Do you need Vitamin and Mineral Supplements?

8 Items on Your Checklist to Evaluate

Vitamins and minerals have different roles in our bodies. A proper mixed of them must be consumed trough our diet. However, there might be some factors in our daily routines contributing to block and receive the amount we requiere. Therefore, promoting the need to consume vitamin and mineral supplements. Are you experimenting one or more of the following?

Poor digestion

Even when food intake is adequate, inefficient digestion can limit your body’s uptake of vitamins. Some common causes of inefficient digestion are not chewing well enough and eating too fast. Both of these result in larger than normal food particle size, too large to allow complete action of digestive enzymes. Many people with dentures are unable to chew as efficiently as those with a full set of original teeth.

Hot coffee, tea, and spices

Habitual drinking of liquids that are too hot and consuming an excess of irritants such as coffee, tea, pickles and spices can cause inflammation of digestives linings, resulting in a drop in secretion of digestive fluids and poorer extraction of vitamins and minerals from food.

Alcohol

Drinking too much alcohol can damage the liver and pancreas, which are vital to digestion and metabolism. It can also damage the lining of the intestinal tract and adversely affect the absorption of nutrients, leading to sub-clinical malnutrition. Regular use of alcohol increases the body’s need for B-group vitamins, particularly thiamine, niacin, pyridoxine, folic acid, vitamins B12, A and C as well as the mineral zinc, magnesium and calcium. Alcohol affects availability, absorption and metabolism of nutrients.

Smoking

Smoking is also an irritant to the digestive tract and increases the metabolic requirements of vitamin C, all else being equal, by at least 30 mg per cigarette over and above the requirements of a nonsmoker. Vitamin C, which is normally present in such foods as cabbage, onions, oranges and grapefruit, oxides rapidly once these fruits are cut, juiced, cooked or stored in direct to light or near heat. Vitamin C is important to the immune function.

Laxatives

Overuse of laxatives can result in poor absorption of vitamins and minerals from food, by hastening the intestinal transit time. Paraffin and other mineral oils increase losses of fat-soluble vitamins A, E and K. Other laxatives used to excessively can cause large losses of minerals such as potassium, sodium and magnesium.

Fad diets

Discarding whole groups of foods can cause a serious lack in vitamin intake. Popular low-fat diets, if taken to an extreme, can be deficient in vitamins A, D and E. Vegetarian diets, which exclude meat and other animal sources, must be very skillfully planned to avoid vitamin B12 deficiency, which may lead to anemia.

Overcooking

Lengthy cooking or reheating meat and vegetables oxidizes and destroys heat-susceptible vitamins such as the B-group, C and E. Boiling vegetables removes water-soluble vitamins, such as B-group, C and many minerals. Light steaming is preferable. Some vitamins, such as vitamin B6, can be destroyed by microwave irradiation.

Food processing

Freezing food containing vitamin E can significantly reduce its levels once defrosted. Foods containing vitamin E exposed to heat and air can turn rancid. Manny common sources of vitamin E, such as bread and oils are highly processed, so that the vitamin E content is significantly reduced or missing, which increases storage life but can lower nutrients levels. Vitamin E is an antioxidant, which defensively inhibits oxidate damage to all tissues. Other vitamin losses from food processing include vitamins B1 and C.

Orthopedic Corner | Leon Mead MD Orthopedic Doctor | 730 Goodlette Road North, Suite 201  Naples Florida 34102 | Phone: (239) 262-1119