List of vitamins and minerals your body needs during COVID-19 era

This article gives insight into the vitamins and minerals your body needs during COVID-19 era.

When it comes to COVID-19, prevention is better than cure, because, despite all claims of cure found in Israel, nothing has proven absolutely effective yet.

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This is why the best thing you can do now is to build your immune system, take all safety measures and ensure you don’t contract the virus. However, you may want to check what the mortality rate is, based on age as published by Ideal Health NG.

Although, complications often arise if you have underlying health conditions. Yet, there is a story of a lady who survived the virus despite battling Sickle cell anaemia, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

So below is a list of some of the vitamins and minerals your body needs especially in this COVID-19 era:

Vitamin A:

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. It can be found in many fruits, vegetables, eggs, whole milk, butter, fortified margarine, meat, and oily saltwater fish. It can also be made in a laboratory. Carotenoids are a group of yellow or orange chemicals found in plants. Some of these can be converted to vitamin A in the body.

Vitamin B1:

Vitamin B1, thiamin, or thiamine, enables the body to use carbohydrates as energy. It is essential for glucose metabolism, and it plays a key role in nerve, muscle, and heart function.

There are high concentrations of Vitamin B1 in the outer layers and germ of cereals, as well as in yeast, beef, pork, nuts, whole grains, and pulses.

Fruit and vegetables that contain it include cauliflower, liver, oranges, eggs, potatoes, asparagus, and kale. Other sources include brewer’s yeast and blackstrap molasses.

Vitamin B2:

Vitamin B2, or riboflavin, is one of eight B vitamins that are essential for human health. It can be found in grains, plants, and dairy products. It is crucial for breaking down food components, absorbing other nutrients, and maintaining tissues.

Some of the sources include fish, meat, and poultry, such as turkey, chicken, beef, kidneys, and liver, eggs, asparagus, artichokes, avocados, cayenne, currants, fortified cereals, Kelp, lima beans, navy beans, and peas.

Vitamin B5:

Vitamin B5, also called pantothenic acid, is one of the most important vitamins for human life. It’s necessary for making blood cells, and it helps you convert the food you eat into energy.

The best way to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin B5 is to eat a healthy, balanced diet every day. It’s found in most vegetables, including broccoli, members of the cabbage family, white and sweet potatoes, whole-grain cereals, mushrooms, nuts, beans, peas, lentils, meats, poultry, dairy products, eggs

Vitamin B12:

Vitamin B12 does a lot of things for your body. It helps make your DNA and your red blood cells, for example. Since your body doesn’t make vitamin B12, you have to get it from animal-based foods or from supplements. And you should do that on a regular basis because your body doesn’t store vitamin B12 for a long time.

Some of the sources of Vitamin B12 include dairy products, eggs, fish, meat, and poultry.

Calcium:

Calcium is a mineral found in many foods, one of the minerals your body needs. The body needs calcium to maintain strong bones and to carry out many important functions. Almost all calcium is stored in bones and teeth, where it supports their structure and hardness.

Sources of calcium include milk, cheese and other dairy foods; green leafy vegetables – such as broccoli, cabbage and okra, but not spinach; soya beans; tofu; soya drinks with added calcium.
nuts; bread and anything made with fortified flour; fish where you eat the bones – such as sardines and pilchards.

Potassium:

Potassium is a mineral that, among other things, helps muscles contract, helps regulate fluid and mineral balance in and out of body cells, and helps maintain normal blood pressure by limiting the effect of sodium. It is one of the minerals your body needs.

The most common source of potassium are fruits, such as apricots, bananas, kiwi, oranges, and pineapples. vegetables, such as leafy greens, carrots, and potatoes.

Iron:

Iron is a mineral, and its main purpose is to carry oxygen in the hemoglobin of red blood cells throughout the body so cells can produce energy. Iron also helps remove carbon dioxide.

The best sources of iron include dried beans, dried fruits, eggs (especially egg yolks), iron-fortified cereals, liver, bean red meat (especially beef), oysters, poultry, dark red meat.