to have them in its diet. The good news is that many of the bacteria in our intestinal tract produce useful vitamins as by-products – we absorb these and so bacteria can help prevent certain deficiency diseases. This is extremely useful if our diet does not contain all the vitamins we need.

 

This was demonstrated in an experiment in which army volunteers were fed polished rice (no vitamin B1 content) for two weeks and remained perfectly healthy when they should have contracted beriberi. If their intestinal bacteria were killed by antibiotic treatment, then they developed these diseases within a few days.

 

Vitamin

Required for

 

Primary non-bacterial source

B

(many types)

Many functions including:

Red blood cell formation

Nerves

Skin

 

Liver, kidney heart, eggs, milk, cheese, fish, vegetables, wholemeal flour

C

Skin

Wound Healing

 

Citrus fruits, green vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes

H

Muscles

Protein synthesis

 

Yeast, liver, kidney, egg white

K

Blood clotting

 

Spinach, cabbage, Brussels sprouts

Carotene*

Antioxidant – can be converted to vitamin A

 

Milk, cabbage, lettuce, carrots

Lysine*

Essential amino acid

Potentially, any protein

 

*These are not, technically, vitamins but are still vital products produced by some intestinal bacteria.

 

It is interesting to note that many of the products we buy have added vitamins: margarine and bread being good examples. Many of the vitamins added, together with some of the vitamins found in pills, are produced by bacteria under commercial conditions.

 

 

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