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It is a must for all of us to be conscious of the proper nourishment that our body needs. While all of us are aware that it is important to have an intake of three complete meals per day, with at least snacks in between, many, though, are not very conscious of meeting the body's daily nutritional needs, while attending to their daily menu.
Once you give your body a hand by feeding it proper fuel, such as a diet high in fruits and vegetables, along with a sensible set of nutritional supplements, you will soon notice a difference.
The Need for Supplements
Perhaps a thousand years ago, or even as recently as a hundred years ago, maybe there was no, or at least less, need for nutritional supplements. Perhaps, in unpolluted air, in chemical free earth, food could grow that provided us with all the nutrients we would ever need, in clean abundance. Unfortunately, this is not a thousand or a hundred years ago.
Vitamin, mineral, and homocysteine levels in the blood were measured to assess nutrient status during the study. Researchers found that the people who took the supplement had significantly higher B-vitamin levels and lower homocysteine concentrations than those who took the placebo.
"The multivitamin appears to have increased several vitamin [levels] into a more optimal range relevant to reducing risk of chronic disease," says Dr. McKay. While it is best to get your vitamins and minerals through food, taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement may be a good step toward insuring that you have your nutrition bases covered.
All Nutritional Supplements are not Equally Effective
Here's another thing you should know: All nutritional supplements, such as vitamins and minerals, are not equally effective. Many factors, like freshness, purity, potency, artificial fillers, and presence or absence of allergens (substances, such as corn, known to produce allergic reactions) vary from one brand to the next. You can probably find a vitamin that is less expensive than ours on the supermarket shelf, or at some site where price is everything , but you will be hard pressed to find one that is better or more effective, anywhere, at any price.
Our bodies produce several antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase, that destroy many types of harmful free radicals. Supplements of these enzymes are available for oral administration. However, supplementing with the building blocks the body requires to make SOD, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase may be more effective. These building block nutrients include the minerals manganese, zinc, and copper for SOD and selenium for glutathione peroxidase.
The gradually increased availability of irradiated food--much of it poorly labeled or disguised in meals offered in restaurants, airplanes, and schools--suggests that supplements may become even more necessary to replace nutrients depleted in the food supply or to guard against potential health risks.
So in today's highly fortified society and in light of the improvements in overall health, is it still necessary to take a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement?
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