Contrary to what some people might have you believe, vitamins and minerals do not give you energy. They can't because they don't supply calories. However, if you are deficient in certain vitamins or minerals, you may feel lethargic, in which case replenishing these nutrients can get you back up to speed. In addition to performing countless other jobs, vitamins and minerals help convert food into energy; they're the compounds that allow chemical reactions to take place in your body. If fats, carbs, and protein are the bricks from which your body is made, then vitamins and minerals are the cement that holds the structure together. Vitamins, by the way, come from living sources; minerals come from inorganic sources.
Despite the sleazy marketing tactics of many vitamin manufacturers, virtually everyone can benefit from taking a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement. First, although you can get most of the vitamins and minerals you need from eating nutritious foods, the fact is, most of us don't eat that elusive balanced diet. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, about 90 percent of us fail to get enough magnesium, chromium, vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin E, zinc, and many other nutrients. The typical woman gets less than two-thirds the calcium she needs to help prevent osteoporosis. In a typical four-day period, nearly half of all women fail to eat a single piece of fresh fruit, and the vast majority fail to eat even one dark green leafy vegetable. This explains why women are so deficient in vitamin C, folic acid, and other vital nutrients.
Even if you make all the right food choices, it's tough to get optimal amounts of a few particular vitamins and minerals. For instance, research suggests that vitamin E might lower your risk of cancer and heart disease, but only when you consume at least 100 IU (international units, a way of measuring tiny amounts). To get this much vitamin E from your diet, you'd have to eat 25 cups of cooked spinach or drink 1 1/4cups of vegetable oil (not recommended, by the way). Unlike with vitamin C, there's no easy way to get vitamin E from food.
However, none of this means that you should rely on supplements for your vitamins and minerals. Scientists are learning that the vitamins or minerals alone may not prevent certain diseases; instead the benefit may come from the way these nutrients mingle with other components in food. Aim to get the vast majority of your vitamins and minerals from food and take the word supplement literally. No pill is going to compensate for a diet of chips and Budweiser. When you eat healthy foods, you not only get vitamins and minerals, but you also get protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and other nutrients.
Choose a multivitamin (rather than individual pills) with doses that don't go much beyond 100 percent of the U.S. RDA ( Recommended Daily Allowance). Don't bother with super potency megavitamins, which often contain more than 10 times the U.S. RDA (and cost you bundles). More isn't always better. Your body can absorb only so much of each nutrient; if you go overboard, the rest is just excreted when you go to the bathroom.
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