--- title: What vitamins do — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «What vitamins do», a lesson of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Vitamins are substances the body needs in tiny amounts to work properly, and because it can't make enough of most of them, they have to come from food. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/) / What vitamins do # What vitamins do Lesson 21 of the medicine course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/0/) — Vitamins are substances the body needs in tiny amounts to work properly, and because it can't make enough of most of them, they have to come from food. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/1/) — Minerals like calcium and iron are needed too: calcium builds bones and teeth, and iron helps make red blood cells that carry oxygen. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/2/) — Long ago sailors on months-long voyages got scurvy, with bleeding gums and wounds that would not heal, until they took lemons and limes: the missing piece was vitamin C. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/3/) — A plate with many colours, fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, dairy or other calcium foods, and protein, gives almost everything a healthy child needs without any special drinks. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/4/) — Vitamins are needed in small amounts, and most must come from food because the body can't make enough of them. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/5/) — Carrots contain beta-carotene, which the body turns into vitamin A, needed for seeing in dim light; extra carrots do not give night vision. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/6/) — The story that carrots let British pilots see in the dark was spread in the Second World War, partly to hide the use of radar, machines that found enemy planes with radio waves. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/7/) — Vitamin C helps wounds heal and keeps gums and skin healthy, and sailors once got scurvy from lacking it. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/8/) — Calcium builds bones and teeth, and vitamin D helps the body absorb it; milk, cheese, yoghurt, green vegetables, beans, tofu and fortified foods (with extra vitamins or minerals added) all contain calcium. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/9/) — Iron is needed to make red blood cells, and too little causes anaemia, which makes people tired and pale; a blood test can check iron levels. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/10/) — Spinach contains iron, but the body absorbs it poorly, so spinach is not the iron superfood of cartoons. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/11/) — B vitamins help the body turn food into energy, and vegans usually need a B12 supplement, an extra pill, because B12 comes mainly from animal foods. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/12/) — Some vitamins, such as A and D, are stored in the body, and taking too much over time can be harmful. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/13/) — Vegetarians can get all their nutrients from beans, eggs, dairy, nuts, grains and vegetables. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/14/) — Fibre is the part of plants the body can't digest, and it helps food move through the gut and keeps you full. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/15/) — In the UK a small glass of fruit juice (150 ml) counts as one of your five a day, but only once a day, however much you drink, because juice is sugary. - ← previous: [At the pharmacy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/20-at-the-pharmacy/) - next →: [Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/) - ↑ back to [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/)