Reading time: 3 minTo ensure the body's proper functioning, it's essential to provide it with everything it needs. This concept may seem obvious and outdated, but in nutrition, it's not so easy to reconcile theory with practice. For this very reason, vitamin and mineral supplements They are a valid aid to best nourish our body and keep it healthy.
The biggest challenge a nutritionist faces when developing a nutritional program or any of us who wants to take care of our nutrition, is to ensure that a correct nutritional status.
Balanced nutritional status: what does it mean?
It means to reach a equilibrium condition which is established when we provide the body with all the nutrients (in type and quantity) that it needs to stay alive and perform its functions efficiently and effectively.
The goal we need to focus on is to maintain this balance over time, a perfect balance between the availability of nutrients and the body's true needs. This balance is disrupted when an insufficient or excessive supply of nutrients is provided compared to actual needs.
How to maintain nutritional balance?
Numerous factors can influence the maintenance of this "stability." Each element exerts its own force on the "scale," so changes in the availability of a single or multiple elements can shift the scale either up or down, disrupting the equilibrium necessary to maintain the body's proper functioning and health.
For this reason, there is no element that has an "absolute value" of greater importance than the others: they all contribute, exerting a specific influence, to the maintenance of a balanced nutritional state.
Consequently, nothing should be left to chance.
How is it necessary to provide in high quantities some "macronutrients" (carbohydrates, proteins and fats), will be equally useful provide "micronutrients" in smaller quantities (vitamins and mineral salts), which are also able to contribute to achieving that complex balance that allows the body's "metabolic machine" to function effectively.
Why are micronutrients important?
The fact that we require more moderate amounts of micronutrients than macronutrients shouldn't be taken as synonymous with "reduced importance." Indeed, the latter would likely have no reason to exist without the former.
We get energy from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats (macronutrients) by processing and transforming them through a series of chemical reactions, which would not occur without some micronutrients.
At the same time, others micronutrients regulate the synthesis of compounds vital to the body or allow us to protect ourselves from oxidative stress and from thecellular aging.
What should a good vitamin and mineral supplement contain?
A good vitamin and mineral supplement should preferably contain all the vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) essential for the main metabolic functions in quantities sufficient to satisfy the daily requirement.
Among these, the following are particularly important: B vitamins, riboflavin, thiamine, ac. pantothenic And niacin which prove useful for the correct use of energy while folic acid And vitamin B12 contribute to cardiovascular protection and the prevention of anemia.
The vvitamin C It is useful in supporting a proper functioning of the immune system, for the protein digestion and for the carnitine synthesis which allows the transport of fats to the site where they are oxidized. Furthermore, together with the Vitamin E, participates in protecting the body from oxidative stress as an antioxidant agent.
There Vitamin D, together with calcium, helps maintain healthy bones and carries out countless actions on numerous areas of the organism.
Can a vitamin and mineral supplement be helpful?
To ensure a balanced nutritional status, it may be useful to take vitamin and mineral supplements as a general preventative measure, especially in lifestyle contexts or physiological conditions where it can be easy to "alter" the status of micronutrients.
In particular, it may be useful to take a vitamin and mineral supplement:
- In case of high physical stress, associated with work activity, such as particularly intense periods;
- In case of periods of athletic preparation, characterized by high training volumes;
- In case of low-calorie diet, especially if associated with the constant practice of physical activity;
- In the seasonal changes, where asthenia and physical tiredness can be more easily felt;
- In case of alterations in life dynamics and/or food-related such as work shifts or travel.
A balanced intake of vitamins and minerals In the context of a healthy and correct diet, it can contribute to effective support for the body, supporting processes particularly affected by situations of stress or high workload.
