VITAMINS...MINERIALS
NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT GUIDE
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What are vitamins and minerals?
Vitamins are organic compounds needed in small amounts for good health, but which the body can't manufacture itself. Minerals are inorganic compounds found in food needed in small amounts for good health. Together, vitamins and minerals are called micronutrients. Protein, carbohydrates and fat are macronutrients.
The body needs 13 vitamins. When any of these vitamins are absent, deficiency diseases occur. Four vitamins are fat soluble (carried only in fat): vitamins A, D, E and K. Nine are water soluble: vitamin C and the eight B vitamins (thiamine/B1; riboflavin/B2; niacin; pantothenic acid/B5; pyridoxine/B6; (*)Cyanocobalamin/B12; biotin and folate/folic acid).
The body needs 15 minerals: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, zinc, chloride, potassium and sodium
Most vitamin and mineral requirements can be met through a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Supplements are not needed, although a daily multi-vitamin can provide a little insurance. In general, foods that are bright or vividly colored are high in vitamins.
Source: Your-doctor.com
There is"No" Fountain of Youth in this vitamin or that mineral. What you need to know is that many of the problems commonly associated with aging can be prevented, if not completely eliminated, if you adjust your nutritional intake to the needs of your changing body.
Changing bodies? Do you know that with each passing birthday the human stomach produces less hydrochloric acid needed to digest food and properly absorb adequate amounts of certain key nutrients? By age 50, this dwindling supply of acid causes a vitamin B-12 inadequacy in at least one in four Americans.by age 75, this deficiency affects about 40 percent.
What are the telltale symptoms of getting too little vitamin B-12? Memory lapses. Joint pain. Fatigue. Tingling hands and feet. Sounds a lot like aging, doesn't it?
"People often say, 'You're just getting old. But many of the classic signs of aging overlap with the symptoms of nutritional inadequacy," says Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. "Just because you feel that you're aging doesn't mean it's because you're aging."
But don't go blaming your stomach for every midlife complaint. Fact is,you may be coming up short in the vitamins department just like millions of others who have passed the half century mark even if you're eating a perfect food pyramid.
So,how do you meet those needs? In many cases, a daily "senior formula"
" multivitamin supplement" is all you need to fill the void. In other cases, even that multivitamin may not be enough.
The "Why You Need" section of the "Suppliment Guide" provides specifics.
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