What Are Vitamins & Why Are They Important?

The One Who Makes Us Walk Erect

This article is part of my book Dance Your Way Through Life: The Ultimate Guide to Optimal Health. You can get the book here.

Vitamins are organic molecules that serve many important functions in the body. Most are “essential” in the sense that the body cannot create them and must get them from diet or other sources — just like most amino acids. But just like with amino acids, some exceptions exist because the body and gut are very complex. These exceptions include biotin (B7), cholesterol, vitamin K and vitamin D.

The goal of this article will be to familiarize you with the general role of vitamins in your health as well as some of their food sources. Remember that this is just a cursory overview and by no means an exhaustive list of their functions, which are many. I’ve discussed supplementation, health testing and similar topics at great length in many places so if you want more detail like required daily intake and how these nutrients work together from a functional perspective to create long-term health — check those resources out or use AI to learn how to optimize your health.

In total there are 13 major vitamins and they can be broken up in different ways. I have chosen to separate them by the fat-soluble vitamins, the B vitamin complex and vitamin C. For product suggestions, see The 7 Pillars of Optimal Health.