A Sorority Girl's Vitamin Guide

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Either you're just getting over that seasonal cold or you've been unfortunate to have just been hit with it! Whatever the case, it's important to get the right vitamins in your system to stay healthy and help prevent getting sick. Your immune system is so important to take care of you so it's important that you take care of it! We are only given one body in this lifetime and every day it goes through wear and tear and somehow we have to make it last for over 80 years! Below are a list of the best vitamins to fuel your body for our 20 to 30 year old readers as shared by Dr. Christopher Calapai D.O. Take note and be sure to take them daily!

• Calcium: These are the decades to bone up, as in, maintain your bone mass. Dr. Calapai recommends adults aged 19-50 years take 1,000 milligrams of calcium, daily. If you don’t receive enough calcium from your diet, you may need to take a supplement containing elemental calcium. Elemental calcium refers to the actual amount of calcium in a supplement that's available for your body to absorb—the rest are compounds making up the supplement. But when supplementing your calcium, read the labels carefully, cautions Dr. Calapai . “For example, if you buy tablets such as calcium carbonate, each tablet contains 1,250 milligrams of calcium,” he says. “Unfortunately, only 500 milligrams is elemental calcium.”

• Vitamin D: The reason we're severely lacking vitamin D nowadays, much more so than even our parents were, is because we're missing out on the number-one source of vitamin D: The sun. "Vitamin D is a pro-hormone made in the skin upon exposure to sunlight, and production of it is rapid and robust," Calapai says. "Within 10 to 20 minutes without wearing sunscreen, people make between 10,000 and 20,000 IU. But because of widespread sunscreen use, total sun avoidance, and our increasingly indoor lifestyles, our vitamin D levels have fallen drastically." Dr. Calapai says, “Take at least 2,000 IU per day year-round. And although you technically don't need to supplement on the days that you know you'll be outside when the sun is high, it's just easier to take it every day than to try to remember when and not to."

• Folic Acid: For women in their childbearing years, folic acid is recommended if you’re planning on conceiving anytime soon. “You should take it before you get pregnant to ensure your levels are high because low rates of folic acid can cause a number of birth defects,” says Dr. Calapai. “The recommended dosing of folic acid is 400 micrograms per day if you are age 14 or older.”

• Iron: Iron is another key consideration for menstruating women. “Iron deficiency commonly occurs in pregnant women, causing anemia, which can result in fatigue and weakness,” says Dr. Calapai . “Iron enables red blood cells to carry oxygen and deliver it to body cells.” If you’re pregnant and not getting your daily 27 mg. of iron from sources such as iron-fortified cereals and eggs, then look for it in a supplement containing 16 to 20 mg, or speak to your physician about iron supplementation specifically.