Why Take a Vitamin Supplement?

By Ronald Godlewski

One of the most common questions asked regarding supplements is: Why should I take a vitamin supplement? It turns out that the answer is pretty simple. After we reach a certain age, your regular diet of just eating foods will not necessarily provide you with the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes your body needs. Therefore, taking supplements helps to restore the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that you lose or consume on a daily basis. Restoring the nutrients keeps us healthy and provides a feeling of wellbeing.

Keeping healthy throughout life is nearly everyone's goal, although at times it seems a very difficult goal to achieve. Taking vitamin supplements help keep you strong and help to increase your immune system's ability to fight off sickness and disease. Without an adequate supply of vitamins people get sick more often and for longer periods of time.

Your body is continually trying to replenish the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes it uses each day. Vitamins enable your blood to stay clean; organs work right, digestion work correctly, and ultimately can keep you from taking that hospital trip!

Vitamins increase the strength of your immune system and assist in making sure your organs are functioning right. One might say that vitamins help keep your body from falling apart! For example, Vitamin D is used by your body for absorbing nutrients such as calcium from the foods you eat. Lacking Vitamin D limits your body from absorbing these nutrients, no matter how much you eat. Each vitamin has a different way of working in your body and many vitamins are essential for human life.

Have you hit that magic age of 35? There is a reason why many of us joke about ‘being over the hill.' You see, when a person hits about the age of 35, their body begins to slow down the production of hormones. This production slowdown affects estrogen in women and testosterone in men. At the same time, our bodies also slow down the production of other important nutrients. It's as if our body's manufacturing capacity went on strike – or at least a work slowdown!

Taking a vitamin supplement helps make up for the slowing production of these nutrients in the body. A vitamin supplement replaces those essential elements that were never produced by our bodies and replacing them becomes even more important as we grow older. Vitamins come in a variety of forms and each does something different but did you know they also work in conjunction with one another? This is one of the reasons why a balanced vitamin supplement is so important.

By taking vitamins you are enabling your body to function properly and to continue many of the normal activities experienced before hitting that magic age of 35. As we grow older we need vitamin supplements to stay strong and healthy. Without them, we gradually get sicker and for those who believe they eat right but are really undernourished, die before the age of 60.

Vitamin supplements can generally be taken in one of two forms, there is the pill form, and then there is the liquid form. Although both are proven to work, and both are able to replenish the missing vitamins that are needed by our bodies, liquid nutritional supplements are easily absorbed by the body while many pill supplements just pass through the digestive tract.

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Vitamins For Athletes

By John Caldecott

If you are an athlete, chances are that you have thought a lot about what vitamins and minerals are important for you to have during your life. Some of them are going to be more helpful than others, but certainly if you are in training for a sport you are going to want to do everything you can to not only give yourself the edge when it comes to competition, but to do everything in your power to keep your body healthy while you do so. Even though sports might be one of the most important things in your life, you don’t want to sacrifice your good health in order to compete. Luckily, there are several things that you can do when it comes to vitamins and minerals to make sure that you are able to keep your body strong and healthy while still doing your best at your sport.

One of the most important things to remember is that you should make sure you are eating a healthy diet, no matter what sport you are playing. This will insure that your body is getting the best chance to be completely healthy that you can give it. If you aren’t getting enough of a certain nutrient in your diet, it is a great idea to supplement it, because living a balanced life when it comes to vitamins and nutrients is one of the most important things when it comes to competing. Using vitamin supplements can be safe and effective if you follow your doctor’s recommendations.

One thing that you should remember when you are an athlete thinking about vitamins and minerals that you are putting into your body is that you should always remember that your immune system is going to be compromised while you are training. This means that the extra stress you are putting on your body to get it into shape for whatever sport you perform is going to cause you to be in a situation where you are much more prone to illnesses. Vitamin supplements can help prevent this. Having the right vitamins in the body helps your cells to become stronger and builds up the immune system to resist disease.

As an athlete, you should create a diet and supplemental intake plan around a system of getting a balance of all of the proper nutrients and vitamins as well as getting enough carbohydrates so that you can train without your immune system being compromised. Vitamins are also crucial in helping to build hormones, which can help you train longer, run faster, jump higher, and much more. Talk to a doctor today if you think vitamin supplements could help you stay healthy. http://articles-tazfm.blogspot.com/ http://www.awakentomoney.com

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Why Calcium Is Vital For Far More Than Just Strong Bones

By Stephen P Smith

It's well known that adequate calcium is essential for the maintenance of strong, healthy, bones and teeth, and indeed this is where around 99% of the approximately 1.2 kg stored in the average adult human body is to be found. But this is not in fact this vital mineral's most important function within the body, because calcium is also needed in the blood in very precise quantities to ensure that certain vital physiological processes can carry on unimpaired.

These include the constriction and dilation of blood vessels – essential for the body's internal temperature regulation, the transmission of nerve impulses, the release of energy for muscle contraction, the secretion of certain vital hormones such as insulin, and the clotting of the blood.

As evidence for the importance of these functions it is only necessary to observe that the body will strip the bones of calcium in order to maintain the necessary blood levels of the mineral should these be in danger of falling too low because of inadequate dietary intake. Since the bones, like all the body's structures, are in a constant state of regeneration and repair, the potential consequences if this deficiency is allowed to persist over time can be catastrophic.

In extreme cases, deficiency in children and adolescents may lead to the weakness and malformation characteristic of the disease, rickets. In adults, especially older adults, the most obvious consequence may be the loss of bone density known as osteoporosis - a major cause of the greatly increased incidence of the serious fractures which are such a significant risk factor for the health of the elderly.

But there are other problems which may be associated with low intakes of calcium.

There is good evidence to implicate low calcium intake as a risk factor for the development of high blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia) in those women who are susceptible to this potentially dangerous condition; and, interestingly, research has shown that supplementation with calcium to a daily intake of 1,000 – 1,200 mg a day may also be effective in reducing blood pressure in the general population. A number of studies have linked low levels of calcium with pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) and indicate that supplementation may help reduce the severity of these symptoms.

There is even now some evidence that low calcium intakes may tend to encourage the body to deposit more fat within existing fat cells. Although the relationship is not fully understood, it appears safe to say that a plentiful supply of dietary or supplemental calcium is essential for success in the pursuit of any weight loss program.

Given the importance of calcium in all these ways, it's alarming to note that average intakes for most people in the developed world are known to fall well short of the suggested level, and the figures are particularly serious for adolescents whose growing bones who have the greatest need. Perhaps as many as 75% of boys and 90% of girls in this age group may be calcium deficient.

Dairy products are by far the best sources of dietary calcium and an 8 oz serving of milk or yoghurt, or 1 ½ oz of cheese, will provide around 300 mg of calcium. Leafy green vegetables, with the exception of spinach, are also a useful source, although you would need 3 - 4 servings of, for example, broccoli or kale, to match the calcium obtained from a single standard glass of milk. It should also be realised that The consumption of diets high in protein and salt, ie those characteristic of the affluent Western world, is known to increase the excretion of calcium and consequently the risk of deficiency and associated problems with bone strength and health.

Owing to this, and a number of other possible variables affecting the individual's need for dietary calcium, the Food and Nutrition Board has set out figures for Adequate Intake (AI) of the mineral rather than the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) which it commonly prescribes for vitamins and other vital nutrients. Babies and infants should begin with an intake of around 200 mg per day, rising to 800 mg by the age of eight. Children of nine and over, young people whose bones are still growing, the over 50s, and pregnant or breast-feeding women, will have higher needs and should aim to consume 1,200 –1,300 mg of calcium a day.

To maintain the health and density of fully formed bones, adults between about 20 and 50 should aim to consume 1,000 mg of calcium daily, through a combination of diet and supplements. In all cases, combining this supplementation with at least 400 IU of vitamin D will greatly assist with the absorption of the necessary calcium.

Calcium supplements should also always be taken with food; the recommended upper safe limit for total calcium intake being 2,500 mg, below which there should be no problems. However, since high calcium intakes can adversely effect the absorption of other essential minerals, notably magnesium, zinc and iron, it is recommended that supplementary calcium should always be taken as part of a comprehensive multi-mineral supplement.

Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in direct marketing and with a particular interest in health products.
Find out more at http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/Information.htm

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Vitamin A - What Else Do You Know Besides It Helps Improve Your Vision?

By Kim Kia Tan

Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin. Its is essential for healthy eyes and vision; growth, including bones; healthy immune system, reproductive system; cells growth.

You can get vitamin A from these natural sources from food: liver, butter, whole milk, egg yolks, orange, yellow and dark green vegetables and fruits.

Deficiency Symptoms of Vitamin A

- night blindness

- xerophthalmia

- dry skin

- itchy skin

- retarded growth

- susceptible to infection

How Much Do I Need?

The recommended daily intake (RDI) for vitamin A ranges from 1500 - 2500 IU, depending on your gender and life stages.

Therapeutic of Vitamin A Supplements

- Treatment for eye problems

- Skin disorder such as psoriasis and acne

- Protect against infection

- Promote recovery of infection

- Protect against cancer

Cautions for Vitamin A Supplements

Vitamin A should not be taken together with Vitamin A derivative acne drugs or broad spectrum antibiotics.

Vitamin A Alternative

While excessive vitamin A might be harmful or toxic to your body, however its precursor, beta carotene is not.

Beta-carotene is readily to be converted into Vitamin A. It is found abundantly in many foods. Beta-carotene acts as an antioxidant and helps to protect against heart disease, cancer and eye damage.

Therapeutic of Beta Carotene Supplements

- prevent cancer

- prevent heart disease

- boost immune system

- improve mental function

Cautions for Beta Carotene Supplements

A large dosage of beta carotene increases the risk of cancer in those who drink alcohol and smoke heavily.

Symptoms of Excess Intake of Beta Carotene Supplements

It is safe to take vitamin A at high dosage. However when you get excess beta carotene into your body, some area of your skin become orange-yellow.

Women with long term excess intake of beta carotene may possibility have menstrual abnormalities.

Though there is no establishes Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for Beta-carotene, some experts recommend 10-30 mg a day.

You may get complete guide on [http://www.best-vitamin-supplements-guide.com/nutritional-supplement-guide.html ]vitamin, supplements and nutritional guide from the author's website.

Kim Kia Tan is an nutrition scholar and author of http://www.Best-Vitamin-Supplements-Guide.com who provides tips and advice how to prevent certain disease or cure symptoms with vitamin supplements and where to buy vitamin supplements online. Get a FREE copy of Guide to Vitamin and Supplements at Best Vitamin Supplement Express http://www.best-vitamin-supplements-guide.com/freebook page.

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