Among the major types of nutrients currently known to humans, vitamins can be said to be the most legendary. It is also the latest essential nutrient to be discovered among the currently known six major nutrients (if you add dietary fiber, it becomes the seven major nutrients). It cannot produce energy for the body, and the body\’s need for it is very small, but it is an essential type of substance to maintain the basic functions of the body (such as growth, metabolism, and maintenance of cell integrity). Different types of vitamins have some common characteristics: vitamins are present in food in the form of provitamins; most vitamins cannot be synthesized by the body or are not synthesized in sufficient amounts to meet the needs of the body, and must be obtained from food; the human body requires vitamins The requirement is very small, and the daily requirement is often calculated in milligrams or micrograms, but once it is lacking, it will cause corresponding vitamin deficiency and cause damage to human health.
Vitamins can generally be divided into two categories, namely water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins. For example, the well-known vitamins C and B vitamins are water-soluble vitamins. The well-known vitamins A, D, E, and K are all fat-soluble vitamins. Due to different chemical properties, we need to pay attention to different methods when taking different types of vitamins. If we want to absorb as much fat-soluble vitamins as possible from some foods, it is best to process them with fat and heat. Such as when ingesting carotenoids, the precursors of vitamin A in carrots, and when ingesting lycopene in tomatoes. If you want to take in more vitamins (such as vitamin C) and some phytochemicals that are easily destroyed during heating, you can eat carrots and tomatoes raw.