Is there a Need to Supplement Vitamins and Minerals?
Vitamins and minerals perform lots of functions in the body and thus essential for your health and well-being. That said, you should balance the supply with the body requirements. A healthy supply of vitamins and minerals is important to help you heal wounds, shore up bones and enhance your immune system.
Every day, your body system produces muscle, bone, and skin. It also sends nerve signals throughout the brain and body pathways. To do this, the body system requires raw materials in the form of vitamins and minerals.
Why Use Supplements
If everyone regularly ate nutrient-dense foods such as vegetables and fruits, the body would have the supply of macronutrients it needs to function well. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to quality foods and for that reason, we all need supplements to bridge the shortfall.
Research has indicated that each of us needs multivitamin and mineral supplements daily because:
• Commercially grown foods have low levels of essential nutrients because of the poor soils they are grown in.
• Our contemporary lifestyles are characterized by stress and this puts a higher demand on essential nutrients far beyond the ability of the body to supply.
In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was reported that supplementation helps adult Americans to meet the recommended intakes of certain nutrients like magnesium and calcium. This was true for both sexes.
Who Should Take Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
People on a restrictive diet are especially vulnerable to nutrient deficiency. For instance, people on a high-fat-low carb diet or vegan diet do not benefit from whole foods. The same applies to people fasting for cultural or religious reasons. Without proper supplementation, these groups of people risk suffering from vitamin deficiencies both in the short and long run.
People at risk of malnutrition due to depressed appetites and disease should also supplement with multivitamins and minerals to stay healthy.
The following is a summary of the people who can benefit immensely from ethical nutrients products containing vitamins and minerals supplements:
• Expectant women
• Lactating Mothers
• People who smoke cigarettes
• Drug abuse victims
• The elderly especially the disabled or chronically ill
• Vegans
• Women who bleed excessively during menstruation
• People who have allergies for certain foods
• People suffering from malabsorption issues such as pancreatitis, coeliac disease, and diarrhea
How to Supplement with Vitamins and Minerals
The first step in supplementing is to get a medical analysis from a dietician or nutritionist on what your body has and what it lacks. In this way, you would know the kind of multivitamin and mineral supplements to go for.
For instance, pregnant mothers are often advised to supplement with Vitamin C, D, and folic acid at 10 weeks. Multivitamins are mainly intended for the prevention of chronic conditions although epidemiological evidence has shown that they can help control other conditions as well such as cardiovascular complications.
The common ingredients to look out for in vitamins and mineral supplements include vitamin D, Vitamin C, zinc, Iodine, folic acid, magnesium, and many others. Vitamins and minerals play key biological roles at cellular levels and help moderate mineral deficiency. If taken under strict controls supplements can aid the body in getting the much-needed nutrients.