Why we need a daily multivitamin

Where have all the vitamins and minerals gone?
U.S. Agriculture food tables from 2000, compared to 1963 levels, show a 50 to 88 percent drop in nutrients commonly found in fruits and vegetables. These charts prove that it is not be possible to get adequate nutrition from a diet of commercially farmed foods. To maintain health we need to either buy our food from farmers who rebuild the soil with the proper nutrients and rotate their crops, or grow our own food. The only other options are to either eat double or triple the recommended daily intake of organic or unsprayed fruits and vegetables or fortify our diets with high quality supplements. The bottom line is that as humans, we cannot make minerals within our own body so its mineral and multivitamin contents that we can't live without !

Photo: Mineral and Multivitamin Study

Even missing one vitamin or mineral can contribute to heart disease, brittle bones, poor dental health, impaired nerve transmission, stunted growth, leg cramps, slow blood clotting, painful menstruation, insomnia, irritability, general weakness and fatigue, shortness of breath, anemia, fluid retention, muscle tics and twitches, confusion, disorientation, seizures, tremors, glandular disturbances, convulsions, liver disorders, cancer, impaired immune system, diabetes, sterility, and inflammatory conditions.

Photo: Mineral and Multivitamin Study

Magnesium is crucial for maintaining arterial health, normal blood pressure, and normal heart rhythm. Eighty percent of North Americans do not receive the recommended dietary allowance of magnesium, which is 800 to 1200 mg. Water from deep wells can supply additional magnesium not found in food, but our common source of surface water lacks magnesium. Food processing removes magnesium as well as boiling and steaming which leaves the magnesium behind in the cooking water. Hundreds of published studies have implicated magnesium deficiency as a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Magnesium is crucial for maintaining arterial health, normal blood pressure, and normal heart rhythm. Eighty percent of North Americans do not receive the recommended dietary allowance for magnesium, which is 800 to 1200 mg.

Photo: Heart-Multivitamin

An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), on December 25, 1996, showed that 200 mcg of supplemental selenium a day reduced overall cancer mortality by 50 percent in humans compared to a placebo group not receiving supplemental selenium. This 9-year study demonstrated that a low-cost mineral supplement could cut the risk of dying from cancer in half.

How to use, Selenium-Dosage for Adults should be about 400 mcg (micrograms) per day.The National Academy of Sciences has established that intakes of up to 724 mcg/day appear to be safe for adults.

Among many other benefits, selenium may boost fertility, especially among men. The mineral has been shown to improve the production of sperm and sperm movement.

About selenium deficiency
Three specific diseases have been linked with selenium deficiency: Keshan Disease is found among children with selenium deficiencies, it results in an enlarged heart with poor heart function. Kashin-Beck Disease, which results in osteoarthropathy (any disease of a joint between bones), and Myxedematous Endemic Cretinism, which results in mental retardation

Photo: Selenium Foods

Plant Nutrient Absorption - The natural plan was for plants to absorb nutrients from the soil, reformulate the nutrients into a readily deliverable form for our bodies. Now that the soils are depleted we must find another way to increase nutrient absorption without the help of plants.

Many mineral supplements contain inorganic mineral salts such as: carbonates, sulfates, oxides, and chlorides. These raw forms are not readily available to the body and often result in poor nutrient absorption. For example, only two to ten percent of inorganic iron salts are actually absorbed and often create undesirable gastric side effects like stomach pain or constipation. See here for gentle & non-constipating iron.

Photo: Mineral Selenium

Mineral absorption is a complex topic, not explained by many supplement companies. Lesson one in mineral absorption is that no matter what the total dose the tablet or capsule has on the label, the only portion of the mineral that is available to the body is the elemental mineral portion, which is much smaller. These elemental minerals are normally combined with inorganic mineral salts, or preferably amino acids. Each of these forms has a different success rate or absorption rate depending on how well they can get the mineral through the digestive process and into the bloodstream.

How do you improve nutrient absorption? A Canadian company, Platinum Naturals has developed a proprietary process called OST (Omega Suspension Technology). This process increases the absorption rate for minerals because they have reduced the particle size of the nutrients then suspended them in Omega Fatty Acids. Put simply, its similar to people sneaking their kids into the drive-in theater by hiding them in the trunk (not recommended). The car is the fatty acid and the kids are the nutrients. The car (fat) sneaks the kids (nutrients) inside where they want to be!

Ordinarily vitamins and minerals compete for absorption in the Duodenum. If all is well a certain percentage will be absorbed through this 9 inch digestive section. The Jejunum which follows is almost 10 times longer and primarily absorbs fats. Any nutrients residing or hitchhiking in these fats have a much higher rate of absorption. From the Jejunum these nutrients are quickly delivered to the bloodstream via the lymphatic system.

In addition to natural foods, Platinum Naturals is my supplement company choice for a daily vitamin and mineral delivery system. I take the activ-X multi-vitamin and mineral formula which is NSF Certified for Sport with guaranteed ingredients and no banned substances. Many professional sport teams Olympic athletes and Mixed Martial Artists trust this multivitamin formula.

Remember, your body cannot make minerals and commercial farmers are stealing them. So where are you going to get yours?

Sport Multi
Click here to learn more about activ-X for men
Click here to learn more about activ-X for women