Nutrition is key to health. Provided the food we eat has the vitamins, minerals, oils and proteins we require this can be maintained through a balanced diet. However as the quality of the food we eat deteriorates this is getting harder and harder.
Where the body is already deficient in some nutrition good quality supplements may be necessary to rebuild and in some cases to maintain healthy levels.
The quality of supplementation is key as they must be in a form that the body can be used (bioavailable) and has the necessary cofactors (for example iron needs vitamin C to be absorbed) to enable them to be utilised.
Lots of cheaper supplements contain fillers to bulk out the capsule or tablet and this can not only be unhelpful but in some case detrimental.
Pro-biotics should have strains that are native to our small and large intestine and compatible with each other, flax oil should be unrefined and presented along with the phospholipids that naturally accompany the oil in nature, etc…. If a nutrient is presented to the body in the form it occurs in nature then it will enter the biological pathways that have evolved over eons to optimally uptake and use it beneficially.
People often think of vitamins and minerals in isolation, e.g. vitamin E is good for the skin, vitamin A is good for the eyes, calcium is good for the bones, omega oils are good for hormones and so on.
However no nutrient acts in isolation. Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients act in concert.
A common example is calcium. Most people know that calcium is important for healthy bones, and millions of people take a calcium supplement. However, there are some very important considerations.
Most calcium supplements come in the form of calcium carbonate. This is the same salt that furs up kettles and other kitchen appliances. Because calcium is used within the body to neutralise acid toxin, much of it ends up as a calcified salt around the body, including the joints and arteries. For this reason, the first and most important thing that you should know about calcium is not to use or prescribe calcium carbonate. If a person needs to supplement their calcium intake, this is best done using food-state calcium supplement. So many people are taking a daily calcium supplement, and yet little of this is reaching the intended destination, the bones. Other minerals play a very important role in how the body uses calcium and ensures that it arrives in the bone matrix. Vitamin D is required for the uptake of calcium over the gut wall. Magnesium is then required to chaperone calcium into the bone. The trace mineral boron is required to lay down calcium inside the bone matrix.
Contact Clare to find out more about how nutrition may be able to help you.