Vitamins/Minerals

Welcome to our Main Vitamins/Minerals section. Find valuable nutrition advice such as diet tips, fitness guides, and general health info.

Nutrition, Vitamins And Minerals

Before vitamin and mineral supplements, people either ate properly or they suffered from a myriad of health disorders brought on by inadequate nutrition. Today we have the pharmaceutical industry to thank for the plethora of dietary supplements that are available to help correct bad dietary habits. Aren’t we lucky!

Balanced Diet Still The Optimal Way To Obtain Vitamins And Minerals

Most of our synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements however contain only those compounds we’ve been able to identify and manufacture, and which are deemed most essential. The fact remains that obtaining essential vitamins and minerals from a healthy balanced diet is still the optimal way to get them. Plants contain many many organic compounds we have yet to figure out how to artificially duplicate. Many of these are also important to our overall health and well-being, which is why health and nutrition experts recommend including a variety of different plant foods in our diet. This allows us to reap the benefits of all these different nutrients.

That being said, topping up an inadequate diet with a vitamin and mineral supplement is still preferable to going without. And the reality is that for many of us, our diet is inadequate even though we may think we’re eating well. It’s just the extent of the inadequateness that varies!

Declining Vitamins And Minerals In Fruit And Vegetables

Our soils for example are no longer as fertile as they were even 2 or 3 decades ago. This means many of today’s foods are likewise not as rich in vitamins and minerals as they were. There have been numerous studies conducted into how on-going soil depletion is leading to a reduction in nutritional value of so many of the fruits and vegetables we rely on as mainstays in our diet. Even though these studies have been conducted in different countries by different research teams, the finds are consistent. And consistently worrying. Protein, minerals like calcium, phosphorus, zinc magnesium, potassium and iron as well as important vitamins like B2, B6, C and E are no longer as plentiful in many of the fruits and vegetables we eat. Just as an indication of how significant this problem is – one particular study made the remarkable point that our grandparents would probably have received the same amount of nutrition from ONE orange as we now get from eating EIGHT oranges. The solution? Again, experts believe this lies in enriching our soils so they once again produce nutrient rich crops.

Soil depletion isn’t the only thing responsible for this problem though. It’s also been brought on by the race to develop bigger, better, brighter, more pest resistant strains, often at the expense of nutritional value. Climate change is also doing its fair share of damage! The way plants are adapting to the increasing levels of CO2 in the environment has been referred to as the ‘junk-food effect’.

However, nutritionally diminished though they may be fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains are still pivotal in a healthy balanced diet. It’s just that perhaps a top up of a vitamin and mineral supplement is more beneficial now than it would have been in our grandparents’ day.

If you’d like more information about nutrition and vitamins, or you’re interested in a comprehensive guide to minerals and vitamins, check Planet Supplements Health and Fitness blog!