Vitamins and minerals are vital nutrients your body requires in small amounts in order to function optimally, and most can be obtained through eating a nutritious diet.
Supplements are food products containing concentrated sources of nutrition. FDA regulates these products under its food laws, inspecting dietary supplement manufacturing establishments, monitoring marketplace sales and reviewing new dietary ingredients or regulatory submissions as well as investigating complaints and analyzing adverse events.
Vitamins
Vitamins serve countless essential functions, from strengthening bones to improving immunity systems and turning food into energy. There are 13 recognized forms of vitamins (A through E).
Diet is the primary source of vitamins for most individuals, but certain individuals may benefit from fortified foods or nutritional supplements in order to meet their dietary requirements. Pregnant women in particular require extra folic acid, Vitamin D and omega 3 fatty acids in their diet.
Supplements may help address deficiencies caused by chronic illness, medication use or lifestyle factors. Look for multivitamins that contain ingredients verified for strength, quality and purity while avoiding products with added herbs, enzymes or amino acids as these could contain additional risks.
Minerals
Minerals are inorganic substances found naturally in our diet and play an integral part of many physiological functions. Most of us get our minerals through dairy products, nuts and leafy green vegetables.
Minerals must meet certain criteria to qualify as minerals; these include being solid at room temperature with an ordered chemical composition and ordered crystalline structure; water does not qualify due to being liquid.
Macrominerals are essential elements needed in large quantities, including sodium, calcium, chlorine, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. Our bodies also require trace elements like copper, selenium, iron zinc chromium to sustain structural functions like bone and tooth formation; regulatory functions like neuromuscular transmission; blood clotting regulation as well as metabolic activities like energy production and DNA synthesis. These minerals play key roles in health.
Proteins
Proteins play an essential role in body functions such as cell growth and repair. Our bodies’ proteins consist of amino acids derived from food sources; five essential amino acids must be obtained via diet.
Protein quality refers to the ability of food-based proteins to provide our bodies with all of the amino acid building blocks essential for protein synthesis and other biologically relevant processes. It depends on their essential amino acid profile as well as digestibility or availability for consumption.
When we consume protein, hydrochloric acid from our stomach denatures it, while pepsin and trypsin digestion enzymes break it down further into dipeptide chains and amino acids which are then absorbed by our intestines and ultimately into our bloodstreams.
Essential Fatty Acids
Fatty acids are an integral component of human diet and are well known for their role in supporting organ health. There are two essential fatty acid families – omega-3 (o-3) and omega-6 (o-6) – that humans require for survival; neither one can be produced naturally by our bodies so must come through diet alone.
O-3 and o-6 fatty acids play an integral role in cell membranes and phospholipids, and can also be converted to hormones known as eicosanoids that regulate blood pressure, immunity function and inflammation.
Numerous tests exist to measure blood fatty acid concentration, with capillary gas chromatography being one of the most popular choices. This technique can detect abnormalities in certain concentrations weeks or months prior to clinical symptoms manifesting themselves.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants protect our bodies against damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals, produced in normal chemical reactions of our bodies but which may accumulate, leading to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or cancer as a result.
Your body naturally produces antioxidants, but you can also get them through foods such as fruits and vegetables as well as vitamin supplements. The most prominent antioxidants include Vitamin C, E, Lycopene and Carotenoids which can be found in vegetables with bright red, orange or yellow hues such as carrots, sweet potatoes and squash as well as in leafy green vegetables like spinach, kale and artichokes.
Legumes, including small red beans and pinto beans, are rich sources of antioxidants. Spices and herbs also contain quercetin, kaempferol and curcumin to provide additional protection.
