A Multi Vitamin dietary supplement is one of the most popular subjects of any health conscious group. Those who have taken the time and effort to become familiar with the needs of their bodies understand that those needs are seldom met with standard daily food intakes. Supplementing your diet is a smart move to maintain your health, but how you supplement your diet is important, too. It takes time to choose the right vitamins and minerals, and choosing a quality multi-vitamin is one way to get your body’s needs taken care of fast and efficiently.

The Multi Vitamin

Multi vitamins are generally a one-pill option that offers up to and sometimes even over 100% of the daily allowance (RDA) for many important vitamins. While everyone’s needs are different, this type of supplement will usually give you a wide spectrum of vitamins in the doses that you need. For instance, many will include vitamins A, C, D, and E, B vitamins, as well as folic acid. Remember that you will not be getting the full RDA of every vitamin, just a general broad spectrum.

The good news is that you will get many of your vitamins in one easy pill or tablet, but many people erroneously believe that this will cover all of their supplementary diet needs. It won’t.

While some single pills also include minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium, they seldom include everything that you need and at full doses for the day. Calcium, for instance, is very dense and bulky, and you would need too much to have it included in full dose in a multivitamin. Additional supplements, therefore, are necessary.

Choose your multi vitamin dietary supplement carefully.

Minerals are inorganic elements that the body does not make by itself, making it essential for the body to obtain minerals from the foods that are eaten or through the addition of dietary supplements.

There are two kinds of minerals: Trace minerals and Macro minerals. Trace minerals are found in small traces in the body; we will be discussing Iron as one kind of trace mineral.    Macro minerals are needed in larger amounts in your body but are not always available through regular, common diets. We will talk about sodium, potassium and manganese.

Each mineral works in different ways to contribute to the body’s health and wellbeing.

More information about common Minerals found in Supplements

• Iron helps oxygen get from the lungs to the rest of the body. It is also essential in the production of hemoglobin. Iron can be found in red meats, tuna, salmon, eggs, beans, potatoes, raisins and green leafy vegetables.
• Manganese helps increase the absorption of nutrients such as biotin, thiamine and ascorbic acid. It helps maintain healthy bones and blood sugar levels and maximizes the function of the thyroid gland. It also contributes to healthy nerve function. Foods high in manganese are mustard and collard greens, kale, chard, raspberries, pineapple, lettuce and maple syrup.
• Potassium is essential for keeping the nervous system working. Foods such as bananas, tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, citrus fruit, legumes and nuts are rich in potassium.
• Sodium, which is found in salt, maintains the body’s blood pressure. In today’s diets, the problem is generally too much sodium.  This can lead to health problems and it is important to realize that processed foods such as bread, tomato sauce and potato chips have high sodium content.

Learn more about dietary supplements and minerals.

Nutrients dominate much of the discussion about supplements and that causes many people to become confused about what is considered a vitamin and what is a mineral.  In truth, there is so much that goes into understanding what each vitamin and mineral do for and to your body that it can be hard to keep track of them all. 

Minerals Basics

Minerals are inorganic elements that the body does not make by itself. Instead, the body obtains minerals from the foods that are eaten or through supplements. The two types of minerals are Trace minerals and Macro minerals.

Some minerals are taken specifically because they may be great contributors to beautiful skin, hair and nails. Some people call these the Beauty Minerals.

How Minerals Affect Beauty

• Sulphur is known as the “beauty” mineral. It keeps hair, nails and skin strong. It plays a role in the production of collagen, which helps maintain the skin’s elasticity. Sulphur also helps with such conditions as eczema, psoriasis and acne. Sulphur can be found in lean meats, fish, eggs, milk, legumes, cabbage, brussel sprouts and turnips.
• Iodine, which is found mainly in the thyroid gland, regulates the release of energy in the body. It also regulates the metabolism so without iodine a person would gain a great deal of weight. Iodine also contributes to healthy hair, skin, nails and teeth. Good sources of iodine are leafy vegetables, fish, shellfish, and onions
• Copper protects the cardiovascular and nervous systems, as well as bones. It helps keep arteries from hardening and is needed for healthy hair and skin. The body also needs copper to produce antioxidants. Half of the body’s copper supply is in the bones and muscles. Copper can be found in beef liver, black-eyed peas, shellfish and cocoa.

Learn more about beauty minerals.

A healthy and balanced diet consists of taking in the right amount of vitamins and nutrients while avoiding the intake of toxic chemicals, additives and nutritional elements that have a negative outcome on your health.  Avoiding bad food and ensuring that you are getting the right amount of good food simply isn’t as simple as pure academics, however. The effects of certain chemicals and foods aren’t always documented and there is no perfect diet for everyone.

Some people, knowing that they struggle with managing the foods they eat, choose to rely on multivitamins and vitamin supplements to make up the difference.  Again, because a balanced diet is not as easy to achieve as an simple math problem, you cannot simply eat junk food and supplement it with vitamin and mineral additions. Good vitamins and nutrients don’t just cancel out the bad toxins and chemicals that you may be taking in.

It is always wise to consult a dietary professional such as a nutritionist or dietician before making any major changes to your diet.  This way, you will have the opportunity to ask them about the pros and cons of the choices you want to make in your health, and ask for alternatives that they recommend before making any changes yourself.  Healthy diet can protect your eyesight, increase your immunity and help you heal, however, there can be too much of a good thing. 

Some people, in their desperate zeal to do a good thing, overdose on vitamins while trying to ensure their own health.  The consequences can be severe.  For instance, some vitamins have been known to develop toxicity if taken in too large doses.  Vitamin A, in particular, can be very dangerous if taken past the recommended limits.

 A healthy and balanced diet that is right for you does exist.

Deciding who is getting enough fluoride in their daily diet and who needs nutritional supplements in their daily diet requires a doctor to look at many different aspects of exposure.

The children who are in need of fluoride supplements of any type are those who live in communities without fluoridated water supplies, in homes with water purifiers that remove minerals, or homes that use well water. Because it is likely that these children are not being exposed to fluoride at all, they should be testing to verify that assumption and then have adequate dosages proscribed.

Why Fluoride Supplements are Strictly Regulated:

If your community’s water is not fluoridated, your child will most likely need dietary fluoride supplements. These medical fluoride supplements are available only by prescription from your dentist or physician. It is important, however, to know what, if any, fluoride is present naturally in your drinking water.

Some wells and water sources are naturally imbued with fluoride, though bottled water is not a viable source. The correct dosage of fluoride for your child must be calculated on the basis of the natural fluoride concentration of your local drinking water as well as your child’s age, and the extent of his or her exposure

There are many controversies surrounding the debate of too much fluoride or too little. Excess fluoride can cause discoloration and bone issues while too little fluoride can cause cavities.

Finding the best balance for your family’s daily diet may take time and patience.

One of the most common causes of hair loss in pre-menopausal women is actually a nutritional deficiency.  Most people assume that hair loss in a woman is caused by hormonal problems and that is a likely contributor for older women, but for younger women it is usually an indicator of an iron deficiency.

Our hair is made of a type of protein called keratin. A single hair consists of a hair shaft, which is the part that is visible,  a root below the skin and a follicle, from which the hair root grows. At the lower end of the follicle is the hair bulb, where the hair’s color pigment, or melanin, is produced.

Most people lose about 50 to 100 head hairs a day. These hairs are replaced — they grow back in the same follicle on your head. This amount of hair loss is totally normal and no cause for worry. If you’re losing more than that, though, something might be wrong.  Recent studies have pointed to a connection between hair loss and iron deficiency.

Good sources of dietary iron include red meat, fish, poultry, lentils, beans, leaf vegetables, tofu, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, fortified bread, and fortified breakfast cereals. Iron in low amounts is found in molasses, teff and farina. Iron in meat is more easily absorbed than iron in vegetables.

Iron provided by dietary supplements is often found as iron (II) fumarate.  Iron is most available to the body when chelated to amino acid because in this form iron is ten to fifteen times more bioavailable. The RDA for iron varies considerably based on age, gender, and source of dietary iron. Infants may require iron supplements if they are bottle-fed cow’s milk.  People who are at risk of low iron levels are Blood donors and pregnant women.  Both groups are generally counseled to reduce this risk of low iron levels.

If you have been finding a steady path of hair loss and are concerned, you can talk to your doctor and  look to your nutritional expert and consider an iron supplement.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin found naturally in few foods, so it is now routinely added to such foods as milk. Sunlight helps the skin absorb it but few people have a real understanding of just how complicated the process can be.

Vitamin D is a prohormone, meaning that it has no hormone activity itself, but is converted to the active hormone – a regulated synthesis. The production of vitamin D in nature always appears to require the presence of some UV light.  In foods, the vitamin D is ultimately derived from organisms which are not able to synthesize it except through the action of sunlight at some point in the synthetic chain.

In fish, for example, vitamin D is found only because the vitamin is provided by calories from ocean algae which synthesize vitamin D in shallow waters from the action of solar UV, algae that are then utilized by fish.

In 1923, Harry Goldblatt and Katherine Soames established that when an early form of vitamin D in the skin is irradiated with light, it synthesized into a form of a fat-soluble vitamin. From this early observation came the “sunlight equals vitamin D” simplistic understanding that many have today.

In some animals, the presence of fur or feathers blocks the UV rays from reaching the skin for this process. In birds and fur-bearing mammals, vitamin D is generated from the oily secretions of the skin deposited onto the fur and obtained by mouth during grooming

Vitamin D is created and used in the most amazing of ways.

In order to make sure you are supplementing your body with the right nutrition, vitamins and minerals, you have to develop an understanding of their effects on your body.  Just counting the various vitamins and minerals in a supplement doesn’t mean anything when you don‘t understand what those counts will do to help or hurt you in some form. More is not always better and quality and type have a lot to do with absorption rates and the body’s ability to use a supplement.

Treating your body right means giving it what it needs to properly drive its metabolism and keep your organs healthy and balanced. Good food isn’t always good for you and bad food isn’t your enemy.  It‘s the right food, and the right supplements that count.

Vitamin D Fact Sheet

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin found naturally in few foods, so it is now routinely added to such foods as milk. Sunlight helps the skin absorb it. However, the use of sunscreen to prevent sun damage and skin cancer also prevents the absorption of Vitamin D. This vitamin is necessary for the body to absorb calcium and to prevent rickets, and without Vitamin D and calcium, bones become weak or brittle. People at risk for Vitamin D deficiency include babies who are exclusively breastfed, older adults, those with limited exposure to sunlight, and obese persons. Excess levels of Vitamin D can cause nausea, constipation, weakness, and weight loss.

Vitamin D is an essential part of your body’s health and affects your body in a myriad of marvelous ways that are understated but effective.

Vitamin E is a collective name used for a group of fat-soluble, super antioxidant chemicals which protect cells against free radicals. Naturally occurring vitamin E exists in eight chemical forms (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocopherol and alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocotrienol)

The body processes vitamin E types within the liver.

Vitamin E and Metabolism 

Serum concentrations of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) depend on the liver, which takes up the nutrient after the various forms are absorbed from the small intestine. The liver secretes alpha-tocopherol via the hepatic alpha-tocopherol transfer protein and the liver then metabolizes and excretes the other vitamin E forms. As a result, blood and cellular concentrations of other forms of vitamin E are lower than those of alpha-tocopherol.

 Vitamin E Benefits

Vitamin E has long been studied for its effects against free radicals within the body.  These free radicals are molecules that contain an unshared electron.  Antioxidants can safely interact with these free radicals that can damage cells and might contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and cancer.  The body is also exposed to free radicals from environmental exposures, such as cigarette smoke, air pollution, and ultraviolet radiation from the sun. ROS are part of signaling mechanisms among cells. Many foods provide vitamin E including nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils.  Green leafy vegetables and fortified cereals also contain significant amounts.

To understand the presence of vitamin E in your foods and supplements, it is helpful to understand that vitamin E content of foods and dietary supplements is listed on labels in international units (IUs), which is a measure of biological activity rather than quantity. Naturally sourced vitamin E is called d-alpha-tocopherol; the synthetically produced form is dl-alpha-tocopherol.

Vitamins and supplements are an important part of your daily nutrition.

1. Saccharin
2. Aspartame
3. Aciculae
4. Potassium
5. Sucralose

Each of these nonnutritive sweeteners is regulated by the FDA as a food additive. They began as ways to produce sweet products without the high cost of sugars but eventually found their way into the low calorie-sweet taste diet phenomenon.

Studies eventually found cancer connections with many nonnutritive sweeteners and the controversy over their safety continues even now.

When you understand the ways in which sugars, natural and not, are added to the many foods that you eat and drink, you can see how the addition of these many empty calories have an affect on the American diet.

Only you can choose which sweeteners best fit your natural daily diet.