Vitamins Blog
Facts, Figures and thoughts about vitamins and mineralsHow Healthy is the food you’re buying?
There are all kinds of terms that turn up on food labels to entice us to buy a particular product. But how do we know this means they're any better for us than another brand? Here are some of the words and phrases used that we often assume equal healthy foods, but...
Choline and inositol?
Have you heard of choline and inositol? These little-known nutrients are members of the B-complex family. They are valued for their ability to break down fat and improve memory and brain function. While inositol is not a true vitamin because our bodies can make small...
B vitamins in depth – part two
Welcome to the second part of our guide to the B vitamin family. Last time we looked at thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and B5, or pantothenic acid. Today we'll be discussing the four other B vitamins in depth and looking at their role in our health and wellbeing. Are...
Demystifying B vitamins
There are a lot of nutrients that fall into the 'family' of B vitamins, and it can be confusing to tell the difference. Do we even need to know which one is which? Are they all essential for wellbeing, or are some more important than others? Today we shall be...
Do these fruits help weight loss?
Following on from my last blog post, I wanted to look at the claims that some fruits help weight loss. The first of these is linked to one of the most extreme 'mono-diets' - the banana diet involves eating thirty bananas in a day and nothing else. There are people who...
Perfect foods for weight loss?
There's no shortage of diets that either promise to kick start a new healthy lifestyle or are described as the best long-term route to weight loss. But what about those individual foods we see that are said to actually help weight loss? Is there any basis for these...
Fresh vegetables for autumn
It may feel like Summer is drawing to an end (at least in the Northern hemisphere; of course the opposite is true for our readers south of the equator) but that doesn't mean that we have to resign ourselves to tinned, dried or frozen vegetables just yet! While...
Why do we measure vitamin A in International Units?
If you've looked at our vitamin A page, you might have noticed something a little confusing. Near the top of the page we have a chart showing the recommended daily values of this nutrient, measured in micrograms (μg). But when we come to list the foods which are...