Pill pushers claim that vitamin and mineral supplements are necessary to guard your health, compensate for processed foods, enhance athletic abilities, and promote future "super health". However before we even look at the possibility of taking supplements, we first need to know exactly what vitamins and minerals are. That's what today's talk is all about. First I am going to talk about vitamins; discussing what they are, where they come from, their function, and then I will talk about a few individual vitamins that fall under the umbrella of two main types of vitamins. Then in the second part of today's discussion I am going to talk about minerals; what they are, where they come from, their function, and then I will talk about some interactions with minerals as well as about some individual minerals.
Vitamins, first discovered in the 1700s, are an essential organic substance that are needed in tiny amounts by the body to perform specific metabolic functions. There are thirteen legitimate vitamins, which can be obtained naturally from the foods we eat or synthetically from pills. However, the vitamins become more biologically available (we can absorb them much more) when they are combined in a food rather than in a supplement.
All of the vitamins, except one, can be found in the leaves and roots of plants. Vitamin B12, the exception, is only found in animals. The sources of vitamins is important to know because while the body can synthesize some vitamins on its own, it cannot synthesize the vitamins C, A, D, E, or K. All vitamins are absorbed in the small intestine through a carrier molecule into the bloodstream. B vitamins are unusual, however, in that when a certain threshold of the B vitamins are met, they are no longer absorbed.
Vitamins function as several different things. They are the essential links and regulators in metabolism, they help with tissue synthesis, and they help with other functions; such as vision, bone health, blood clotting, coenzymes, antioxidants, and more.
So what are the main vitamins we need and what do they do? There are two main classes of vitamins: fat soluble and water soluble. I would now like to talk about each class individually and about the vitamins they include.
Fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) are transported and stored in lipid tissue. While these vitamins must come from the diet because we cannot synthesize them in our bodies, we also want to be aware that daily ingestion is unnecessary because they are stored in the liver and fat cells for later use. Since fat soluble vitamins cannot leave the body, they can be toxic in excess. So lets talk about the fat soluble vitamins individually:
Vitamin A can be found in yellow-orange vegetables, orange fruits, and dark green leafy vegetables. They serve as antioxidants and have other health benefits as well. Deficiency in vitamin A can lead to night blindness. Excess of vitamin A, on the other hand, leads to headache, vomiting, anorexia, and swelling.
Vitamin D deficiency leads to rickets, a disease found in children. In adults, deficiency can cause osteomalcia, or softening of the bones. Excess of vitamin D can cause vomiting and diarrhea
Vitamin E has not been shown to have evidence of dietary deficiency in humans, although we believe that anemia may be associated with deficiency of vitamin E. In excess, vitamin E is also relatively non-toxic. Vitamin E has a powerful antioxidant effect that helps the body to rid of free radicals that are related to autoimmune disease and cancer!
Vitamin K is our clotting vitamin. At the appropriate levels, it helps our blood to clot on the outside of our skin to help stop bleeding. When deficient in vitamin K, people can experience severe bleeding. In excess, vitamin K is relatively non-toxic but it may be linked with jaundice.
In the second class of vitamins: water soluble vitamins, vitamins are transported by water into the body. These vitamins include vitamin C, the B-complex vitamins, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, vitamin B-6 and B-12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Folate. Since these vitamins are not stored in the body, excess amounts of the vitamins are simply eliminated through urine excretion. Finally, I want to talk about some of these vitamins individually:
The B vitamins act primarily as coenzymes and work at catalysts (making reactions happen). They create energy producing metabolic reaction! Since they produce a lot of energy reactions, it is better to take them throughout the day to help keep high energy all day, rather than having a single big intake one time per day.
Thiamine also functions as a coenzyme, but it helps in energy metabolism. Thiamine helps to synthesize neurotransmitters in the brain, keeping our brains working at a higher level! Thiamine can be cound in whole grains, pork, vegetables, and nuts.
Vitamin B-12 is needed for folate to function correctly in the DNA and red blood cell synthesis. It is also needed to maintain the myelin, or protective, sheath around nerves. These sheaths are not only for protection but they also aid in faster carrying of messages along nerves. Vitamin B-12 can be found only in animal foods: meats, liver, milk, eggs, etc. If you are deficient in vitamin B-12, you can result in metabolic anemia and nerve damage.
Finally, vitamin C increases absorption of iron, influences serum cholesterol, affects the immune system, affects synthesis of collagen, affects drug metabolism, protects DNA in sperm, and more. This vitamin is especially important to get from our diets and it can be found primarily in fruits!
While there are 13 vitamins our body needs, there are also 22 minerals we require in our system too! Some of these minerals are major minerals, which we need over 100 mg/day. Others are minor, which we need under 100 mg/day. The bioavailability of these minerals depends on other substances in our bodies: vitamins and fiber.
Minerals occur freely in nature and can be found in the root systems of plants, as well as the body structures of animals that consume these plants. The best sources of minerals for us are animal products! Minerals have two main functions: catabolism and anabolism (DEFINE)! As long as we consume animal and plant products with adequate minerals in them, supplements are really unnecessary.
Some exceptions do occur though, such is the case with iodine. Deficiency of iodine can cause swelling of the thyroid gland (known as goiter), causing hypothyroidism where the metabolism is lowered and often causing some mental retardation and even cretinism. 20% of the world population is at risk of being iodine deficient. While iodine can be found in some salts, like sea salts, iodized salts have actually gone through a cleaning process that leaves iodide in the salt, but not iodine. Make sure to use salts like sea salt that not only have iodine in them, but also other minerals!
Minerals depend on their interactions with other substances in order to be better absorbed into the body. When a mineral is consumed along with a vitamin, synergism occurs and absorption is improved. One example of this is with iron. When iron is consumed along with vitamin C (orange juice and an iron containing food for one meal), the absorption of iron is greatly improved. Fiber also interacts with vitamins. Too much fiber (too much meaning more than 35 grams daily) consumed at the same time as minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron actually decrease absorption of these minerals. Now that we know what minerals are and where they come from, I want to finish this discussion by talking about a few of them individually:
Dietary calcium is crucial because it helps to keep bone strength up and prevent osteoporosis. Osteoporosis occurs when the body is deficient in calcium and so the bones begin to give up their calcium in order to restore the deficit. Then, the bones become literally hollow! This leads to an increased risk in breaks and fractures. One way to help our bones incorporate more calcium into the bones is by putting stress on the bones through exercise (especially through weight training)!
Interestingly, the hormone estrogen is also linked to osteoporosis. Estrogen enhances calcium absorption, thus a decrease in estrogen (which happens when women go through menopause) no longer offers the protective effects for bones. During menopause, bone loss accelerates with the decrease of estrogen to between 1% and 3% each year. By age sixty, a woman can lose as much as 30% of her bone mass! Therefore, it is incredibly important for females to have as much calcium as possible!
The recommended daily allowance of calcium for the average adult (and especially women) is 1200 mg per day! Shockingly, about 30% of college-aged females consumed only 400 to 500 mg of calcium per day! This tells us that there is a huge need for more awareness of calcium in the diet and of the consequences. Calcium can be absorbed from mainly dairy products! The product is especially good if it also contains vitamin D in it because this increases calcium absorption into the bones. It is important to remember, however, that the quality of the products we consume from animals (i.e. Milk) greatly differs depending on how they were raised. In order to get the best quality of product, consume products that came from grass raised animals (organic products) rather than from corn fed animals. Not only are the two products different in their nutritional quality, they also have a big difference in taste!
A second important mineral to be educated on is sodium. While people have a very difficult time reaching the recommended dose of calcium (1200 mg/day), people far surpass the recommended amounts of sodium (1100-3300 mg/day is the RDA, but we only need 500 mg/day) every day. On average, a person in the U.S. consumes between 3000 and 7000 mg of sodium per day!
With the danger of sodium induced hypertension from excess consumption of sodium, this is a very big deal! In both the U.S. and Japan (think soy sauce), the occurrence of about 1 out of every 3 individuals with hypertension comes from too high of an intake of sodium. With hypertension risks rising more and more everyday, it is important to move to reduce salt intake for all people. Pepper is always a better substitute for salt. If you still want to buy and use salt, try getting the more pure kinds like sea salt. We do not want to cut sodium out of our diets completely though, especially if you are an athlete. Since sweating and urine secrete salt, things like our drinks should still have some sodium in it. When levels of sodium are too low, muscle cramps will occur. The best combat for this, however, is a banana!
A final mineral that I want to talk about today is iron. Iron is an important component of the storage and transport of oxygen within muscle cells. It is recommended that women consume about 15 mg of iron per day and that men consume about 12 mg/day. When the body is deficient of iron, we have low energy and loss of appetite.
Women again mainly suffer from inadequate iron intake. In fact, 30-50% of females are iron insufficient! In today's Western diet, every 1000 calories of food intake only provides about 6mg of iron! So, if a female were to consume 1700 calories daily, she would only be getting about 10.2 mg of iron a day, keeping her iron deficient!
Anemia, or iron deficiency, can also occur in athletes at the beginning of training. In order to prevent this, athletes would be wise to increase iron consumption when starting out a new training program. With the risk of iron deficiency being so great, it is important to be aware of the sources of iron and how much is absorbed from each: from vegetable sources, we absorb about 2-20% of the iron, and from animal sources we absorb about 10-35% of the iron.
Vitamins and minerals are very important for our health. It is important to know the different types of vitamins and the difference in how they are absorbed, as well as the risks that occurs with the deficiency in many of our minerals and the sources where we can find them in hopes of reaching our daily values. Try evaluating the foods that you are eating and see if there are any areas for your intake of vitamins or minerals to improve today!
Today's Workout: Today I got back in the pool for my Thursday swim workout. Here's the swim workout for today!
Complete the following set of four 50s six times.
50 swim freestyle
50 pull freestyle
50 kick freestyle
50 swim freestyle
Total Yards/Meters: 1200
Today's Food Tip: Today I had the most wonderful snack salad in the Life Café (the café in Lifetime, where I work) called a Spinach and Bean Salad. I want to share with you the ingredients needed to make this healthy and delicious salad.
Spinach and Bean Salad: Mix together spinach leaves, garbanzo beans, roasted red peppers, chopped up tomatoes, and topped with feta cheese! Put this into small containers and enjoy as a healthy snack!
Today's Relaxation Activity: To relax yourself today after that hard workout, have one of your relatives or close friends/boyfriend give you a small back and neck rub. It will feel great on your sore muscles and relax your body, getting it ready for resting. BUT don't forget to return the favor!
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