There are a multitude of vitamins and supplements on the shelves in grocery, cycling, running and health stores. They are available in many brands and varieties. There are probably almost as many varieties as there are reasons for people taking them.

Many of these vitamins have not even been heard of by many people. However, even those that aren’t vitamin-savvy have heard of Vitamin C.

Vitamin C is and always has been one of the most popular vitamins mainly because it is linked with citrus fruits, and everyone loves citrus fruits.

In addition to the many health benefits we get from eating citrus fruits, the need for vitamins and the C in particular has resulting in the sale of many citrus fruits.

This is particularly true with oranges and orange juice. When people get sick with a cold, the first thing they reach for is usually orange juice.

Orange Juice For Colds

For many years, we’ve heard of people heading to the fridge for a glass of orange juice at the first sign of a cold.

Recent studies have shown that orange juice is not the best thing for good health. The reason is that the orange juice we buy in the store is processed.

It’s processed to allow it to stay on the shelves longer without spoiling. However, during the actual processing, many of the vitamin benefits are diminished.

It addition to this, sugar is added to most of the brands of orange juice you see on the shelf.

Not only is sugar not good for us, but it also increases insulin levels and contributes to fat storage. So unless you are squeezing the oranges yourself to get your orange juice for the Vitamin C, don’t count on orange juice helping your cold too much.

Sugar Content in Fruit

We’ve all heard how citrus fruits are high in Vitamin C, a vitamin that is necessary for our bodies to be healthy. What we don’t hear, however, is the high sugar content that’s in citrus fruits.

Although the sugar found in citrus fruits is natural sugar, which is better than refined sugars, it’s still sugar just the same.

Natural as well as refined sugar will increase your insulin level, which can be dangerous of diabetics. Natural sugars will also retain excess fat, which will result in a weight gain.

Excessive fruit intake may lead to bloating caused from water retention, so go sparingly on fruit, in spite of the benefits.

Although fruits are a great source of Vitamin C, they should be taken in moderation like all foods.

Vitamin C In the Food We Eat

Vitamin C is an essential vitamin for our body in that it helps to make our body function properly.

Many sources of it can be found, both naturally and artificially.

The most common sources of Vitamin C are citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and others.

In fact, we’ve probably all grown up hearing that we should eat plenty of oranges or drink plenty of orange juice to get our required Vitamin C.

Artificial sources of Vitamin C come from supplements and multivitamins that many of us take daily.

In fact, Vitamin C is the widely taken nutritional supplement.

This supplement is also available in many forms including drink or liquid mixes, tablets, crystallized capsules and plain crystals.

It’s very easy to get Vitamin C in foods we eat, as there are many foods rich in vitamins and minerals that we consume on a daily basis. In addition to the Vitamin C we get in these foods, we also get many other nutritional complements.

When we eat foods rich on vitamins, they are easily broken because the Vitamin C is metabolically compatible to our bodies.

It’s nothing new to our bodies to consume Vitamin C from fruits and vegetables as we’ve been doing it since the beginning of time.

Food Sources of Vitamin C

There are many excellent sources of Vitamin C in addition to the various obvious, oranges and other citrus fruits.

Some other foods that are rich in this vitamin are broccoli, mangoes and papayas.

In just one-half of a papaya, you’ll get 95 mg of Vitamin C, which is quite a bit for one serving. You can also get the same amount of vitamins with these fruits if you squeeze them into juice, provided you don’t heat them.

Alternatives to Vitamin C Supplements

A small potato will give you at least 25 mg of Vitamin C to go towards your daily requirement. Tomatoes and red or yellow peppers also will give you Vitamin C.

These are just a few of the many foods you can eat as alternatives to supplementary pills of Vitamin C or instead of citrus fruits. Although many people eat fruit and vegetables regularly, they may still not be getting enough Vitamin C daily.

If this is the case, you can also choose to take a multivitamin to get your recommended daily allowance. Multivitamins come in a variety of brands and flavors. It is also easier to get a child to take one multivitamin than a bunch of individual one.

Although, for children, it is easier to just have fruit readily available to them. They will enjoy that much more as well, not to mention the other vitamins and mineral supplements they will get in the process.

One of our readers asked once about having problems with catching colds and wanted some advice. Anyone use to ride on-road and off-road, and take vitamins, so here is our advice on a healthy life

Keep Away the Common Colds!

When we were young and had to take our vitamins, there wasn’t a large choice for our parents to choose from. They either bought adult “one a day” for themselves or “Flintstone chewable” for the kids.

Boy, were choices easy back then. Today choosing vitamins is not that easy. There are hundreds of different vitamins and mineral supplements on the shelves from a variety of companies.

If a friend asks you to pick her up a bottle of Vitamin C tablets, your first question is going to be, “what kind?” Before you buy vitamins for yourself, you’re going to want to know what you need.

If you’re having a difficult time deciding, consider buying Swanson Vitamins.

They are available in different quantities and different vitamins. Once you see their products and their prices, they’ll soon be the only brand you buy.

Swanson Vitamins-Around Since 1969

They have been available on the market since 1969, when Leland Swanson started his product line and introduced ” Swanson vitamins” to the world.

He started by purchasing vitamin supplements for himself to help with his painful arthritis. When he began buying in bulk, he realized the money he could make by selling resale and would be helping others at the same time.

When he started his company, his motto was to give the world some of the best dietary supplements at the lowest possible prices and that customer satisfaction would always come first. This is something that the Swanson Vitamin Company still believes today.

Varieties & Prices That Can’t Be Matched

When you shop at their shop, you’ll find that they carry almost any type of dietary or health supplement you could be looking for.

Whether it’s products for cholesterol problems, organic foods or weight loss or gain supplements, Swanson has them all.

Not only do they have what you need, but also they’ll help you to decide exactly what kind you want. Swanson has been in the business of helping people stay healthy for over forty years and continues to do so with their excellent product.

You can be assured that their vitamins and minerals are of the very best quality. You’ll soon find that their prices can’t be beat as well.

When you purchase products from Swanson Vitamins, you are getting the best possible price for excellent quality vitamins and merchandise as well as friendly and helpful customer service if you need it there.

Their webpage is the perfect place to check them out and learn all you can about Swanson Vitamins and their many other products.

Check out there Double the Difference lowest price guarantee as well as their 100% satisfaction guaranteed. They really can’t be beat.

For years, we’ve been taking vitamins. Most of us have been taking those little tablets since we were young children, with the exception of babies. Babies get their vitamins in liquid form because they can’t swallow pills. Now, adults also have the option of taking their vitamin supplements in liquid form.

You’ve probably seen all those bottles in your pharmacy and didn’t know what they were. The idea of taking vitamins with an eyedropper and dropping it on your tongue probably never crossed your mind. However, it is now a choice you can make.

In fact, it’s a choice that has been made by most people that take vitamins. In addition to all the benefits you’re about to read about here, liquid vitamins also taste great, being available in different flavors.

Popularity of Liquid Vitamins

In addition to being popular for its ease, taking liquid vitamins has other benefits as well. The traditional method of taking vitamins was in taking little pills that looked like aspirin. While there is nothing wrong with taking these little vitamin pills, liquid vitamins have many positive points as well.

Many individuals that take vitamin pills have problems digesting them and develop heartburn or acid indigestion. They don’t always absorb very quickly because they have to break down from their capsule form before they can be dispersed into your blood and throughout your body. This is one advantage of liquid vitamins. They get absorbed almost immediately.

To many people it may not matter how quickly the vitamin absorbs into their system. Most people are in a rush in the morning on their way to work or school. They barely have a chance to do more than drink a quick glass of juice or cup of coffee to wash their vitamin down and they’re out the door.

They certainly don’t have the time to wonder where and what their vitamin pill is doing once they’ve swallowed it!

Unfortunately, some of the vitamin pills that we swallow go through our body and out again without ever being absorbed in the system where they can help us. It’s almost as if we never took the vitamin.

What good is that?  However, with liquid vitamin supplements, we never have that worry as it begins being absorbed as soon as it’s in our mouth. This gives it a huge advantage over vitamin pills.

Liquid vitamins are more popular than they’ve ever been in the past. This is also a great way to get children to take their vitamins more freely. They’ll love the taste of them and love doing what they see their parents doing.

You may want to do some research on what brands are better than others are before you make your final purchase. Your doctor can also recommend what your daily requirements are based on your age, eating habits and body size.

The back of the vitamin bottle it will tell you how much of the requirements you are getting. It’s important to realize that taking vitamins should not be a replacement for good eating.

They should be used with your food, not in place of it.

Absorption Rate of Vitamin Supplements

Merely eating certain foods or taking certain vitamin supplements is only as good as they are getting absorbed into your body.

Although many people believe that taking vitamins can be a good substitute for a diet of good food, there’s a difference in how vitamin supplements and food are absorbed in your body.

When you eat natural foods, 93% of it gets absorbed while vitamin supplements only have a 10% level of absorption. The same is true with minerals in food, which are absorbed at 78% as opposed to the 5% absorption level in mineral supplements.

Unless it is prescribed in another form, you may want to take your vitamin supplements along with your meals. Because only 10% of the vitamins you take actually get absorbed in your body, choose carefully what type of vitamin supplements you take.

For instance, your body may need two hundred milligrams per day of a certain vitamin so you don’t need to get vitamin supplements that are five hundred milligrams per tablet. Try to get the vitamin supplements in the required dosage for your individual needs or as close as possible.

Before buying your vitamin supplements, it’s always important to read the label on the bottle.

Don’t always assume because the bottle says “Multivitamins” that they contain all the important vitamins and minerals you require on a daily basis. The back of the bottle will tell you how much of each vitamin is in the multivitamin as well as how much you will get per serving, etc.

Vitamin Supplement Forms

Vitamin supplements come in three different forms:

• Tablet
• Capsules and
• Liquid

Although liquid form is not as handy and convenient as the tablets and capsules, it is recommended for those that have difficulty swallowing pills. Liquid vitamin supplements work well with children as well.

Tablets are usually compressed and coated so they don’t taste so bad and capsules dissolve quickly and are sometimes in gelatin capsules, which people seem to like. Often, the type of vitamin supplements you take is a matter of personal choice.