Vitamins Supplements

This is an open-ended question. Medical science tells us that certain vitamins and minerals are BASIC to our living healthy lives. But these learned people also tell us that the best source for what we need is the food we eat. If everyone ate well, we would be healthy. Unfortunately we do not always eat what is needed to provide a healthy balance.

So we turn to vitamin and mineral supplements. But in doing so are we just throwing out money down the toilet, literally!

Today's grocery stores and pharmacies are stocked full of every imaginable supplement you can think of. So what should we take and how much should we take? No easy answer is readily available for that question.

Vitamins and minerals are the building blocks of our bodies. You could say that this is nature's way of rebuilding the cells, tissues and bones that make up the human body. The National Institutes of Health tells us that vitamins are substances that your body needs to grow and develop normally. There are 13 vitamins your body needs. They are vitamins A, C, D, E, K and the B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and folate.

But don't run off to the super market or health food store and buy a bottle of each one. The answer that has been with us for decades is the multi-vitamin, which combines all (or most of) the vitamins we need every day. But what about the so called...minerals? Aren't they necessary for healthy living too? They certainly are. We need to meet certain daily requirements for potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, iodine, and zinc are basic to good health. But physicians warn that too much of a good thing can be very harmful to our health. Seems like moderation is the key here as it is with anything else we put into our bodies. The human body is a masterful piece of engineering. It can manufacture some of the vitamins we need-like vitamins D and K. The rest SHOULD come from food. But alas, that is not always the case.

How many vitamins and minerals are in a slice of pizza or a Big Mac?

Each vitamin listed above has a specific job so if your intake is low in certain vitamins, some body functions will suffer. Low intake of vitamin D for example can result in poor bone growth leading to a disease known as "rickets." Low intake of vitamin A can result in poor eyesight or night blindness.

Our best source for vitamin D is sunlight-something that you won't find in a bottle. But for a skin cancer survivor like me, I can't take the chance of overexposure to the beneficial rays of the sun. If I want my bones to stay healthy I must turn to supplements. How about you?

I don't pretend to be a health care expert. I'm just trying to live a normal, healthy life. But the old saying, "Let the buyer beware," holds true for vitamin and mineral supplements.

The American public spends about $70 Billion a year on vitamin and mineral supplements, which makes this a very competitive business. Countless manufacturers are all trying to grab a portion of this incredible market. In other words, rip-offs abound, so be careful of what you buy.

By Don Penven

Labels: health vitamins supplements, vitamin supplement, vitamin supplements, vitamins and supplements, vitamins nutrition supplements, vitamins nutritional supplements, vitamins supplements