— SMART NUTRITION, BETTER PREVENTION
Vitamins for Preventive Health
Vitamins play a vital role in maintaining adult health, but understanding how to get them—and when supplements may be useful—can be confusing. At Complete Concierge Care, we believe in informed choices and preventive care. This guide outlines key vitamins, their food sources, and how your body best absorbs them.
The Best Way to Get Your Vitamins: Food First
The best and simplest—not to mention most cost-effective—way to get the vitamins you need each day is through diet.
Harvard Health agrees that the best approach to ensuring you get a variety of vitamins and minerals, in the proper amounts, is to adopt a broad, healthy diet. This involves emphasizing fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes, low-fat protein, and dairy products. The good news is that many common foods contain multiple mineral and vitamin sources, so it’s easy to meet your daily needs through everyday meals —especially when guided by a preventive care plan.
Most vitamins your body needs are already in the foods you love.
Food Sources for Key Vitamins
- B-1: Ham, soymilk, watermelon, acorn squash
- B-2: Milk, yogurt, cheese, whole and enriched grains and cereals
- B-3: Meat, poultry, fish, fortified and whole grains, mushrooms, potatoes
- B-5: Chicken, whole grains, broccoli, avocados, mushrooms
- B-6: Meat, fish, poultry, legumes, tofu and other soy products, bananas
- B-7: Whole grains, eggs, soybeans, fish
- B-9: Fortified grains and cereals, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, legumes (black-eyed peas and chickpeas), orange juice
- B-12: Meat, poultry, fish, milk, cheese, fortified soymilk and cereals
- Vitamin C: Citrus fruit, potatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts
- Vitamin A: Beef liver, eggs, shrimp, fish, fortified milk, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, spinach, mangoes
- Vitamin D: Fortified milk and cereals, fatty fish
- Vitamin E: Vegetable oils, leafy green vegetables, whole grains, nuts
- Vitamin K: Cabbage, eggs, milk, spinach, broccoli, kale
That’s a long list, and keeping track of all 13 vitamins the FDA recommends may feel overwhelming! It helps to remember that some vitamins are fat-soluble, while others are water-soluble. Fatty foods—including egg yolks, oily fish, nuts, and seeds—provide fat-soluble vitamins.
Understanding Vitamin Absorption
- Fat-Soluble Vitamins (A, D, E, and K): Take these vitamins with meals containing fat for better absorption.
- Water-Soluble Vitamins (Vitamin C and B vitamins): These vitamins are abundant in various foods. When consumed alongside fiber-rich foods, they are absorbed more efficiently than when taken as supplements.
The Role of Concierge Doctors in Preventive Nutrition
While most healthy adults can get their vitamins through diet, others—due to age, health status, or lifestyle—may need more focused support. Through personalized testing and preventive consultations, the concierge physicians at Complete Concierge Care help patients understand where they stand nutritionally and make informed decisions about supplements when necessary.
