Vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients that our body needs to work properly. Most of us get all the vitamins and minerals we need by eating a healthy balanced diet. Read more about Alpilean.

Sometimes people need to supplement their diet with added vitamins and minerals. For example, women who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant should take folic acid. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding may also want to consider taking a vitamin D supplement.

Pregnant women are entitled to free healthy start vitamins in Scotland, containing Folic acid, Vitamin D and Vitamin C. If you would like to find out more talk to your GP or other health professional.

• Read more about vitamins
• Find out about minerals in food

COVID-19 outbreak

We have published advice on the intake of vitamin D during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Read the advice

Vitamins

Vitamins are divided into two groups: fat-soluble and water-soluble.

Fat-soluble vitamins

Fat-soluble vitamins are found in animal products and foods that contain fat, like milk, butter, vegetable oils, eggs, liver and oily fish.

We don’t need to eat food containing fat-soluble vitamins every day because our body can store them. It can also be harmful to have a lot more of these types of vitamins than we need.

Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble vitamins.

Water-soluble vitamins

Water-soluble vitamins come from food like fruit, vegetables, milk, dairy and grains. They can be destroyed by heat or exposure to air. They can also get lost in water when cooking, especially when boiling food. Steaming or grilling, as well as using cooking water to add flavour to soups and stews are good ways to preserve water-soluble vitamins.

Water-soluble vitamins aren’t stored in the body so we need to eat them often. If we take in more than we need then we get rid of any extra through our urine.

Water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and the B vitamins:

• thiamin (vitamin B1)
• riboflavin (vitamin B2)
• niacin (vitamin B3)
• vitamin B6
• folic acid (vitamin B9)
• vitamin B12.

What are minerals in food?

We need minerals to help us do three main things:

• build strong teeth and bones
• control body fluids inside and outside cells
• turn the food we eat into energy.

What foods contain minerals?

Minerals are found in foods like cereals, bread, meat, fish, milk, dairy, nuts, fruit (especially dried fruit) and vegetables.

We need more of some minerals than others. For example, we need more calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride than we do iron, zinc, iodine, selenium and copper.