What are Vitamins and
Minerals?
A History Of Vitamins
Benefits of Vitamins
Guide to Vitamins
Guide To Minerals
Supplements and
their benefits
About Your Nutrition
Contact Details |
| |
Why Supplements may benefit
you
Because humans do not store most vitamins in their
bodies, a human must consume them regularly to avoid
deficiency. Human corporeal stores for different
vitamins vary widely; vitamins A, D, and B12 are
stored in significant amounts in the human body,
mainly in the liver, and an adult human may be
deficient in vitamin A and B12 for long periods of
time before developing a deficiency condition.
Vitamin B3 is not stored in the human body in
significant amounts, so stores may only last a
couple of weeks.
Well-known human vitamin deficiencies involve
thiamine (causing beriberi), niacin (pellagra),
vitamin C (scurvy) and vitamin D (rickets). In much
of the developed world, such deficiencies are rare.
This is due to an adequate supply of food and the
addition of vitamins and minerals, often called
fortification, to common foods.
Supplements
Dietary supplements, often containing vitamins, are
used to ensure that adequate amounts of nutrients
are obtained on a daily basis, if optimal amounts of
the nutrients cannot be obtained through a varied
diet. Scientific evidence supporting the benefits of
some dietary supplements is well established for
certain health conditions, but others need further
study.
Supplements are, as required by law, not intended to
treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure disease.
In some cases, dietary supplements may have unwanted
effects, especially if taken before surgery, with
other dietary supplements or medicines, or if the
person taking them has certain health conditions.
Vitamin supplements may also contain levels of
vitamins many times higher, and in different forms,
than one may ingest through food. Before taking a
supplement, it is important to check with a
knowledgeable health care provider, especially when
combining or substituting supplements with other
foods or medicine.
A food supplement is, typically, a nutrient added to
a foodstuff that would otherwise not contain that
nutrient. In general, the term is restricted to
those additives, which are deemed to be positive for
health, growth or well-being.
Several ranges of food supplements are recognised:
Those that repair a deficit to "normal" levels
Those that appear to enhance a food
Additionally there are supplements taken in addition
to the normal diet. Added calcium may provide
benefits such as described in the minerals section,
or that adding folic acid may correct a nutritional
deficiency especially in pregnant women.
Controversially, some athletes use foods and food
supplements to achieve a defined health goal. A
common example of this use of food supplements is
the extent to which body builders will use amino
acid mixtures and vitamins to enhance natural
hormone production to increase muscle and reduce
fat.
Moving on from this reasonably accepted usage, there
is increasing evidence for the use of food
supplements in established medical conditions. This
nutritional supplementation using foods as medicine
has been effectively used in treating disorders
affecting the immune system up to and including
cancers. This goes beyond the definition of "food
supplement", but should be included for the sake of
completeness
|
What are Vitamins and Minerals?
Vitamins and minerals are necessary to enable
people's bodies to function correctly. Although they
are consumed in foods every day....
More Info |
 |
|
About Your Nutrition
Your Nutrition Shop is an on-line nutritional
supplement store selling only high quality
supplements.....
More Info |
 |
|
|
