There’s a reason supplements were invented and so whoever tells you that advocating their consumption is a racket can go live a malnourished life. Just kidding. First, you must know that while you regularly eat healthy meals, you may still not be getting enough of the vitamins and nutrients you need; and second, sharing is caring, so it’s only fitting to share the knowledge to your nearest and dearest because you want them to live longer lives too.
Unless you have been drinking around 50 glasses of milk every day or spending 20 minutes of your morning sunscreen-free under the sun, you are most likely not getting the proper amount of vitamin D your body needs. Vitamin D is a very important vitamin responsible for your calcium absorption. It helps in bone development, prevention of bone loss and cancer, and in bolstering your immune system, and a deficiency of which is linked to cancer, pain, and even depression.
While we live in a tropical country, many Filipino patients are found to be vitamin D deficient. There is a modern-day reason to it and it isn’t surprising—the invention of sunblock and the fact that many Filipinos just prefer to stay away from the sun. This may also have caused the spike of vitamin D deficiency among many adults in recent years. If you’re among those who always wear sun protection and rarely go outdoors for a dose of sunshine, the good news is that supplements are available to provide your body with the ideal daily intake of 2,000 IU of vitamin D.
When it comes to combating and preventing a cold and other common illnesses, you can count on zinc—more than vitamin C—to fight off viruses right away. This essential mineral is plays a major role in cellular metabolism, and is responsible for the catalytic activity of around 100 enzymes. _ It is present in various foods, but unless you eat, say, 7 roasted chicken breasts or 5 servings of baked beans or over 15 ounces of cheese, _ you won’t get the ideal 15mg daily value. Zinc supplements are available for such purposes. Remember, the body has no specialized zinc storage system, thus it is important to provide it with a daily source such as supplements to maintain normal body functions_.
This isn’t just for pregnant women. Every adult who plans of conceiving a baby at some point in her life should have enough of this form of vitamin B9, which helps prevent neural tube defects or NTDs and other birth defects. Folate also helps in the production of red blood cells, DNA repair, and cell development. Folic acid, the synthetic form of folate is commonly found in food supplements but it’s also important to find out if your body can synthesize folic acid into its active form called methylfolate. In a recent study_, it was revealed that around 15 percent of Caucasians and over 25 of Hispanics cannot convert folic acid from vitamins into its the active form that the body utilizes to prevent NTDs. “Twenty-five percent of people is a huge number,” says Dr. Ted Achacoso, European Double Board Certified in Nutritional Medicine and Anti-Aging Medicine. “They cannot convert synthetic folic acid because of genetic variability, so it’s a lot better to just give the active form right way.”
Probiotics are essential for gut health, and consuming one yogurt drink every day won’t be enough to make a huge difference—it only contains one strain of lactobacillus. Your gut is nearly an organ in itself with all its bacteria weighing almost two kilos, and we are looking for a diversity of good bacteria for the gut to be deemed healthy. The gut is responsible for detecting which ones your body should and should not absorb, thus it is important to keep an optimum and diverse gut bacteria count that will prevent you from absorbing elements that cause cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inflammation, among many others. Probiotics help in providing your body with these essential organisms that filter what your body should absorb.
In many ways, we can try to eat as much vitamin-rich food as we can or opt for supplements that will help us make it when our daily food intake can’t. In search of the best ones, remember that not all vitamins are created equal. The most hardworking and effective ones are those that are made with same nutrient structure as that used by the body, created for proper digestion and absorption, given in their already active or directly usable form, and properly stored, transported, and manufactured (temperature controlled at all times).
