Good Food = Good Health

As I tell all my clients, there's no need to deprive yourself of the foods you love. If you love chocolate cake, eat it. If you like real butter, eat it.

In moderation.

But there's no denying that our diets effect our health.


Vitamin A (Retinol) Cod liver oil
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Rice bran
Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) Citrus, most fresh foods
Vitamin D (Calciferol) Cod liver oil
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Meat, eggs
Vitamin E (Tocopherol) Wheat germ oil, unrefined vegetable oils
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamins) liver, eggs, animal products
Vitamin K1 (Phylloquinone) Leafy green vegetables
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) Meat, whole grains,
in many foods
Vitamin B7 (Biotin) Meat, dairy products, eggs
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) Meat, dairy products
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Meat, eggs, grains
Vitamin B9 (Folic acid) Leafy green vegetables

The value of eating a certain food to maintain health was recognized long before vitamins were identified. The ancient Egyptians knew that feeding liver to a patient would help cure night blindness, an illness now known to be caused by a vitamin A deficiency. The advancement of ocean voyages during the Renaissance resulted in prolonged periods without access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and made illnesses from vitamin deficiency common among ships' crews

In east Asia, where polished white rice was the common staple food of the middle class, beriberi resulting from lack of vitamin B1 was endemic. In 1884, Takaki Kanehiro, a British trained medical doctor of the Imperial Japanese Navy, observed that beriberi was endemic among low-ranking crew who often ate nothing but rice, but not among officers who consumed a Western-style diet. With the support of the Japanese navy, he experimented using crews of two battleships; one crew was fed only white rice, while the other was fed a diet of meat, fish, barley, rice, and beans. The group that ate only white rice documented 161 crew members with beriberi and 25 deaths, while the latter group had only 14 cases of beriberi and no deaths.

Vitamins are classified as either water-soluble or fat-soluble. In humans there are 13 vitamins: 4 fat-soluble (A, D, E, and K) and 9 water-soluble (8 B vitamins and vitamin C). Water-soluble vitamins dissolve easily in water and, in general, are readily excreted from the body, to the degree that urinary output is a strong predictor of vitamin consumption.[13] Because they are not readily stored, consistent daily intake is important.[14] Many types of water-soluble vitamins are synthesized by bacteria. Fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed through the intestinal tract with the help of lipids (fats). Because they are more likely to accumulate in the body, they are more likely to lead to hypervitaminosis than are water-soluble vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamin regulation is of particular significance in cystic fibrosis.

More on this tomorrow.