Nutrition - Vitamin & Mineral supplementation

Some supplements are made in laboratories whilst other supplements get their nutrients from foods (A and D). Supplements made in laboratories are made from natural precursors meaning they may be labelled as natural. Vitamins A, D, E and K are best from natural sources as they're in oils and fats.

Some people may think with vitamin B supplements that they are getting all the needed vitamins although this isn't always true as the supplements only contain 8-12 different types. A lot of vitamin C supplements are made in laboratories and usually are pharmaceutical grade ascorbic acid. Rutin/other analogs (minerals) help to buffer the vitamin and to increase the bioavailability in vitamin C that comes from natural foods.

With other nutrients and substances, minerals in the food appear a lot in complexes and supplements (minerals) are there in engineered complexes. Calcium hydroxyapatite is the only form of a natural food extract when it comes to the most popularly taken mineral supplement which is calcium.

Vitamins B, D, E and K are not present in multivitamins meaning that it can mislead people into thinking they are getting all their vitamins from multivitamin supplements. It's also worth noting that although vitamin supplementation can help, but they only help to support a diet and not make one.

Nutrition - Minerals

So, minerals helps our bodies to function on a daily basis. Although they don't provide energy, they help to unlock the energy that is in our diet. Minerals are mostly in the skeletal system and account for around 4% of ours body mass. If we have a varied diet, we can ingest minerals as plants extract them from soil. There are 7 macrominerals that are needed in bigger amounts. These are as follows: Calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and sulphur.

Calcium is found in dairy products, green leafy vegetables and fish like salmon with soft bones.

Chloride is found in coconut flesh and natural unprocessed sea salt.

Magnesium is found in fish, dairy produce, nuts and natural unprocessed sea salt.

Phosphorus is found in animal produce, nuts/legumes and whole grains.

Potassium is found in nuts, vegetables and natural unprocessed sea salt.

Sodium is found in zucchini, meat broths and natural unprocessed sea salt.

Sulphur is found in eggs, cruciferous veg and dairy products.

Now for the purposes...

Calcium helps muscle contractions, bone growth and also regulates the acid-alkali balance.

Chloride regulates fluid balance as well as acid-alkali balance. It also helps carbohydrate/protein digestion.

Magnesium helps to form bones, absorb other minerals, nerve transmission, metabolism of carbs and tooth enamel.

Phosphorus helps kidneys to function, and also helps bones and cells to grow.

Potassium helps cellular chemistry and fluid balance.

Sodium helps to stimulate nerves, water balance and cellular fluid distribution.

Sulphur helps to protect from infection, form cartilage/skin and also helps to protect against pollution and radiation.

Lastly, there are 20 trace minerals. These are also necessary to help the body function but they are needed in much smaller amounts. These are boron, iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, zinc, silicon, selenium, manganese, iodine, molybdenum and chromium.

Next up I'll be talking about Phytochemicals!