What Are Fat Soluble Vitamins?

Fat soluble vitamins are crucial to our health and each one of them is highly important and comes with various functions that we need to know about. Vitamins A, D, E and K are classified as being fat soluble vitamins because of the fact that they are soluble in fat and at the end they are absorbed by the human body from the intestinal tract. The main difference between such vitamins and water soluble vitamins stands in the fact that they do not need regular replacement in our body. Fat soluble vitamins are stored in our liver and fatty tissue while being eliminated from the organism much slower when compared with water soluble vitamins. While this means that you do not always need to pay attention to the daily intake because of stored quantities, it also brings in the problem of toxicity. It is much easier to be at risk of vitamin toxicity with fat soluble vitamins than water soluble vitamins if excess is met. The good news is that a normal and balanced diet will not lead to such toxicity if the body is healthy. You must always remember that the body will only require small doses of each vitamin, including all fat soluble vitamins. This translates in the fact that vitamin supplements with high doses of Vitamins A, D, E and K can easily lead to vitamin toxicity.

Fat soluble vitamins come with various benefits as each is difficult and the only real connection between them stands in the way they are absorbed and similarities in the storage process. Diseases that are caused by a fat soluble vitamin lack noticed in the human body is very rare in US although mild deficiency is usually noticed when the vitamins are simply not enough in our diets. It is also important to understand that the absorption of fat is very important to fat soluble vitamins as well. This is because any problem that can decrease fat absorption can lead to a decrease in fat soluble vitamins absorption as well. In such a case it is highly important that the doctor is immediately consulted.

Fat soluble vitamins can be stored in the human body to some extent although most storage is provided by the liver. Deficiencies that appear with not enough daily intakes will manifest themselves in a much slower fashion than compared with water soluble vitamins exactly because of this fact. The tolerable upper intake levels of fat soluble vitamins in adults stands at 3,000 mcg RAE for Vitamin A, 50 mcg for Vitamin D, varying for Vitamin E (large doses are dangerous for individuals that take blood thinning medications) and the intake for Vitamin K has not been established although excessive amounts will have an impact in the breakdown of red blood cells and will cause liver damage. Properly understanding what each fat soluble vitamin is needed for and what can happen with overdoses and lack is highly important, as it is with all vitamins in the human body.