Fat Soluble Vitamis

Vitamins A, D, E, and K are the fat soluble vitamins. In other words, they are insoluble in water and therefore are carried in the body through fats. One of the factors that make these group of vitamins handy, is that cooking does not make them less potent.

Fat soluble vitamins are important for our body for general good health, daily repair of the body cells and functioning of the organs. These vitamins also play an important role in Protein Energy Malnutrition [PEM]. The level of vitamin A and E decreases in these children and thus supplementation becomes a priority for all the PEM cases.

It is important to get the dosage of these vitamins right—less leads to toxicity, excess leads to toxicity.

In general, fat soluble vitamins are stored in the body in sufficient reserves so that daily intake is not required. But, deficiencies could set in due to long-standing illnesses like Crohn’s disease or cystic fibrosis [there is impaired digestion and fat malabsorption in both these cases], low-fat diets or certain drugs that interfere with fat absorption.