Water Soluble Vitamins

Paraphrased reader question:

I recently began to take some new supplements, and was wondering which are soluble in water and which are not because between my diverse supplements, many vitamins and minerals are overlapped. I heard that if you take too much of certain vitamins and minerals, you can get toxic, and I want to avoid that. Can you help? Thanks!

A: There is more to getting your optimum amounts of vitamins than just taking supplements and worrying about which are water soluble. Water soluble vitamins, for the record, are vitamins such as Vitamin C, which dissolve in water and easily pass through your system. For this reason, we must replenish our Vitamin C stores daily for optimal intake, and it is almost impossible to overdose on Vitamin C, as any excess is washed out via our urine. Other vitamins, such as Vitamin E, are fat soluble, and are stored in our fat cells. Even so, it is difficult to overdose on such vitamins, and most times this happens as a result of excess supplementation, rather than through food intake.

With an ideal diet consisting of a variety of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, we would all get most of our vitamin and mineral needs met naturally. Because, however, most of us do not eat as well as we should, vitamin supplements are often recommended to ensure the gaps in our nutrition are filled. Look for natural vitamin supplements that are of high quality, which may cost a little more but should contain less filler and vitamins with a better absorption rate.

Also noteworthy is that water soluble vitamins cook out when steaming or boiling vegetables, so in order to retain the most vitamins in your vegetables, here are some suggestions:

• Broil or lightly sautée vegetables
• Buy and eat organic to avoid eating vegetables grown in nutrient-depleted soil (not to mention the pesticides used in non-organic farming)
• If you must boil vegetables, do so only lightly. Use the water for soups, stocks and sauces, as it will contain high amounts of vitamins that have leeched from the vegetables while boiling.
• Eat more raw vegetables and fruits, and also consider juicing, and excellent way to get the most vitamins, in digestible form, from your vegetables. Juicing and drinking fresh, organic vegetables is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself, and experts agree this practice helps prevent many common diseases, including heart disease and many cancers.

Help us get the word out! Please take a moment and share this article (click on the share/save icons above).