HHS HealthBeat (April 18, 2012)

Getting our vitamins

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

It looks like we’re getting enough of at least some of the vitamins and other nutrients that we need. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at blood and urine samples from participants in a national health and nutrition survey. Researcher Christine Pfeiffer says this means that, for some nutrients, few of us have deficiencies:

``The prevalence of nutrient deficiencies in the general U.S. population ranges from less than 1 percent for folate and vitamins A and E, to about 10 percent for iron and vitamins B6 and D.’’ (13 seconds)

Folate, for instance, is important for women of childbearing age because deficiencies can lead to birth defects in babies. It’s found now in some foods fortified with folic acid.

The full information is in CDC’s Second Nutrition Report.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April 18, 2012