Thirteen vitamins, two your body makes, one a vegetarian diet may miss

Vitamins are substances your body needs to grow and develop normally. **There
are thirteen**:

You can usually get all your vitamins from the foods you eat. Two of the
thirteen your body manufactures itself.

The exception

**People who eat a vegetarian diet may need to take a vitamin B12
supplement.** That is the one specific gap named here, and it is worth knowing
because nothing about eating well otherwise closes it.

What they do, and what happens without them

Each vitamin has specific jobs, and low levels cause specific problems. Two
concrete examples rather than a general warning:

• Too little vitamin C can make you anaemic.
• Vitamin A prevents night blindness.

Supplements, carefully

**The best way to get enough vitamins is a balanced diet with a variety of
foods.** In some cases you may need supplements — and **it is a good idea to
ask your provider first**, because **high doses of some vitamins cause
problems**.

That last point is the one most often missed. Vitamins are not a substance
where more is safer; several of them are actively harmful in quantity, which
is why the advice is to ask rather than to top up.

Source: MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine.