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About Nutrient Basics |
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That Brilliant Vitamin: Vitamin B |
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Perhaps you first read riboflavin at the back of a cereal box. Perhaps you first encountered folic acid from your first grade science teacher. Perhaps you first heard balanced diet from your mom. All that and more compose Vitamin B which is a group of eight individual vitamins, often referred to as B vitamins or B-complex vitamins. Vitamin B promotes normal growth and development, treats anemia and some types of nerve damage, helps mental and nervous conditions, improves resistance to infection and disease, increases appetite and energy, and improves memory. Vitamin B is also essential for the breakdown of carbohydrates into glucose, breakdown of fats and proteins, muscles in the stomach... |
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The Benefits Of Taking A Vitamin Supplement |
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Vitamin supplements seem to the new hot item discussed on the Internet, in newspapers and magazines, sometimes even on the evening news. There's a good reason for the growing popularity of vitamins, minerals and supplements and that's the simple fact that our bodies need quality nutrition in order to function properly. There are a large number of essential vitamins and minerals that our body needs to routinely make it through the day and with our daily food intake not adding up into a balanced diet the need for a vitamin supplement has never been greater. Vitamin supplements are responsible for making sure they fill the gaps created by our improper diets in order to prevent a deficiency... |
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Vitamin D: Can it Really Keep You Cancer Free? |
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Once only associated with strong bones and teeth, new scientific research is finding that Vitamin D can cut your risk of developing common cancers by as much as 50%. Says Sara Hiom, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, “There is evidence to suggest that the vitamin (Vitamin D) plays a role in keeping cells healthy." Researchers in the U.S. have found that the “natural” form of Vitamin D, D3 or cholecalciferol, can dramatically cut our chances of getting breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancers by up to 50%. As a matter of fact, researchers are telling us that they have known about the link between Vitamin D and a decreased cancer risk for years. Well my question to... |
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Are Your Vitamin Supplements Helping You?
Author:
Kris Kelkar
We are told that the keys to longer and healthier life are simple: eat right, exercise, manage stress and get enough sleep. However, putting this into practice is more difficult. For example, take eating right. The National Cancer Institute is now recommending that adults eat between 7 to 9 servings of fruit a day. However, over 90 percent of us are unable or unwilling to follow this advice. Given our diets and lack of access to healthy foods, and given the dwindling nutritional quality of food generally available today, our bodies need vitamin, mineral and other dietary supplements to fill in this nutritional gap. Fortunately, the majority of us take supplements to compensate for this. About 100 million Americans take supplements - at least occasionally. About half of us pop vitamin and mineral supplements every day, spending about $4 billion annually. Do you ever wonder whether you should be taking supplements or whether the supplements you are taking are right for you?
Background
Vitamins and minerals - or at least foods containing these nutrients - have been used as therapy for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians ate livers of roosters and oxen to combat night blindness caused by Vitamin A deficiency, and sea sponge as a source of iodine to treat goiters. However, it wasn't until 1906 that vitamins were theorized, because protein, fats and carbohydrates were insufficient in-and-of-themselves to sustain life. In 1926, Vitamins were isolated and named vitamine (for vital amine, amine being a chemical structure).
There are at least 13 vitamins and 15 minerals that are considered essential for good health. Vitamins are organic compounds, which means they contain carbon, and are found naturally only in living things. Four of these vitamins - A, D, E, and K are fat soluble - meaning they can be stored in the body. Vitamins C and the eight forms of vitamin B are water soluble, meaning that excess amounts are eliminated through urination, and thus must be consumed daily. Vitamins C, E and A are known as antioxidants. They help our bodies fight damage from free radicals, highly reactive compounds that create oxidative damage to your cells. Vitamin C, once suspected of boosting our immune systems, has now come to the forefront in cancer, cataracts and cardiovascular therapies.
Minerals are simpler, inorganic compounds and are found in all foods. Minerals are also classified in two categories - major minerals (macronutrients), such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, that are found in relatively high concentrations in foods, and trace minerals (micronutrients), such as copper, iron, zinc, and chromium, that are usually only found in minute amounts.
All of these vitamins and minerals play an important role in your body's ability to build cells, releasing energy from our food, and in maintaining the good health of our organs, bones and immune system. Taking vitamin and mineral supplements can help us target deficiencies in our diet, to fill in the gaps.
Is your supplement right for you?
Our vitamin and mineral requirements vary at different stages of our lives, generally because of changes in how effectively our bodies absorb these nutrients. Additionally, our vitamin and mineral requirements vary with our daily caloric intake. The more calories you consume, the more vitamins and minerals your bodies need.
Many people select their vitamin and mineral supplements based on the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). The RDA, developed by the Food and Nutrition board in 1941, is updated periodically. However, the RDA is a general one-size-fits-all measure about daily vitamin needs to avoid vitamin deficiency diseases. Current research shows that higher levels of some of these vitamins and minerals are required to truly achieve good health and for therapeutic benefits to undo years of environmental damage our bodies have suffered.
In addition to vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals are increasingly recognized as playing a crucial role in proper absorption of nutrients and in cellular function and regeneration. Phytochemicals are nutrients found in fruits and vegetables and their extracts, that are generally not present in synthetic vitamin supplements.
More Information
You can find help in determining if your mineral and vitamin supplements are meeting your daily vitamin requirements and are nutritionally available to your body. You can also find out about phytonutrients that your body needs to maintain good health and ways to get phytonutrient sources conveniently into your diet.
Visit Six Steps to Good Health to learn more about diet, nutrition and natural techniques to improve your health.
About the author:
Mr. Kelkar has been practicing natural healing techniques for many years. He is a contributing author to www.the-natural-path.com, a high content site on natural healing.
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Article Keywords:
Nutrient Basics |
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A Quick Note
From The Publisher...
If you like the article above, you may be
interested in the following article which is also related to Nutrient Basics...
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"New Study, Proof That Vitamin E Kills"? |
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Making Sense of the New Study... It’s only when many trials were combined into one big meta-analysis("supertrial") that it became evident. There is ample proof that Alpha-Tocopherol can become deadly, NOT Vitamin E! Alpha Tocopherol is Not "Vitamin E" The focal point in understanding an apparent change of heart, a growing rift within the Health Community, Nutrition and Supplement Industry, and the Risk/Benefit ratio of taking Vitamin E Supplements, is one of deceit perpetuated on the population at large. To understand this, you’ll need to realize that supplements commonly labeled "vitamin E", including those used in nineteen clinical trials which were the basis of a meta-analysis, underlying the newly realized increase in death rate due to high dose supplementation, are mislabeled and misleading. They do not contain "vitamin E", the simple fact being, there’s no such thing. Alpha-tocopherol is no more "vitamin E" than folic acid, riboflavin or pyridoxine on their own can be called "vitamin B". As it is with "vitamin B", "vitamin E" is a complex of several member molecules, each having an important role and proper ratio. The Vitamin E Complex is a family of eight molecules, four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. These eight E-complex family members work synergistically, within the body to support healthy function of the organs, tissues, and provide protection from free radical damage; as well, they support the assimilation and utilization of other nutrients. Even "vitamin E" sold as complete "with mixed tocopherols", still delivers only half of the E-complex, leaving you missing all four highly beneficial tocotrienols. On top of this, the ratios of the different tocopherols contained in most "mixed tocopherols" supplements are at best, dangerously... |
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