Introduction
In our fast-paced world, we are all busy with rushing from one commitment to another – whether for work, social activities, or even household errands – we tend to take our diet for granted. This is evidenced in the food we consume and the nutrition we allow our body to absorb. Most people nowadays prefer to just squeeze in a quick meal somewhere in between the myriad of tasks and errands needing to be done before the day ends.
Oftentimes, these instant meals come from fast-food places or meals with artificial flavorings where the nutritional value is not the top consideration. Worse, health is sacrificed in the end. While we get to satisfy our hunger, we are inclined to forget that we also need to ensure that our bodies are nourished properly with the right number of vitamins and minerals in order to stay healthy, energized and for our systems to function well.
However, even if we eat the proper food and pay close attention to our diet, it is most likely that we will still not be able to eat and absorb the Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) of minerals and vitamins in a day. One of the prevailing reasons for this is the modern-day style of agriculture and food processing. As such, you will need to consume a huge amount of food and a variety of exercises to keep a healthy and balanced body. However, through mineral and vitamin supplements, you can get ahead of this and stay in the picture of health.
Is there a difference between vitamins and minerals?
Both vitamins and minerals are nutritional elements that are important for our bodily functions to stay healthy, fit and to function normally. However, they have different biological functions, chemical compositions and nutritional value.
The primary difference between vitamin and minerals is that all vitamins are important to the body but not all minerals are essential. We can get vitamins from all types of foods most especially in fruits and vegetables, which is why it is advisable to include vegetables in our meals in addition to fruits.
Minerals, on the other hand, are found in soil and water and is easily obtained when we include fish, meat, dark leafy vegetables, dairy products and drinks into our diet plans.
Vitamins are destructible, as they can be destroyed easily when exposed to heat. This is why it is crucial to take extra care in handling food products during cooking or when storing them since there is a greater chance of losing their nutritional value when they come in contact with heat.
Minerals, on the other hand, are indestructible. They’re stable in sunlight, heat and chemical reactions. They will not lose the nutritional value easily when cooked or stored.
What are Vitamins?
A vitamin is an organic compound obtained from plants and animals. Vitamins are important for the body to function properly and is present in small amounts in natural food. They support the body’s normal physiological function like growth and reproduction. The human body is not able to produce all the vitamins that it requires on a regular basis.
There are two types of vitamins that our bodies need: the fat-soluble vitamins and water-soluble vitamins. These types only refer to how the vitamins are best dissolved, absorbed, stored and eventually removed from the body. Fat-soluble vitamins are dissolved by lipids like natural oils and fatty acids. Water-soluble vitamins, on the other hand, are dissolved by water.
Fat-soluble vitamins are passively absorbed in the lymph, with dietary fats transporting it in the blood all throughout the body. They are usually found in cell portions that contain fat and are stored in our fatty tissues or in the liver, ready to be used by the body when needed. It is necessary to eat enough dietary fat in order to absorb these vitamins, otherwise, a vitamin deficiency due to a low-fat diet may be experienced.
Water-soluble vitamins can be absorbed both passively and actively. They are transported by molecular carriers in the body. Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, unlike the fat-soluble ones, but instead, they get broken down and excreted in urine and feces.
All vitamins, both the fat-soluble ones and the water-soluble ones, are easily destroyed being especially vulnerable to heat, light and chemicals. It’s for this reason that it is important that when one is preparing, cooking, preserving and storing food, the methods are carefully considered in order to preserve as much of the vitamin in the food as possible.
Vitamins act to release the energy we get from the food we eat. They work to develop our red blood cells and help in blood clotting. Vitamins also keep our hair, eye, and skin healthy. More importantly, vitamins have the ability to help prevent and treat a variety of diseases like high cholesterol levels and heart problems.
Examples of vitamin destruction:
- Microwaving Food
- Processing- processing leaves only half percent of the vitamin value
- Undergoing radiation
Vitamin deficiency
Vitamin deficiency is called Avitaminosis and diagnosing it is difficult, hence a consultation with a health professional is recommended when there are concerns about the adequacy of your vitamin intake.
The symptoms of Avitaminosis can often be also associated with other health problems making it necessary that the diagnosis is done by a professional to avoid a serious mistake. Some symptoms that present themselves are bleeding, night blindness, anemia, rickets (Vitamin D deficiency), beriberi (B1 thiamine deficiency), and pellagra (B3 deficiency). Since these symptoms can be generic in nature, avitaminosis can easily be misdiagnosed.
However, once properly diagnosed and identified, treatment is pretty simple.The primary treatment will be to supplement the lacking vitamin through a well-balanced diet where proper food intake is given. Diet changes and taking specialized supplements is also recommended.
Examples of Vitamin Deficiency:
| Vitamin Deficiency | Disease |
| Vitamin D (calciferol) | Rickets |
| Vitamin E (tocopherols) | anemia |
| Vitamin K (phylloquinone) | Very rare |
Vitamin Overdose
Although there is a need to supplement our diet with vitamins, it is crucial that you do not overdo it and take an excess amount. Overloading on vitamins can put your health at risk instead of helping your body to function properly. Consuming excess vitamins above the recommended daily intake is dangerous and may result in symptoms of toxicity.
Overdosing symptoms may include diarrhea, more frequent urination, rapid or irregular heartbeat, joint pain, confusion, hair loss, muscle pain, bone pain, rash and dry skin, convulsions, fainting, fatigue, vomiting, nausea, and even irritability. The symptoms you may experience will vary depending on which of the vitamins you have in an excess amount. Although, an overdose of vitamins may not be something that should cause for an immediate worry and alarm. Simply reducing or discontinuing the vitamin intake may resolve the issue and will get rid of the symptoms you are experiencing.
Generally, though, the risk of overdosing vitamin is low. The struggle is with the deficiency and insufficient vitamin intake, but sometimes, in our interest to correct our deficiency, we may not notice that we are overcompensating. It is, therefore, highly recommended to take note of your vitamin intake and seek medical advice from a healthcare professional to ensure that you are safely addressing your vitamin concerns.
What are Minerals?
Minerals are inorganic chemical elements that are obtained from soil and water. Minerals are necessary for our body to carry out daily processes and functions. They create hormones, enzymes, skeletal bones and tissues within the different parts of the body.
Minerals perform a variety of different functions in our body to help with growth, development, overall general health, and optimum performance. The body uses minerals to assist in giving strength and density to our bones, in keeping our teeth healthy and strong, in coagulating blood, and in transmitting nerve impulses to aid in muscle contraction.
Minerals are not naturally produced by the body, so you will need to consume them on a regular basis as part of your food intake and diet plan. They are not vulnerable and are stable to heat, sunlight or chemical reactions during food preparation but have a greater tendency to get lost when they bind to the other substances that are in food.
Minerals are classified into two groups: macro minerals and micro minerals which are also called as trace minerals.
Macro minerals are the minerals your body needs in large amounts. This would be more than 100 milligrams per day. Minerals that are included in the macro-mineral group are calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur.
EXAMPLE OF MACRO MINERAL DEFICIENCY:
- Stress
- Depression
- Emotional disturbances
- Insomnia
- Loss of memory
- Coma
Micro-minerals are also called Trace Minerals. These minerals are needed in the body but require only smaller quantity intake. Generally, our bodies will need only a few milligrams or micrograms of a trace mineral per day. Some of the minerals under this group are iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride and selenium.
Mineral Deficiency
Oftentimes, we tend to overlook our body’s need for sufficient mineral supply that leads to mineral deficiency. Thus, making the body unable to function properly.
Mineral deficiency can lead to different health problems:
- Irregular heartbeat
- Abdominal pain
- Constipation
- Bloating
- Loss of appetite
- Muscle cramps
- Vomiting and nausea
- Weak bones
- getting tired easily
- Numbness in the extremities
- Weak immune system
A healthcare professional will help determine if a mineral deficiency is present, by conducting a physical exam and recommending routine blood tests like complete blood count (CBC) and measuring electrolytes (minerals) in your blood. Once diagnosed, treatment can be started. A change in diet may be recommended, where there is a need to incorporate food that provides the necessary minerals. Supplements may also be required as there are certain mineral deficiencies that cannot be treated by a well-balanced diet alone. In severe mineral deficiency cases, minerals can be administered intravenously at the hospital.
Mineral Overdose
There are Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) for mineral intake, and these recommendations provide generous allowances to prevent a potential overdose of any mineral nutrients. However, similar to vitamins, overloading of minerals will always have harmful effects on the body.
Large doses above the recommended daily intake will cause health issues. Though symptoms will be different because it depends on the mineral that is taken in excess.
Some examples of symptoms when excessive minerals are absorbed by the body:
- Calcium – excess may cause constipation, nausea, bloating, intestinal gas and in extremely high dosages, kidney damage.
- Magnesium – an overload may result in difficulty in breathing, weak muscles, irregular heartbeat which can lead to cardiac arrest.
- Iron – an overdose of iron can cause death, especially for young children.
- Zinc – high dosages of zinc will cause vomiting, gastric discomfort, and will interfere with the immune system.
- Iodine – an excess may cause goiters, since thyroid glands are stimulated to produce more thyroid hormones.
- Selenium – an excess of this mineral makes your nails fragile and can cause body odors.
- Fluoride – Ingesting too much fluoride causes brittle bones, fatigue and brown patches to appear in your teeth.
Similar to a vitamin overdose, it is hard to overload minerals from food and supplements. However, it is always advisable to regularly check your food intake and diet plan. Make sure to read the labels on your supplements to ensure that you avoid exceeding the recommended daily allowances. Seeking advice from a healthcare professional is always recommended to ensure safety.
What are Trace Minerals?
There are many different amounts of minerals that are required for our body. On a daily basis, our body will need some minerals in huge amounts – these are called macro-minerals; while on the other hand some minerals are advice to take only in small amounts and these are called microminerals or “trace minerals”.
Trace minerals are inorganic compounds that cannot be destroyed by cooking or heating, so you can actually get them from following a specifically designed dietary plan. However, as mentioned before, you will need to consume a large amount of food before you can meet the recommended daily amount for each of the trace minerals and make you bloat without even getting the proper amount of it.
Trace minerals are the ones that help our body perform its regulatory and structural functions like nerve transmission and hormone production. The amount needed by our body is less than 20 milligrams per day, but our body only has 5 grams or less of the mineral stored. It is therefore recommended and necessary to take vitamin supplements to augment the lack of trace mineral.
Importance of Trace Minerals
Trace minerals, even though they only make up a small fraction of our total body weight, are crucial to the proper and normal body functions.
Trace minerals work in many different functions like the regulation of the thyroid, blood clotting, forming of body tissues, enzyme function, absorption of glucose, oxygen transportation in the red blood cells, detoxification, improving bone health, normalizing the nervous system, promoting the growth and repair of tissues, and many more health-related functions.
Trace minerals are helpful in improving concentration, increasing energy levels, helps in mental clarity, improving a sense of well-being, and it is also responsible for promoting anti-aging because trace minerals provide recovery nutrients to the body.
The body’s immune system is boosted by trace minerals. Physical endurance and blood circulation are improved by the presence of adequate trace minerals in the body. They also support a balanced level of hormone in the body by restoring and rejuvenating cell life.
Trace Mineral Imbalance
If there is an imbalance of trace minerals in the body, the effect will also be felt as trace mineral imbalance makes the body vulnerable to any form of diseases making the immune system weak and health is easily compromised.
Deficiencies in trace mineral can produce various symptoms depending on the inadequate trace mineral:
- Magnesium deficiency can cause mood swings, cramps, dizziness, emotional imbalance and stress
- Calcium deficiency results to arthritis, brittle nails, cramps, osteoporosis
- Potassium deficiency results in muscle weakness, heart palpitations, and fainting
- Selenium deficiency symptoms include cataracts, age spots, liver cirrhosis, lower immune function
- Zinc deficiency symptoms are anorexia, hair loss, acne, loss of appetite and Insomnia
- Copper deficiency symptoms include depression, diarrhea, impaired thyroid function, varicose veins and stretch marks
- Chromium deficiency results to weight loss, fatigue, impaired glucose tolerance
- Vanadium deficiency symptoms are kidney stones, cardiovascular disease, weight gain, hypoglycemia
- Molybdenum deficiency symptoms are gout, weight gain, gum disease, anemia, acne
- Iodine deficiency results in goiter, heart disease, slow growth, and lower IQ level
- Silicon deficiency symptoms include depression and slow growth
Trace mineral deficiency does not happen spontaneously, but instead, it happens over time and may be caused by different factors such as incorrect and insufficient diet. The difficulty of the body to absorb the trace mineral available from the food that we eat may already result in mineral deficiency.
Our bodies need different amounts of each trace mineral to stay healthy. Trace mineral deficiencies are treated depending on the type and the underlying conditions. However, generally, minor trace mineral deficiency can be treated easily by a change in eating habits and paying closer attention to eating a well-balanced diet rich in green leafy vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
This combination of a well balanced healthy food intake, the choice of food products with fortified extra minerals and a good dietary mineral supplement helps dramatically in addressing and correcting any trace mineral deficiency.
List of Trace Minerals
There are over seventy trace minerals already identified by scientists and every day, researchers continue to learn more about how each trace mineral is important in the interaction of the human body systems and about how an imbalance of trace minerals in the body’s systems can show itself in symptoms like food craving or fatigue.
Most trace minerals are already familiar to us – like zinc, iron, fluoride and iodine. However, there are less popular trace minerals like copper, chromium, selenium manganese, silicon, boron, molybdenum, and manganese.
Why do we need Trace Mineral Supplements?
Even though our body needs only small amounts of trace minerals, they are still very important in promoting our body’s good health and proper function. Each trace mineral provides a specific benefit to the body, and each trace mineral will still need one or more another mineral to achieve balance and ensure these minerals function properly.
Considering that our body is not able to produce all of the required trace minerals for proper regulatory and structural function, taking trace mineral supplements is the recommended practice by healthcare professionals.
Our body will use up the trace minerals it produces daily as chemical and electrical processes happen, so we need to constantly replenish them as well. By making sure that we provide our body with the proper balance and right amount of trace mineral supply to our system, we are helping our body to function properly and prevent deficiencies that may cause health problems.
Since we can only consume so much food per day without the guarantee that we are meeting and absorbing the recommended daily amount – we need to supplement whatever we are not able to consume by taking trace mineral capsules and this should be part of our daily routine.
Therefore, taking regular trace mineral supplement will support the proper physiological function of your body and prevent health issues.
Methylation Minerals
Fortunately, now there are dedicated medical clinics that combine conventional medicine with proven alternative, complementary and functional medical practices, like Agapé Nutrition. Agapé Nutrition is a dietary supplement dispensary, which the doctor uses to treat patients, and they also have retail through their website Agape Nutrition.
Agape Nutrition answers the need for trace mineral supplementation with their Protocols for Health, Methylation Minerals capsules.
The Methylation Minerals capsules are suitable for anyone to take without risk of allergic reactions since these Methylation Minerals are free from the common allergens like milk/casein, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat/gluten, corn, yeast, and soybean. Methylation Minerals are not only comprehensive but also hypoallergenic. It. It contains 11 essential trace mineral elements for health optimization:
- Iodine – this is needed to make thyroid hormones and is important for immune system function and breast health. Iodine controls the speed of how the body will make protein and will use the energy it produces.
- Zinc – this plays an important role in our sense of taste and smell. It also helps in the metabolism of melatonin, an essential hormone for healthy sleep.
- Selenium – this antioxidant protects our body cells and prevents cell damage.
- Copper – this mineral helps form collagen and increases iron absorption in the body to make hemoglobin and also helps in the production of energy. Cooper contributes to the functions of the central nervous system.
- Manganese – this is important for normal brain and nerve function throughout the body. Manganese helps to build cartilage and improves the response of the immune system.
- Chromium–this helps insulin metabolism and also in blood sugar regulation. It enhances the glucose absorption ability of the cells. It also breaks down fats and carbohydrates in the body.
- Molybdenum –this mineral activates the enzymes in the blood that have antioxidants and helps prevent cell damage. It also assists in the detoxification processes of the body.
- Potassium – this electrolyte maintains the healthy balance of fluids in the body. It supports the healthy function of the heart and promotes smooth muscle contractions.
- Boron –this helps minimize the risk of osteoporosis and arthritis and reduce menopausal symptoms. Boron also helps the body better absorb other minerals like calcium and magnesium.
- Vanadium – this aids in the breakdown of glucose in the body and also regulates sodium. It helps our body maintain a balanced sugar level.
- Silicon–this is commonly referred to as a beautifying mineral since it takes care of our skin, hair, and nails. It also plays a role in preventing insomnia, skin disorders, and tuberculosis.
The 11 trace mineral elements found in Methylation Mineral capsules are the trace minerals that cannot be taken easily and absorbed through normal food intake. Hence, it is necessary to take an a specialized supplement. This particular supplement will address the body’s need for these 11 trace mineral elements.
It must be noted that iron, while an important trace mineral, is not included in these capsules. The reason being that routine iron supplementation is not required in a majority of adult men and women.
Methylation Mineral capsules is a perfect balance of the powerful trace mineral supplements in one capsule. This is a dietary supplement that you can take daily with food. To further enhance the benefits that you can experience from taking Methylation Minerals capsule, it is recommended to take this with a four to the six-hour interval from Agape Daily with Active Folate.
Methylation Minerals by itself though is already designed to provide all the trace mineral needed by the body for both men and women.
Conclusion and recommendation
Many years ago, it was easy for people to get the required vitamin and minerals for our bodies from the food that we eat. Unfortunately, today, it has become much more difficult with the changes in the environment and the way food is processed including the insecticides and the use of fertilizers.
Our bodies were made to work with the natural minerals in our food. Vitamins and minerals that are in plants. These nutrients are absorbed by our body when we consume them. However, modern methods of processing these fresh foods are destroying the vitamin and mineral content.
High heat and oxidation applied during food processing and preparation ultimately destroy the beneficial elements that our body needs. Vitamins and minerals from the soil are stripped away due to modern methods of agriculture and farming. The use of pesticides in agriculture also kill the beneficial microbes that are in our plants.
People who are busy rather rely on the ease of opening canned and processed food for their dietary needs. Fast food chains are in especially for the kids. These things factor in how we farm, how we grow our food, and how we process have contributed to the need to augment the lost of natural vitamins and minerals with dietary supplements.
Our bodies are not capable of producing all the nutrients it requires that is why it is necessary to look into vitamin and mineral supplements. Adequate and sufficient intake of vitamins and mineral is recommended to ensure optimal health, improve nutrition, promote muscle gain and fat loss and of course, prevent any vitamin and mineral deficiency. A good diet is the ideal start to good nutrition and making sure that taking high-quality vitamin and mineral supplements every day will further prevent deficiency and ensure a healthy body.
It has become very important today more than ever, that as we supplement our body with the vitamins and minerals that it needs its results to a healthy function of our systems.We need to carefully choose a well-balanced supplement that will be safe for our health and which will complement our diet and lifestyle.
Selecting the best supplement will take away any worry you may have about not having enough vitamins and mineral in your body. Talk with a healthcare professional or a registered dietician to work with you in planning a well-balanced diet and in determining the benefits you will gain from taking vitamins and mineral supplements. But don’t forget to exercise regularly and avoid drinking and smoking.