The e vitamin is extremely important for a variety of functions in the body. A healthy heart needs plenty of the e vitamin as it has been shown to actually prevent heart disease. The e vitamin can also help contain any existing heart disease and stop it from getting worse.

E vitamin is also vital in protecting the cell membranes from the harmful free radicals that are present in the body. Without e vitamin, amongst others, the cell membranes would be damaged and this could lead to serious health problems, including cancer. The reason that the e vitamin is so effective against free radicals is that it is fat soluble so it can be absorbed into the cell membranes. The e vitamin is therefore essential for the immune system.

The recommended daily amount of the e vitamin that a person requires depends on their body weight. This is connected to the fact that the more fat a diet contains then the more of the e vitamin that is needed. However, the only foods that really contain any reasonable amount of the e vitamin are vegetable oils, seeds, wheat germ, and nuts. It is for this reason that most people should take some form of e vitamin supplement.

A deficiency of the e vitamin does not affect a person immediately. In fact, it can take months for the effects of insufficient e vitamin to be detected. After years of e vitamin deficiency there may e some detectable damage to the nerves of the spinal cord or retina of the eye but this is very rare. Most people obtain enough e vitamin from a normal diet but it is essential that the food that a person eats contains a little fat to help with the absorption of the e vitamin.

There are a few medical conditions that may lead to a deficiency of the e vitamin and may require the person to take e vitamin supplements. Cystic fibrosis causes a person to be unable to digest fats well which leads to less of the e vitamin being absorbed. Crohn's disease causes to lower absorption rates of the e vitamin and a supplement may be necessary. Some forms of liver disease can also lead to problems absorbing the e vitamin, especially through the intestine. Of course, as fat is required to help absorb sufficient amounts of the e vitamin, anyone on an extremely low-fat diet will need to discuss their options for increasing the amount of e vitamin that their body needs.

There are a number of ways that you can find discount vitamins. The most common is to wait until your favourite vitamin store has a sale but this can be a rather difficult way to get a discount vitamin. The problem is mainly due to the discount time. Most discount vitamin offers only have a limited amount of stock available and it is a case of first-come, first-served. The other issue with trying to get these discount vitamin offers is that they are strictly time limited and again, you may miss out unless you find out about the sale in advance.

A large number of stores produce coupons that offer discount vitamin purchases. These coupons are often distributed in newspapers and magazines – the Sunday newspapers are so full of coupons that it may be time-consuming looking for the discount vitamin offers but it is worth the effort. You may find that some of these coupons do not give an instant discount vitamin purchase but you can claim the appropriate money back through a rebate system. Beware that some of these rebated discount vitamin offers require you to purchase additional equipment or accessories to qualify for them.

One extremely good source for discount vitamin offers is to actually look for bulk purchases. This is an extremely underestimated resource as many people do not actually understand what a bulk purchase discount vitamin really is. In all honesty you are likely to get a better discount vitamin offer if you opt for a bulk purchase from your local outlet. This is because the bulk purchases offer the best discount vitamin prices possible. This is especially the case for vitamins that you may want to take on an ongoing basis. Vitamin C, for example, is a great choice to buy in bulk and obtain a discount vitamin price.

It is extremely important, however, to ensure that the bulk discount vitamin purchases do not include vitamins that may have an expiration date that could be exceeded before they are all consumed. Do not be tempted to purchase bulk amounts of vitamins simply to obtain a discount vitamin price unless you are sure that you can consume all of the vitamins within the expiration dates given. One of the major mistakes that people make when looking for a discount vitamin is to overlook the expiration date. There may not be any danger if the discount vitamins are a few days past their sell by date but it is not worth the risk just to save a few pennies.

When you go to your local health and drug store, you will notice that there are a lot of different vitamin supplements on their shelves.

You might wonder what each of them does so here are some helpful information to give you a low down on the most common vitamin supplements in the market.

Multivitamins

– this is arguably the most common form of vitamin supplement in the market.

One tablet gives you the essential vitamins and minerals from – you know what follows next –

A to Zinc.

Vitamin B Complex

– is a combination of several B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7 and B12) and is sometimes combined with other vitamins. Its benefits include healthy hair, skin and bones, as well as the reduction of stress.

Vitamin C

– also known as ascorbic acid, this is usually taken to boost a person's immune system. And while it can't prevent colds as others believe, this vitamin helps in reducing its symptoms.

Vitamin E

– this vitamin is popular among people who want to reverse or at least slow down the aging process. But more than that, vitamin E has a host of other benefits such as boosting the immune system, reducing the risk of prostate cancer and easing menstrual cramps in women.

So there you go the most common vitamin supplements in the market. We hope that you find the information useful and that you can apply them the next time you visit your favorite health and drug store.

The D vitamin is the only vitamin that is not obtained from foods that are consumed. Instead, the D vitamin is actually obtained by sunlight on the skin. There has been a lot of media coverage about the dangers of getting too much sun but it is essential that the skin is exposed to sunlight to obtain the recommended daily allowance of the D vitamin. In reality, the amount of time that a person has to spend in the sun to receive a sufficient dose of the D vitamin is extremely small and just a few minutes a day will be sufficient and not have any adverse effects from the amount of ultra-violet light received.

The most important function of the D vitamin is to help control how much calcium is absorbed from food. The majority of the calcium is used to build strong teeth and bones but it is also needed to send messages along the nerves and to help muscles, such as the heart muscles, to contract. It is the D vitamin that ensures that there is always sufficient calcium in the blood to perform these tasks. Other functions that require the D vitamin relate to the immune system and it is believed that it is also a contributing factor in reducing the risk of contracting cancer and, in particular, colon cancer.

The variant of the D vitamin that is formed under the skin is known as vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol. This D vitamin is created when the ultraviolet in the sunlight reacts with a type of cholesterol that is found under the skin naturally. The D3 is converted into a more active form of the d vitamin in the liver and is then diverted to where it is needed the most. Some of the D vitamin remains in the liver and kidneys to help reabsorb the calcium from the blood. The rest of the D vitamin is dispersed to the bones to help them retain their calcium and the intestines to aid absorption of calcium from food.

Even though the majority of the D vitamin is formed through the exposure of the skin to sunlight there are some foods that do contain some of the vitamin naturally. This form of the D vitamin is known as vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. This is used in the same way as the other D vitamins and is the type used to create the majority of D vitamin supplements.

Anyone who takes vitamin supplements and looks at its bottles or boxes is familiar with the vitamins that are contained in each tablet.

But what do those vitamins really do? Do you really need to take them? Below is a list of the most common vitamins found in supplements as well as a description of what they do.

Vitamin A

– commonly found in leafy vegetables and in other products like carrots, broccoli, papaya, eggs and liver, this vitamin helps keep the eyes healthy. A deficiency of this vitamin can cause permanent loss of eyesight.

Vitamin B1

– thiamine is the other name for this vitamin. It keeps the heart and the digestive and nervous systems functioning normally. Aside from that, thiamine is also important in a person's physical growth and development. Good sources of this vitamin include beef, pork, nuts and legumes, among other foods.

Vitamin B2

– otherwise known as riboflavin, this vitamin is important in metabolizing energy as well as fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Common sources of this vitamin include milk, cheese and leafy vegetables. A deficiency of this vitamin is signaled by cracked lips, mouth ulcers and sore throat, among other symptoms.

Vitamin C

– also known as ascorbic acid, this vitamin has a lot of benefits attributed to it. Some of them include boosting the immune system and minimizing the symptoms of illnesses. It is also a well-known antioxidant. Lack of this vitamin can cause scurvy that leads to loss of teeth and eventually, death.