Vitamin A

Vitamin A is a general term that includes several compounds with similar biological activities, such as retinol, retinal, and retinoic acid.

Retinol is the most common and fundamental form of vitamin A. Retinol can be metabolized in the body to form retinal, which plays a crucial role in vision, helping the eyes adapt to different lighting conditions.

Retinoic acid is mainly involved in cell growth and differentiation, contributing to skin health, immune function, and gene expression. Overall, the benefits of VA include:

• Preventing night blindness and vision loss, aiding in the treatment of various eye diseases;
• Helping prevent respiratory system infections;
• Supporting normal immune system function;
• Promoting faster recovery during illness;
• Maintaining healthy tissues and organs;
• Helping the skin resist aging and improving skin texture;
• Supporting growth, strengthening bones, and maintaining healthy skin, hair, teeth, and gums;
• Aiding in the treatment of emphysema and hyperthyroidism.

Vitamin B Complex

Vitamin B complex refers to a group of vitamins, including vitamin B1, B2, B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B7 (biotin), B9 (folic acid), and B12.

The B vitamins work synergistically, meaning that taking all the B vitamins together is more effective than taking them individually. Also, if the intake ratios of B1, B2, and B6 are uneven (e.g., 50mg of B1, 50mg of B2, and 50mg of B6), their effectiveness may be reduced. Although the different B vitamins work together in many metabolic and physiological processes, they have distinct physiological functions and benefits.

Table 1. Summary of the effects of members of the B vitamin family

Vitamin C

The chemical name for vitamin C is ascorbic acid. It is a water-soluble vitamin and one of the most well-known nutrients. Not only is it a beauty elixir, but it is also an antioxidant that protects cells and even has anti-cancer properties. VC is commonly found in fruits and vegetables but can be easily degraded by external environmental changes.

Benefits of VC:

• Enhances skin elasticity and prevents age spots;
• Promotes wound healing, treats external injuries, burns, and gum bleeding, and speeds up post-surgical recovery;
• Prevents viral and bacterial infections and boosts immune system function;
• Lowers cholesterol levels in the blood and reduces the risk of venous thrombosis;
• Treats and prevents common colds;
• Reduces the effects of many allergy-causing substances;
• Helps with iron absorption and folic acid breakdown, preventing scurvy;
• Helps prevent the formation of the carcinogen nitrosamine, providing anti-cancer benefits;
• Promotes collagen production, preventing aging and prolonging life.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a term that encompasses a group of fat-soluble vitamins, primarily including D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol). Vitamin D helps regulate calcium and phosphorus balance in the body, promoting healthy bones and teeth.

Cholecalciferol (D3) is one of the main forms of vitamin D and is synthesized by the skin when exposed to sunlight. It can also be obtained from certain animal foods and supplements.

Benefits of VD:

• Enhances the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, strengthening bones and teeth;
• Supports growth and development, helping infants and young children grow properly and preventing rickets;
• Assists in the absorption of VA;
• Helps prevent calcium loss and osteoporosis during menopause.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E refers to a group of fat-soluble compounds, with tocopherols and tocotrienols being the most common. It acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells from damage caused by free radicals and supporting immune function and skin health.

Benefits of VE:

• Delays cellular aging, moisturizes the skin, reduces pigmentation, and maintains a youthful appearance
• Cleanses the blood and lowers LDL cholesterol levels, preventing atherosclerosis;
• Promotes the formation of healthy red blood cells and prevents blood clotting;
• Lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of ischemic heart disease;
• Enhances liver detoxification, protects the body, and reduces fatigue;
• Stimulates the secretion of sex hormones, improves fertility, and prevents miscarriage.

Vitamin K

Vitamin K, often called the “clotting vitamin,” is a fat-soluble vitamin with several forms, including K1 (phylloquinone or plant-based phylloquinone), K2 (menaquinone), and K3 (menadione). Vitamin K is essential for blood clotting and bone health, primarily promoting the synthesis of blood clotting factors to help prevent excessive bleeding.

Vitamin P

Vitamin P, commonly known as rutin or bioflavonoids, is not strictly a vitamin but is often classified as one. Vitamin P is a water-soluble nutrient that the body cannot synthesize, so it must be obtained from food. It is essential for the digestion and absorption of VC, reduces capillary fragility, decreases vascular permeability, enhances the activity of VC, and helps prevent cerebral hemorrhage, retinal hemorrhage, and purpura.

Conclusion

In summary, vitamins are crucial for health, each with unique benefits:

VA supports vision and skin, the B complex aids metabolism, VC boosts immunity, VD strengthens bones, VE protects cells, and Vitamin K aids blood clotting. Ensuring a balanced intake helps maintain overall well-being.

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At present, the most powerful products in the world are mainly complex probiotics composed of the above microorganisms, which are widely used in the fields of bioengineering, industry and agriculture, food safety, and life and health.

1. Probiotics can alleviate the symptoms of lactose intolerance and promote nutrient absorption: Probiotics can help digest nutrients in the intestine. It can decompose lactose into lactic acid and reduce lactose intolerance. Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus can not only produce vitamins such as vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, niacin, sodium hyaluronate, and folic acid for the body’s needs but also protect the supply of vitamins by inhibiting certain vitamin-decomposing bacteria. In addition, Bifidobacterium can also reduce blood ammonia and improve liver function.

2. Probiotics can rectify the intestine, adjust micro-ecological imbalance, and prevent and cure diarrhea: Probiotics live in the human intestine, promote the normalization of intestinal bacteria through its growth and various metabolic functions, inhibit the production of intestinal putrefaction, and maintain the normal function of the intestine. It has therapeutic and preventive effects on viral and bacterial acute enteritis, dysentery, constipation, etc. Probiotics are closely related to chronic gastritis, digestive tract ulcers, and other gastrointestinal diseases. Some probiotics can resist gastric acid, adhere to the surface of gastric epithelial cells, inhibit the growth of Helicobacter pylori through its metabolic activities, and prevent the occurrence of gastric ulcers.

3. Probiotics can produce bio-antagonistic metabolites and enhance human immunity: Probiotics can produce organic acids, free fatty acids, hydrogen peroxide, and bacteriocins to inhibit the growth of other harmful bacteria; use “biological oxygen capture” to make aerobic pathogenic bacteria significantly reduced, probiotics can colonize in the mucosa, skin, and other surfaces or cells. The formation of biological barriers between these barriers can prevent the colonization of pathogenic microorganisms, play a space-occupying, compete for nutrition, mutually beneficial symbiosis, or antagonism. It can also stimulate the non-specific immune function of the body, increase the activity of natural killer (NK) cells, enhance the secretion of intestinal immunoglobulin IgA, and improve intestinal barrier function.

4. Effect of probiotics on hypertension: Some substances produced by lactic acid bacteria, such as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), have the effect of lowering blood pressure. Other probiotics specifically break down milk proteins to produce polypeptides (such as VPP and LPP) that inhibit the activity of enzymes that cause blood pressure to rise. Regular consumption of yogurt containing this active polypeptide has the effect of preventing hypertension.

5. Probiotics play a role in preventing vaginal infections: Many probiotics have the effect of acidifying the genitourinary tract. It can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria by lowering the pH value. It can also curb them by competing with harmful bacteria for space and resources.

6. Probiotics can alleviate allergy: Allergy is an immune disease, which is the imbalance of immune function in the body. People with allergies develop allergic symptoms when exogenous substances or organisms stimulate the immune system to produce too much immunoglobulin (IgE), which releases a substance called histamine. Probiotics therapy is one of the effective methods of allergy therapy at home and abroad. Probiotics can be used to regulate immune globulin (IgE) antibodies in vivo to relieve allergy immunotherapy.

7. Probiotics can reduce serum cholesterol: It may be related to the regulation and utilization of endogenous metabolites and the acceleration of short-chain fatty acid metabolism. Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus microbial ecological preparation, after taking cholesterol into the human body does not absorb the fecal sterol substances. This lowers cholesterol levels.

8. Probiotics can prevent cancer and inhibit tumor growth: Lactobacillus can increase the activity of macrophages and prevent tumor growth. Probiotics can inhibit the activities of some enzymes in the intestine, such as beta-glucoacetate, beta-glucuronidase, urea, enzymes, nitroreductase, azoreductase, and so on. These enzymes may be involved in carcinogenesis in the gut. Bile salts may cause the dissociation of harmful bacteria through the intestinal tract, causing carcinogenic substances and easily causing intestinal cancer. But probiotics can inhibit harmful bacteria, even if there is bile salt, the incidence of cancer is also greatly reduced.

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