WHY “SUPPLEMENTS”?
Arguably, the next thing to being alive is living a life of wellness. A life that enjoys bodily vitality and fitness; several wealthy people who were sick at a point in their lives had mentioned that they were willing to sacrifice all they had to get their health back. This goes to validate the popular maxim “health is wealth”. In our pursuit of bodily wellness, the nutrients we supply our body go a long way to either preserve our health or leave us exposed to disease-causing substances and organisms.
However, this leaves us with a question. Does our conventional food supply us with all the nutrients our body needs in the right quantities? You may want to find out and perhaps discover how that supplements may be the elixir we’ve all been seeking to a life of wellness.
What are supplements?
From the name, they are products made to supplement one’s diet. They could be tablets, pills, capsules, syrup, or powder.¹ If you recall elementary science, we were taught that healthy nutrition consists of carbohydrates, proteins, fatty acids, minerals, and fiber in their right proportion. Conventionally, we get these nutrients into our body through food which means that we would solely rely on the food we eat to provide these nutrients in the right proportion. However, with centuries of land exploitation through overfarming alongside other environmental disturbances, there isn’t enough transfer of soil nutrients to crop plants in appropriate amounts.
Imagine a beautiful bridge covering the gap between your body’s nutrient requirement and nutrient inadequacy in our foods due to depleted soil nutrients. We can conveniently call this bridge “supplements”! Supplements are vital to our health in many ways. I cannot wait to show you. The definition given by The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act seems to give an encompassing answer. It defines dietary supplements as any product apart from tobacco that is meant to supplement a diet that contains one or more of the following: minerals, vitamins, an herb, or an amino acid. It is a substance used to increase total dietary intake by supplementing a diet.²
Factors that may affect nutrition delivery of supplements
The effectiveness of any supplement depends on how much of it was absorbed by the body. Some minerals need to be chelated to avoid absorption conflict when taken with other minerals. For instance, if you take magnesium and selenium supplements, your body’s uptake of copper minerals will be inhibited. However, calcium supplements rather reduced copper losses.³ That said, we may like to know when it is best to take supplements. Vitamins are best taken in the morning or during daylight while minerals are better absorbed overnight.
What types of supplements are there?
Supplements are administered in several ways, each peculiar one having its unique purpose.
Those absorbed through the skin: This may sound interestingly strange and I understand why. When supplements are mentioned what comes to mind are pills, powders, capsules, or other forms of extracted food substances that have to be ingested. Aside from that, the skin is quite rigid in permeability such that the chemicals from our body lotions do not end up in our bloodstream. However, certain supplements can be passed from the skin into the bloodstream by making their molecules very small and dissolving them in fatty oils. In cases where these aren’t effective, sterile needles can be used to poke holes in the skin before supplements are introduced.⁴ We will not forget our old friend Vitamin D which is hardly ever required as an essential supplement because our skin mobilizes it on its own when it comes under sunlight.
Those absorbed through the nose: the human nose has proven to be a potential route for the administration of drugs and supplements. It has a large surface area for quick delivery of substances into the bloodstream; it doesn’t involve the first-pass metabolism and in most cases secures your comfort.⁵ For instance, vitamin B12 which is required by our body for optimum red blood cell production and nervous system function⁶ most recently are being administered through the nose.⁷
Those inhaled: this is not anything like a cigarette! It is vaporized vitamins or essential oil-containing supplements. Although it was used as a therapy for people addicted to tobacco smoking, it is now being considered as a health-improving activity. A company producing vaporized vitamins claims that its vaporizer holds 10 times more Vitamin B-12 than you could obtain in a regular shot.⁸
Those digested: this is the most popular form of supplement intake where they are swallowed or eaten as you would do your food. They could be packaged as pills, capsules, or any ingestible material.
What do we need supplements for?
The hazard of nutritional deficiency is telling on many people, sadly, they are looking the wrong way for solutions. A research proved that poor or inadequate nutrition is one primary cause of the global sick rate.⁹ 5 out of 10 adults in the United States are suffering from chronic diseases that could have been prevented by healthier dietary patterns.¹⁰ This shows us how important food and feeding are to our health and the quality of life we live.
When we talk about food, we cannot take our eyes from its source; the soil. For food to give us adequate nutrients for our wellbeing, the soil has to hold enough nutrients for the crop plants to take up. However, as reported by Peter et al., due to intense, mismanaged farming, soil nutrients, are becoming short of supply. Soil Nitrogen has reduced by 42%, sulfur by 33%, and phosphorus by 27%.¹¹ These reductions in soil nutrients affect the number of nutrients in our foods sometimes to levels below optimum to sustain good health. It will amaze you to know that even our favorite veggies no longer contain adequate quantities of magnesium; the magnesium content dropped by 25% in wheat and veggies in recent years.¹² The ultimate result of the depletion of soil nutrients is that our food will not provide adequate nutrition for us. This comes with a lot of health hazards you may want to avoid. They include:
- Recurring illness due to weakened immunity
- Delayed recovery from broken skin or open wounds
- Fatigue
- Leanness
- Difficulty in swallowing
- Night blindness and/or impaired vision
- Loss of appetite
There are also diseases one can suffer from due to nutritional deficiency.
Diseases associated with nutritional deficiency
Other than the hazards of nutritional deficiency you have learned in this article, some diseases are not caused by infectious organisms rather are caused by the shortage in the supply of certain nutrients.
- Rickets is caused by the deficiency of Vitamin D. Its signs include weak bones and bowed legs.
- Beriberi is caused by the inadequacy of thiamin and it is characterized by cardiovascular disturbances, imbalance in muscle coordination, and nerve degeneration
- Anemia from iron deficiency, from its name, is caused by the inadequacy of iron in the body. It is a fatal health risk for pregnant women and it may cause retarded growth.
- Scurvy is caused by the inadequacy of Vitamin C. Symptoms include internal bleeding, delayed healing of open wounds, dysfunctional growth in bones and teeth.
- Goiter appears with a swollen neck. It is caused by the deficiency of iodine. Aside from the swollen neck caused by the excessive growth of the thyroid gland, it may cause mental retardation in children.
- Marasmus is caused by the inadequacy of calories for body use. It is prevalent in children. They lose all subcutaneous fat and appear extremely skinny. They are prone to diseases and are too weak to walk.
With these and several diseases associated with nutritional deficiency, we may want to borrow a leaf from the book of the Hunza people. Even at old age, they are free from diseases and full of vitality, this can be traced to their diet.¹³
What are the benefits of nutritional balance?
You have read the negative effects of poor nutrition; we however also have to talk about the advantage of having nutritional balance! The first thing that comes to mind is health. Researchers prove that the role of nutrition in science and preventive medicine has already been demonstrated in practice and in several articles.¹⁴ With balanced nutrition, you have higher chances of living longer, lower your propensity to have heart diseases or some types of cancers. You would have stronger bones, which helps you maintain a healthy weight, boosts your immunity, and keeps your organs functioning optimally.
However, with the dwindling amount of nutrients in our conventional foods owing to depleted soil nutrients from continuous land use, we have no other choice than to rely on supplements to meet with the nutritional inadequacies. To counter the pace of aging and keep your organs detoxified, you need YouthPM and YouthPLUS supplements. They are made from natural plants, combining the secret power plants that have kept the Hunza people as the world’s healthiest and happiest people and an awareness of what your body needs, these supplements are a must-have for anyone who desires a life of health continuously. Age reversal simply means a higher cell regeneration rate than cellular damage. Nutritions delivered in our YouthLINE, are designed to do just that; boosting the body’s natural heal way from the benefits of restorative sleep to the body renewing itself while flushing out unhealthy cells.
Final thought
In my book Lead A Horse To Water I talked about the importance of nutrition and how it improves our overall wellness. You may want to explore the proven facts in the pages and have ways to live a continuously healthy life. Holistic Live Younger is a place where we believe that you can enjoy health, mental tranquility and enjoy the fulfilling life you deserve.
Bibliography
- “Dietary Supplements: Background Information”. Office of Dietary Supplements, US National Institutes of Health. 24 June 2011.
- Office of the Inspector General (2003). “Dietary Supplement Labels: Key Elements” (PDF). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Kies C, Harms JM. (1989). Copper absorption is affected by supplemental calcium, magnesium, manganese, selenium, and potassium. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1989;258:45-58. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-0537-8_4.
- Monica Reinagel (2020). “Can You Absorb Nutrients Through Your Skin?” www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/trends-fads/can-you-absorb-nutrients-through-your-skin?utm_source=sciam&utm_campaign=sciam
- Constantino HR, Illum L, Brandt G, Johnson PH, Quay SC. “Intranasal delivery: physicochemical and therapeutic aspects.” Int J Pharm. 2007:337:1-24. doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2007.03.025
- Yun JM, Singh S, Jialal R, Rockwood J, Jialal I, Devaraj S. “A randomized placebo-controlled crossover trial of aloe vera on the bioavailability of vitamin C and B(12), blood glucose, and lipid profile in healthy human subjects. J Diet Suppl. 2010;7:145-153. doi.10.3109/19390211003781693.
- Andrès E, Vidal-Alaball J, Federici L, Loukili NH, Zimmer J, Kaltenbach G. “Clinical aspects of cobalamin deficiency in elderly patients. Epidemiology, causes, clinical manifestations, and treatment with special focus on oral cobalamin therapy. Eur J Intern Med. 2007; 18:456-462. doi.10.1016/j.ejim.2007.02.013.
- Shawn Radcliffe. “You can Vape ‘Vitamins’ Now, But Experts Are Skeptical.” https://www.healthline.com/health-news/vitamin-vaping-isnt-advised
- Ng M, Fleming T, Robinson M, Thomson B, Graetz N, Margono C, et al., Global, the regional and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013: a systematic analysis for Global Burden of Disease Study, 2013. Lancet. 2014;384(9945):766-81.
- Ward BW, Schiller JS, Goodman RA. “Multiple chronic conditions among US adults: a 2012 update. Prev Chronic Dis. 2014;11:E62.
- Peter MK, Ram CD, Damien F, Neal WM. (2017). Global changes in soil stocks of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur are influenced by long-term agricultural production. Glob Chang Biol. 2017. 2017 Jun;23(6):2509-2519. doDOI10.1111/gcb.13513.
- Andrea Rosanoff (2012). Changing crop magnesium concentrations: impact on health. Plant and Soil 368, 139-1533(2013).
- Sakr, N. (2021). Lead A Horse To Water. pp. 36&37
- Sutton K, Clark S E, Thompson J, Craypo L, Schwarte L, Kuo T (2019). Contextual assessment of the breadth and level of investments made by prevention initiatives to improve nutrition and prevent obesity in Los Angeles Country, 2010-2015, Preventive Medicine Reports.15:1-7.