Vitamins and minerals are vital nutrients, providing your bones, muscles, heart, and brain with all of the nourishment they require for good health. Common minerals include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium chloride chloride iron zinc.
Vitamin and mineral supplements are popular among US citizens, with multivitamin/mineral (MVM) sales topping $11 billion per year. Unfortunately, large randomized trials or cohort studies have not demonstrated that MVMs reduce cancer or CVD risks.
Calcium
Calcium has long been recognized for its benefits to bone health, but it also plays a critical role in other areas. Calcium helps teeth and bones grow and develop properly while attenuating postmenopausal bone loss. Furthermore, calcium also aids in blood clotting as well as helping nerves send messages between muscles and heart.
Calcium is widely available* in food sources like dairy products, leafy greens, nuts and beans. Multivitamin/mineral supplements also contain calcium; when selecting one make sure the label indicates “purified” or the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) symbol to ensure you only consume elemental calcium.
Higher dose calcium supplements could increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in some adults, so always consult your healthcare provider prior to beginning any new supplements.
Magnesium
Magnesium plays an essential role in many body functions, from bone health (in combination with calcium), to controlling blood pressure and managing glucose. Furthermore, magnesium plays a significant part in muscles, brain and heart functions.
Studies indicate that magnesium may help protect bone loss and lower the risk of osteoporosis. Furthermore, magnesium has also been shown to enhance sleep quality by encouraging neurotransmitter production as well as reduce headaches among chronic migraine sufferers.
Most individuals obtain enough magnesium through diet; however, eating highly processed food may reduce levels. Long-term use of certain prescription medicines (antacids and diuretics) may interfere with absorption. People living with diabetes should carefully monitor both blood sugar and blood pressure when taking magnesium supplements.
Copper
Copper is an essential mineral, essential to body enzyme functions and protein formation. It assists with energy production, bone health maintenance, immune support and protein formation – as well as treating certain forms of anemia that don’t respond to iron treatments. Furthermore, copper strengthens blood vessels while stimulating new vessel growth.
Individuals can get enough copper from eating healthily, though if this is not possible or they take high doses of zinc supplements they should consider taking an additional source to avoid deficiency.
Copper can be found in various foods and supplements such as beef liver, nuts, seeds, oysters and shellfish; dark leafy vegetables; cocoa; black pepper; tomatoes. Before taking any mineral-containing supplements it is advisable to consult a healthcare professional first.
Iodine
Iodine is an essential nutrient essential to thyroid and brain development. Studies have revealed that children whose mothers don’t receive enough iodine during gestation tend to have lower IQ scores compared to their peers [2].
Iodine is essential for healthy thyroid gland functioning and infant and young child development. You can obtain it through food such as dairy products, seafood and iodized table salt.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding make iodine intake even more crucial, since a lack of it is one of the primary causes of goiter, an enlarged thyroid gland, as well as hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone levels). Prenatal vitamins and iodized table salt both contain some form of iodine; additionally you could supplement with kelp or potassium iodide supplements for optimum levels.
Selenium
Selenium can be found naturally in certain foods and supplements; it’s also available as part of multivitamin/mineral blends and anti-dandruff shampoos. Before taking selenium supplements, however, it is wise to consult your healthcare provider first in order to avoid too much selenium consumption that may lead to toxic effects like selenosis [20].
Deficient levels of selenium in soil may contribute to Keshan disease, an endemic cardiomyopathy found in regions with low selenium soil levels [21], though evidence for its link to heart attacks remains conflicted [22,23]. Furthermore, observational studies have demonstrated that those consuming higher quantities of selenium tend to have a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease [24-25].
Selenium can support glutathione peroxidase activity and decrease oxidative stress, among other advantages, which may contribute to asthma relief. Furthermore, selenium may help relieve its symptoms as well.
