Is it true that in the winter and spring months it is necessary to prevent vitaminosis?

There is an opinion that at the end of winter and the beginning of winter, our body suffers from vitamin deficiency, so every year during this period it is necessary to take vitamin complexes. We decided to check if this is really so.

The most common symptoms of vitamin deficiency called General malaise, reduced mood, constant fatigue, drowsiness and complexity with morning awakening, low performance and rapid fatigue, poor skin, hair or nails, frequent colds, exacerbation of chronic diseases. Almost every person can find at least one of these manifestations in February-March (or even at other times). Drugs For treatment vitaminosis Huge Many-for example, the popular Internet appetite "Zdravsity" Offers as many as 685 items.

If we turn to the international classification of diseases, then in class E - “diseases of the endocrine system, nutrition disorders and metabolic disorders” - you can detect A whole group of diseases associated with vitamin insufficiency. Among them: Vitamin A failure (called chicken in the people), thiamine deficiency (vitamin B1), causing Beri-Berie's disease and vernica encephalopathy, ascorbic acid deficiency (vitamin C), better known as scurvy, nicotinic acid deficiency (vitamin PP), or Pellagra, as well as vitamin D, insufficiency, as well as vitamin D leading to rickets.

So, for example, the deficiency of vitamin C (scurvy) manifests itself Characteristic hemorrhagic rash, bleeding gums, teeth and anemia, which ultimately leads to the death of the patient. Countedthat for 200 years (from 1600 to 1800) about a million sailors died from scurvy, which is more than in all sea battles for the same period. Beri-Bury disease characterized damage to the peripheral nerves, leading in severe cases to paralysis, as well as irritability, delirium and even amnesia. Pellagra - no less Dangerous The disease, which is called the disease of the three “D”: diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia, and in English literature, the fourth - Death (“death”) is usually added. As can be seen from the descriptions of these diseases, these conditions are much more dangerous than what is meant by vitamin deficiency.

It should also be noted that, unlike the symptoms that are popularly associated with the winter-spring period, these diseases do not occur due to the time of year. For example, scurvy were subject to First of all, it is sailors due to non-shaped nutrition, consisting mainly of solonin. From Beri-Bury suffered First of all, prisoners in prisons of Southeast Asia, and Pellagra amazed The poorest segments of the population, as well as alcoholism. In all these cases, the cause of vitamin deficiency was the extreme restriction of the diet.

Candidate of Medical Sciences, Physician Vyacheslav Babin Turns Attention to the fact that “the need for vitamins is much less need, for example, in essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) and amino acids. The deficiency of some vitamins is possible only with general exhaustion. ” Avitaminosis can also bring And other causes are abuse of diets, starvation, alcoholism, some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that violate the absorption of beneficial substances, bariatric surgery (surgery surgery and other digestive organs for the treatment of obesity) and congenital diseases leading to the inability to receive vitamins from food.

Nevertheless, there are now different types vitaminosis They are extremely found rarely. Exception-take Bari: for example, in Myanmar it is The second In terms of prevalence, the cause of post -tonnatal (in terms of 29 to 365 days after birth) mortality. At the same time, a small drawback of vitamins can occur, it is more correct to call hypovitaminosis. And this is a really common state: according to the Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology, in Russia hypovitaminosis suffer more than 80% of residents.

There is not a single case when some certain vitamins would be shown by default all the inhabitants of the Earth indiscriminately. However, people living in regions with non -solid climate, the British Ministry of Health Recommends Take supporting doses of vitamin D from October to March. An exception is also possible count Reception of folic acid with pregnant women or planning to get pregnant. The unconditional need to accept other vitamins, according to Kokrain's review, is precisely only In women in dysfunctional countries. The rest of the technique is recommended only after prescribing a doctor.

Reception without the testimony of a doctor of other vitamins is not only useless to prevent the risk of certain diseases (For example, heart attacks and strokes), but can also be dangerous. So, the use of large doses of vitamin E Raises mortality from all causes (the higher the dose of vitamin, the higher the risk), and the intake of vitamin E along with beta-carotene in large doses Increases The risk of some types of cancer. Excess vitamin C. Curses to the occurrence of kidney stones, can call nausea, vomiting and allergic Reactions. The abuse of fat -soluble vitamins (a, d, e, k) is dangerous because they accumulate In the body and can cause poisoning.

Summarizes all these undesirable effects article From the American scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine under the speaking title “Enough is enough”: “Adding beta-carotene, vitamin E and probably high doses of vitamin A is harmful to health. Other antioxidants, folic acid and B vitamins, as well as multivitamins and mineral complexes are useless for the prevention of the underlying chronic diseases and to increase life expectancy. ” What then to do in winter and spring? Doctors converge in opinionWhat is the most the best - This is a diverse balanced nutritionthat allows the body to receive and synthesize the necessary substances himself. Summarizes This is a candidate of medical sciences, therapist Yaroslav Ashshin: "If a person eats right, then he does not need vitamins." 

Summing up, it should be noted that vitamin deficiency is a real group of diseases that, in the absence of treatment, end even with death. However, the change of seasons cannot lead to any of them. What is usually called vitamin deficiency is most likely hypovitaminosis, and it needs to be “treated” with a variety of nutrition, and the use of most vitamins without a doctor’s prescription is not only useless, but can also be dangerous.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Is it true that the diagnosis of vegetovascular dystonia exists only in the post -Soviet space?
2. Is it true that weather dependence does not exist?