Look through our Vitamin and Mineral Guide for more complete information on the vitamins and minerals that support good health, how they do it, and what happens when they don't.

Vitamins and Minerals are an essential part of health and well being.  Together they work with greater efficiency. For example, calcium in the presence of Vitamin D is absorbed into bones and teeth more completely than without it.

 Vitamins are organic substances that are obtained from the foods we eat. They are divided into two types based upon the material in which they dissolve.  Water soluble vitamins, the B complex and C dissolve in water, are not stored in the body and must be replenished daily. Fat soluble vitamins, vitamins A, D, E and K must be dissolved in fat to enter the blood stream where they perform their functions. Because they are stored in the fatty tissue of the body, they do not need to be part of the daily diet.

Minerals are inorganic substances that are also required for growth and normal body functions.  Obtained from the soil by plants, humans and animals acquire them from eating the plants. In nutritional terms,  minerals are also divided into two groups based upon the body's need for them. Where the body requires 1000 mg or more of an element, it is termed a mineral. Where the body's need is less than 1000 mg per day, it is termed a trace mineral.