Vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals are nutrients that strengthen your body in different ways. You will typically get vitamins and minerals through a healthy and varied diet - but in some cases it will be good with a supplement in the form of food supplements.

What are vitamins?

Vitamins are organic substances that are either categorized as water-soluble or fat-soluble. You can read more about this difference further down in this post.

What are minerals?

Conversely, minerals are inorganic substances found in soil and water. Therefore, they are typically taken up by plants and animals - from which humans then naturally gain access to the minerals. However, we can also gain access to minerals through dietary supplements.

Which vitamins should not be taken together?

In order to get the most out of your vitamins and minerals, you must be aware of the context in which you consume them.

Calcium, for example, counteracts the body's absorption of iron. You should therefore not take calcium and iron supplements at the same time. You should also avoid calcium-containing foods before taking iron supplements.

On the other hand, vitamin C will help your body's absorption of iron - therefore you can benefit from drinking a glass of orange juice when you take your iron supplement.

Consuming large amounts of minerals at the same time can compete with each other. In this way, the body cannot fully absorb the minerals, and you thus lose their full potential.

This is, for example, the case with supplements of calcium, zinc and magnesium. If you have been advised to take these minerals, try to take them at different times.

Otherwise, the minerals will compete with each other to be absorbed into the body - with the result that the body does not absorb each mineral in full.

When should you take your vitamins?

Many people take their vitamins in the morning, because then it is remembered. But you can also easily eat them in the evening in connection with your dinner. The most important thing in this context is that you take your vitamins in connection with a main meal, as fat-soluble vitamins must dissolve in fat during digestion in order to be best absorbed by the body.

You can possibly consume one wine gummy bear in the morning and one wine gummy bear in the evening. Or simply consume two wine gummy bears at one main meal.

Water soluble vitamins

Water-soluble vitamins cover B vitamins and C vitamins. Since they are water-soluble, we must have B and C vitamins every day; precisely because the body cannot store them.

Fat soluble vitamins

Fat-soluble vitamins cover these vitamins:

• Vitamin A
• D vitamin
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin K

The fact that the vitamins are fat-soluble means that they are stored in the body's fat stores. Therefore, you can consume too many of these vitamins - precisely because they accumulate in the body.

In contrast, consuming too many water-soluble vitamins will simply be excreted in the urine.