What Vitamins and Other Dietary Supplements Can Do To Your Body
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It has been for long now that people take care of micro nutrients along with the macro nutrients to keep their body fit and sound. Sometimes, it is basically the excess of some macro nutrient like fat and carbohydrate and below-the-normal levels of others like animal protein in their diets that causes troubles.
But on the other hand, it is micro nutrients, the deficiency of which aggravates the condition so caused apart from generating distinct serious conditions. Vitamins and supplements therefore should be given due consideration. It holds true for any age group.
Modern lifestyles have caused greater concerns for it, because people have come a long way away from natural food habits. The processed food coupled with altered lifestyles demand even more for supplementing the foods with discount vitamins and minerals.
Vitamins
Vitamins are micro nutrients as they are required in minute amounts for the body. They can be compared with the greasing and oiling products for machines. What they do for the machines, vitamins do for the body. Thus, they are critically necessary-though in minor amounts only.
Vitamins are chemicals that work as substrates for intermediate steps of many of the thousands of biochemical reactions that take place in the body at any given time. The initial substrates are macro nutrients, but the production of final products can be hampered severely if the intermediate steps are not completed properly. This will be the case even if you take in your diets adequate amount of fat, carbohydrates, proteins, fiber and water. The machine doesn’t work well if its parts are not oiled well, and this happens despite proper supply of the fuel and power.
Various vitamins have been discovered to be associated with particular biochemical reactions in body to affect particular body functions. Thus, the deficiency of particular vitamin results in specific symptoms; prescription of the vitamin supplement in minute doses may remove the seemingly broad symptoms rapidly. The symptoms have traditionally been enlisted and taught to young students in order to raise concerns for a balanced diet. Night blindness, scurvy, pyorrhea, rickets-any typical list would include all of them.
But, the vitamins have been constantly discovered, and their vital new roles in varied conditions have been discovered till the date. All of them are not possible to enlist for children in schools, but physicians and dieticians know their worth. They study the new researches to combine them in the treatment regimen to get surprising results.
Minerals and Other Dietary Supplements
Minerals make for the counterpart to the vitamins. Both of them are required in minute amounts, but unlike the vitamins, the minerals are not intermediary in nature but are consumed for certain physiological functions in the body. The neurophysiological functions (that include nerves to be activated to send a certain message to any tissues of body) are also included in it. You must know about the special instructions given to the heart and kidney patients. These organs in certain conditions fail to withstand the mineral concentrations above a critical level.
But, not only excess is not welcome in certain conditions, it is also deficiency of any of them that may lead to serious implications. A fall in iodine in body may result in hypothyroidism, expressed sometimes in the form of a large goiter.
Importance and Inferences
The importance of adhering to the optimal amounts of minerals and vitamins—in diet or as dietary supplement—is unquestionable. The best way is to adhere to a balanced diet through all phases of life, starting from the very infancy. This may be followed well with the help of a dietician as you would report the lifestyle and physical parameters of your family members. People often fail to see a dietician as well as to adhere to a calculated diet, before they fall ill due to deficiency of one or more of the micro nutrients.
Prevention is better than cure. So, follow a healthy food habit, and supplement it with dietary supplements with the help of a family dietician. It is not surprising that the manufacturers of health supplements are promoting discount vitamins these days.
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This was very interesting. I have recently switched over to a vegetarian diet (bordering on vegan) and have been having some trouble getting the right combination of nutrients in my body. Giving up the animal proteins has to be replaced with something else, and it is not easy to find a balance.
This was a very well writtenand informative article. I definitely voted Up!
Because our plants are grown in depleted soils and our food is so processed, we no longer are getting as much nutrients from our foods as our ancestors did. That is why I take vitamins and minerals and other supplements. In particular vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3, Co-Q10, alpha lipoic acid are among my favorites.
I, too am a "health nut." I couldn't survive without my supplements, and my newest favorite is Royal Jelly! Thanks for SHARING. Sandra Busby











sgbrown Level 7 Commenter 3 months ago
I have to agree! Nutrients in the ground where are food is grown has been depleted over the years and is now chemically supplemented. Very few, if anyone, really eats a balanced diet. Fast food has become the norm. Everyone should be balancing their diet with supplements. I can tell a huge difference in the way I feel when I don't take my supplements.