Vitamin and Mineral Nutritional Supplements

Vitamin and mineral nutritional supplements are beginning to get more and more notice in media streams both offline and online. The result is that sales are not suffering, despite the lax economy. At $3.8 billion in sales in 2008, according to Nielsen, consumers seem to understand the importance of putting their health first. While most realize that food is the primary source of nutrition, many also realize that there is some need for nutritional supplementation. If you are interested in taking a vitamin or mineral nutritional supplement, you need to pay attention to a few rules and guidelines to stay within the safe levels of consumption.

Who Benefits from Vitamin and Mineral Nutritional Supplements?

There are various groups that may benefit from taking specific vitamin and minerals as a nutritional supplement. Some of those are:

• Individuals that have vitamin and mineral deficiencies
• Babies (vitamin K)
• Persons living in areas without a supply of fluoridated water
• Vegetarians (vitamins B12 and D)
• Women that are pregnant (iron and folate)
• Those experiencing blood loss (iron)
• People on limited or restricted diets (multiple vitamins & minerals)
• Individuals that are at risk for heart disease (folate, Vitamin E)
• Individuals at risk for osteoporosis due to low calcium intake and poor vitamin D status (calcium, vitamin D)

"You can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment to a mineral deficiency." - Dr. Linus Pauling, winner of 2 Nobel prizes

Vitamins and minerals are widely and progressively being recognized as the standard treatment for deficiency diseases. Generally, the long care treatment or cure for deficiency diseases recommended is dietary improvements. Yet and still, vitamin and mineral supplements are also showing potential promise as "preventative medicine" for certain disorders. They are also even showing potential as an important part of the treatment of other disorders. Some of those improvements or preventative examples are:

• Supplementing with vitamin C and E is associated with a decreased risk of cataracts in the elderly.
• Two vitamins that play a role in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in some people are Calcium and vitamin D.
• Doses of Vitamin C of about one gram daily appear to decrease the severity and duration of colds.
• Vitamin E may help protect against the harmful effects of air pollution and may reduce the risk of heart disease.

It is sometimes mistakenly considered that one consuming a nutritional supplement can be safe from health problems. While vitamin and mineral nutrition supplements may aid in supplementing for a lack of proper essential mineral intake, they can't make a poor diet good. How you know if you are considered overall healthy is not just determined by which supplement you take or how much of it. Other things make up a good diet, such as: cholesterol, water, fiber, and other nutrient intake. Also, some supplements don't contain key substances like phenols and flavones, which are usually only found in foods.

Serious results can occur when nutritional supplements are used for the wrong reasons.

1. Check the expiration date on the supplement in question and only use unexpired supplements.
2. If you have been diagnosed with a need for a specific vitamin or mineral it is generally best to take that vitamin or mineral and not a multiple supplement. However, a multiple supplement is generally suitable if it contains an amount equal to or exceeding the specific prescribed amount.
3. Try to avoid calcium supplements that are made from oyster shells or bone. They may contain unsafe levels of lead or aluminum.