Dietary supplements help you get that Inner Glow
The idea behind dietary or nutritional supplements is to deliver nutrients that you may not be consuming in sufficient quantities. The basis for good health is good nutrition.
What are those nutrients?
Some nutrients which we are commonly deficient in: vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids.
Vitamins – for example, vitamin C, A, B12; minerals – for example, magnesium, zinc, iron; essential amino acids – for example, tyrosine, lysine; fatty acids – for example, omega 3.
In some situations, our bodies need more than our normal intake of certain nutrients in order to ensure we do not develop deficiencies.
For example:
• When you plan to become pregnant, you need a higher dose of folic acid (B9).
• When you are pregnant you may have lower iron levels.
• When you are 50 or older, you may have deficiency in vitamin B12.
• When you are 65 or older, you benefit from taking vitamin D daily.
Most people have heard of nutritional deficiencies or know someone taking iron or other supplements. Whilst supplementing with iron is widely accepted, with no-one questioning the health benefits of this form of supplement, why are other such supplements either ignored or treated with suspicion?
Normally we should get all the nutrients we need through our diet. However, the question is how healthy is your diet? Do you eat a wide variety of foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, white meat, fermented foods, and fish? Do you know the recommended daily intake of magnesium or zinc? Do you meet your recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals in a stable and consistent manner?
Can supplements compensate for a bad diet?
It is very clear, that eating a variety of foods is the best way to ensure that you are getting the various vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids needed by your body. However, we all know that sometimes our choice of food is not what it should be that we can have periods where we do not eat well. In addition, conventionally grown or processed food has far fewer nutrients than organic and fresh produces. Consequently, we do not get a consistent optimum level of nutrients from just our daily intake of food. We all know that we should eat more fruits and vegetables but somehow struggle even with the minimum recommended daily intake. Instead, meat, dairy, and sugar intake is remarkably high in our diet, while fresh fruit and vegetable consumption is low.
The role of supplements, particularly multivitamins, can be partly seen as a means to compensate for poor dietary choices whereas they are meant to supplement only. Supplements do not offer the same nutritional benefits as a healthy diet; they generally provide only concentrated amounts of specific nutrients. Foods contain more than vitamins and minerals alone and dietary patterns as a whole play an important role in health. Considering our eating habits today, most likely we lack in several essential nutrients: supplements are needed to preserve our health.
What to do if you have a nutritional deficiency?
The obvious answer is: change or improve your diet. However, changing eating habits takes time and any deficiency will hardly be solved only by eating a healthier diet. The best way to overcome any nutritional deficiency is by taking a concentrated amount of the nutrient you are lacking, such as treating an iron deficiency with iron supplements or by low levels of vitamin D taking vitamin D supplements.
There are numerous dietary supplements on the market. They are designed to help overcome nutritional deficiencies. You can find them in the form of tablets, capsules, powders, and liquids.
Do I need supplements then?
Different types of blood tests and other laboratory tests can be carried out to help identify a possible nutritional deficiency. Clearly when the results show a low level of a certain nutrient, for example vitamin D, then taking vitamin D supplements improves the levels of vitamin D in your system.
Dietary supplements may be also appropriate if you:
• Eat a lot of processed food, for example, white bread, pasta, ham, sausages, cakes, sweets, etc.
• Are a vegan or you eat a limited variety of foods for ethical or religious reasons.
• Follow any other type of diet that restricts an entire category of foods, for example, fats.
• Do not obtain two to three servings a week of seafood or fatty fish or flax seeds or flax seed oil, all of which supply essential omega-3 fatty acids.
• Have heavy bleeding during your menstrual period that may lead to an iron deficiency.
• Have a medical condition that affects how your body absorbs or uses nutrients, such as chronic diarrhoea, food allergies, food intolerance, or a disease of the liver, gallbladder, intestines, or pancreas.
• Have had surgery on your digestive tract and are not able to digest and absorb nutrients properly.
In addition to the above mentioned, when you are constantly tired, have brittle hair and nails, experience muscle weakness, disturbed vision, or irritability, or have a weak immune system or mouth ulcers, to name just a few issues which may be caused by nutritional deficiencies in our diets, your body is communicating to you that it needs more: that you have a nutritional deficiency. Recognizing this helps you adjust your diet accordingly and to take the relevant supplements. The exact signs and symptoms depend on the specific nutrient that is lacking.
For example, if you are deficient in the vitamins, minerals or amino acids that are necessary to make and repair skin, connective tissue, and collagen, you have signs and symptoms related to poor skin healing, excess skin wrinkling or dryness, lack of elasticity, dermatitis, or rashes.
Certain supplements may also help you when you are fighting off an infection or combating a cold; adding a few immune-boosting vitamins to your routine can be incredibly beneficial. In fact, certain vitamins, minerals, and other supplements have been shown to enhance antibody production and alleviate inflammation to keep you feeling your absolute best, such as vitamin C and D or magnesium and zinc.
Different approach to supplements
There are different approaches to dietary supplements: one such is introduced by Orthomolecular Medicine (Ph.D. Linus Pauling in 1968). This approach involves practices to prevent and to treat disease by providing the body with optimal amounts of substances (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, or fatty acids) which are natural to the body. Their approach is based on the premise that the daily nutrient intake values set by governmental bodies are low and for the prevention of deficiency diseases only. Consequently, Orthomolecular Medicine emphasizes the centrality to good health the use of supplemental vitamins, minerals, and other accessory factors in higher amounts.
For example, they recommend taking 2000mg of vitamin C daily in contrary to 75mg for women and 90mg for men referred in Dietary Reference Values (DRVs).
After having studied Orthomolecular Therapy at ISMET (Instituto Superior de Medicinas Tradicionales in Barcelona), I follow their methods and take 2000mg of vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) daily to boost my immune system, strengthen collagen, feed my damaged tissues, prevent cataracts, protect my neurons … just to name few benefits of vitamin C.
Final thoughts
Dietary supplements are beneficial to your health when administrated correctly. They help you achieve a balance between the foods and nutrients you personally require and assure you that you are receiving a stable and consistent amount of the vital substances the body needs to function. While supplementation is a useful tool to increase your intake of certain vitamins, minerals, or health-promoting compounds, keep in mind that they should not be used in place of a nutritious, well-rounded diet.
I hope you got valuable insights into supplements. However, before running out of the door to the next Health Store to buy a basket full of dietary supplements, please talk to your healthcare provider or get in touch with me or a Nutritional Therapist in your area. It is important to find out which dietary supplements are right for you and to determine the right dosage to fit your specific needs.
Thank you for reading.
