Reading time: 2 minThe change of season is known to be a critical phase for many people: different temperatures, greater exposure to the sun, daylight saving time, and other factors contribute to creating considerable confusion in the mechanisms that regulate our body, altering biological rhythms, with negative effects on general performance status, mood, and consequently on everything related to them.
An adequate nutritional supplement program combined with a healthy diet can significantly reduce the “traumatic” nature of this phase, which can be as challenging for adults as it is for children.
What categories of supplements can be useful in this context? There are at least four:
- Adaptogens
- Bio Regulators
- Stimulants
- Energetic
It is interesting to examine these different categories to understand for whom they may be more or less suitable.
Adaptogens
They are molecules that have the ability to help the body be more efficient against excessive stress and against certain harmful external substances and agents.
The most effective substances are ginseng and eleutherococcus extracts. Their use can generally be recommended across a wide age range, with eleutherococcus being preferred in children.
Bio-regulators
In the large family of bioregulators, we find a remarkable range of substances, even belonging to very different families, from vitamin D to B vitamins that intervene in the production and use of energy, all the way to vitamins A, C, and E that contribute to a correct balance of oxidative stress, particularly useful when the body is subjected to significant workloads.
These micro-metabolic optimizers can be used, in dosages appropriately determined for different age groups, by virtually everyone. The combination of these bioregulators with carnitine, a molecule potentially capable of promoting the transport and therefore the use of fats at the cellular level, is particularly interesting in pediatrics, where rapid growth dynamics lead to increased lipid requirements compared to adults.
Also of interest in pediatrics are certain minerals, including magnesium and iron. Magnesium plays an important role in various physiological processes. Its supplementation is particularly useful, especially considering the low average intake of its dietary sources, such as fruits and vegetables, among pediatric patients. Regarding iron, it's important to remember that it plays a central role in hemoglobin synthesis and, consequently, in oxygen transport, a factor important for everyone but crucial for a growing organism.
The stimulants
Stimulants, on the other hand, include a whole range of substances capable of acting on the nervous system through different mechanisms, enhancing its activity. An example of this is one of the substances most loved by Italians, caffeine, contained in commonly consumed coffee and other plant-based products such as tea or guarana.
Obviously, the use of stimulants is recommended in adults if balanced appropriately with other commonly consumed caffeinated foods, while it should be avoided in children.
Energy supplements
The energy sources that can be used for this purpose are often related to the speed of assimilation and utilization. Phosphorylated sugars such as glucose-phosphate are particularly interesting, a substance that, by skipping some steps, can be directly used by the cell in energy production.
Using a supplementation program that expertly combines the aforementioned classes of substances can help you manage, rather than suffer, spring and with it the arrival of the warmer weather.
