What are vitamins? The term ‘vitamin’ was first given to a group of substances that were thought to be vital for life, each containing a nitrogen-containing component known as an amine. Vitamins are essential for the proper functioning of our body. They help to strengthen the immune system, to ward off disease, and even to improve the overall mood of a person. If a particular vitamin is missing from your diet, it may lead to a deficiency disease.

Vitamins can help prevent diseases mainly in two ways. First, they prevent the deficiency syndromes characteristic of the respective vitamin. Second, they increase the health benefits of the specific vitamin.

Vitamins mainly belong to two categories – fat-soluble and water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins are those that can be stored in the body fat and hence need not be replenished daily. Water soluble vitamins cannot be stored in the body and need to be taken daily.

The debate has always been whether you need vitamin supplements to meet the body’s daily needs or whether you can get it from a balanced diet. Theoretically, you do not need vitamin supplements. However, in reality, you cannot get enough of the vitamins that the body needs from your diet. Blame it on pollution, blame it on declining soil quality due to intensive agricultural practices, blame it on your eating habits, it’s getting more and more difficult to get your daily dose of vitamins from your food.

Taking vitamin supplements are, therefore, unavoidable. You need to take them regularly if you need to get all the vitamins into the body. Trying to compromise on that could lead to the breakdown of your immune system, and deficiency diseases.

But there are plenty of vitamin supplements out there. How do you choose the best one? For one, you cannot hope to take a vitamin pill and end the story. Because your body needs multivitamins, and pills containing all of them in the required quantities will be real big pills. They will be a pain to carry and eat regularly, to say the least. Again multivitamin supplements should have the correct mix. If you end up taking too much of one vitamin, that again is can cause health problems.

Talking of multivitamin supplements, one cannot ignore glyconutrients, a recent discovery. Glyconutrients are the plant carbohydrates. Though there are more than 200 of these, eight of them are most essential for our body. These eight essential sugars are responsible for some of the most fundamental biochemical processes in the body. Glyconutrients help in cell-to-cell communication. When the 600 trillion cells in your body talk well, they build well too. That means the body’s systems and processes stay fighting fit!

What are the benefits of glyconutrients? Glyconutrients are known for their anti-aging properties. They help athletes in improving their performance and to reduce the recovery time in case of injury. Glyconutrients have also produced positive effects in children suffering from ADD Attention Deficit Disorder and ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Whether you are suffering from a medical condition or not, glyconutrients are essential for your body. They help your body heal, repair, regenerate, regulate and protect itself.

So when you select your multivitamin supplement, make sure it contains glyconutrients. They are absolutely necessary for maintaining optimum wellness of the body.

It is the belief of most parents that children are eating a relatively healthy diet, but if not, they throw up their hands and give up. Children are then plied with multivitamins. Though this is not a bad thing to do, many children think they are candy especially now that they come in gummi candy, gumballs, and cute animal and cartoon characters.

This is extremely serious because if they are with a kids reach, they could be taking more than you know about. If there is the remotest chance your child has ingested too many, immediately call Poison Control and get them to the emergency room.

If your child overdoses with multivitamins with iron your child could become seriously ill or die. All manner of medications must absolutely be kept out of the reach children. If you think your child needs them generic multivitamins are fine but for the most part, children get a lot of their vitamins in their diets.

If your child is either allergic to dairy products or wont eat them, calcium will need to come from other sources. A consultation with your childs pediatrician is important. One vitamin daily is all a child needs even if his diet has been questionable for that week.

The absorption of other vitamins could be blocked if there is too much of any one vitamin. For example, too much calcium can prevent the absorption of other vitamins such as iron. Healthy food choices are not a childs priority you can expect to be giving your child vitamins well into their teens.

Before buying vitamins you should know that opinions about vitamins with iron for children vary greatly. One belief is that you should, in fact, be giving vitamins with iron. Another philosophy is that never should a child be given vitamins with iron in them.

In infancy my own child showed signs of iron deficiency as an infant. Always check with your childs doctor; my childs doctor put him on iron fortified vitamins and he is healthy now. A disease called Hemochromatosis is caused by too much iron in the blood.

The iron becomes unusable by the body and it is not washed out of the body easily. It is almost always a fatal disease and can cause serious health issues. Calcium helps build strong bones and muscles and is a very important part of your childs diet.

Calcium is a mineral. Kids who eat ice cream, yogurt, and cheese or who drink milk usually get enough calcium from their diets. Some do not like dairy products, still others are allergic to them. Children can be assisted in getting what they need by consuming calcium fortified juices, cereals and vitamins.

Drinking fluoride treated tap water and bottled water andor using fluoridated toothpaste is enough for most children. Your child should not be given fluoride supplements without checking with your pediatrician. Your childs teeth could be permanently stained if they get too much fluoride.

This defeats entirely, the purpose of the treatment of water and the use of toothpaste meant to protect your childs teeth. Infant multivitamins in liquid form is available and usually administered with an eye dropper.

The drops contain vitamins A, C, and D and may have added iron. Also they may have other vitamins and minerals such as thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and vitamin B-12. Chewable childrens vitamins are available in the forms of cartoon characters andor animals. Now vitamins are available in gummi candy and gumballs.

Try buying gum ball vitamins or cartoon characters if your child is difficult about taking vitamins. Your child should always be supervised while hes taking his vitamins. My son never gets to take his vitamins on his own, I give them to him.

He may or may not take it or he could take too many. Childrens vitamins could be a very good thing but too much of a good thing could be fatal. They should not be left in the reach of children. Eating what is right is not your childs top priority so giving him vitamins may offset some of that.

Adjustments to childs diet should always be discussed with your childs pediatrician, its better to err on the side of caution. Its fine to have fun shapes but your child could think they are candy and they should be kept out of reach of children or locked in a cabinet.