Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency and Your Health
Today many health researchers believe there is overwhelming evidence that vitamin and mineral deficiency may be associated with many degenerative diseases and the condition of your health.
Some health care professionals believe a large part of the population has an inadequate intake of vitamin and antioxidant nutrients and are in the range of sub-clinical (low level) vitamin deficiency for many vitamins and nutrients.
Vitamin, mineral and other nutrient deficiencies can impair the immune system which can contribute to degenerative diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and many other illnesses. The Micronutrient Information Center can provide information on specific vitamin deficiencies.
Many people work at improving their health, eating a balanced diet and even using vitamin supplementation, yet some individuals still have vitamin deficiencies. Some of the signs of vitamin deficiency could be fatique, depression, allergies or infections that are slow to heal.
What Causes Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency?
Deficiencies of crucial minerals and vitamins can be caused by many different factors, such as not absorbing the nutrients taken in because of digestive tract disorders, lifestyle issues (alcohol, smoking, medications, over-exercising, etc.) chronic illness, age and many other factors.
Anti-nutrients
Anti nutrients are substances like sugar, food coloring, processed fats and most of the 3,000 or so food additives currently allowed in the United States.
These substances antagonize nutrients needed by the body by binding to them and rendering them useless. Other anti-nutrients tie up enzymes needed in digestion, and interfere with normal bodily functions in countless ways.
Since we’re all exposed to anti-nutrients daily this represents an important factor in developing vitamin deficiencies. By consciously limiting our exposure to these substances and using high-quality vitamin and nutritional supplements we can reduce the impact that anti-nutrients have on our health.
Pharmaceutical Drugs
Long term use of pharmaceutical drugs are another lesser-known way that we can develop nutritional deficiencies.
The Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion Handbook, written by pharmacists, provides information on how prescription and over-the-counter drugs deplete the nutrients that the body needs to repair itself.
Statin drugs such as Prevastatin and Lovastin appear to lower the amount of CoQ10 in the body, which could be the most important nutrient needed to provide the energy to repair the heart.
The good news is that by addressing and correcting vitamin and nutritional deficiencies, you’re taking an important step toward life-long maintenance of optimal health. Taking a high quality multivitamin supplement daily may help make up for lack of adequate dietary nutrients, and can help to neutralize the effects of stress. We at advanced-vitamin-formulas.com use and recommend the professional quality supplements produced by Xtend Life of New Zealand. We especially recommend their high quality multivitamin, Total Balance.
Testing for Vitamin Deficiencies
There are many different tests for vitamin and mineral deficiencies – blood, urine, hair and even saliva. These tests are diverse and sometimes confusing to doctors as well as patients. There is some disagreement on which test best measures a particular nutrient, or what the results of the test actually mean.
Healthcare professionals who’ve incorporated nutrition into their practice rely on “eyeball” observations along with medical history, dietary analysis and lab tests to make their assessment. Naturopaths and sometimes chiropractors seem to be more familiar with this type of nutritional analysis.
