Being Healthy Blog

Vitamin E is a family of eight related molecules known as tocopherols. Alpha-tocopherol is the most biologically active form and therefore the most useful to the human body. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant, which protects the body against chronic diseases.

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin. This not only means that our bodies store the vitamin in our fat reserves. It also means that our bodies are only able to break down the vitamin’s potency and nutrients in fat, not in water. This explains why unlike Vitamin C, Vitamin E is more stable in composition and does not evaporate just as easily when the food that contains it is cooked.

Experts concur that 1,000 milligrams should be the upper limit for daily intake. Meanwhile , the U.S. RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for Vitamin E is set at 8-10 milligrams per day (or about 15 IUs). Most Americans get close to this amount in their diets.

In Search of Vitamin E

Voted the best source for Vitamin E is the oil familywheat germ, safflower, sunflower, corn, and soy oils. The nuts family is a close second. Turnip and dandelion greens, as well as broccoli, are third; while mangoes, egg yolks, spinach, and whole grains are fourth.

Vitamin E Deficiencies

Vitamin E deficiencies are rare. They occur mostly in premature babies, people who cannot absorb dietary fats, and people with rare fat metabolism disorders. Why? Again, because the vitamin is only able to spread its values in fat centers of the human bodythe so-called oil wells. The main symptoms of a Vitamin E deficiency are neurological problems, or nerve-related disorders.

Find out more about Vitamins at http://www.123-nutrition.com

[tags]vitamins, vitamin E[/tags]

Tags: vitamin E, vitamins

Here in America, and in many other countries, there is a wide selection of healthy nutritious foods available to the general public. The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) regularly states, as do many professionals in the nutrition sector, that Americans can get all the vitamins and minerals they need for good health from a diet comprised of these foods. They say that supplementation with vitamins is not needed for most people.

However, almost everyday we hear or read about someone whose health has suffered because of a “vitamin deficiency” of some sort or another! How can this be happening? Is the FDA lying to us? Is there something wrong that we don’t know about?

Here’s just a few points to consider.

Let’s take an average American, or citizen of England, Germany, France. Let’s take you.

What did YOU eat for breakfast yesterday? How about lunch and dinner? What snacks did YOU have? Did you smoke or drink alcohol? Are you pregnant, nursing, or overweight?

So, breakfast (if you ate any at all) was a bowl of cold cereal with milk or some toast with coffee, there was that candy bar halfway through the morning, then for lunch, you went to McDonald’s…you get the picture, right?

I’m sure that before fixing or selecting each meal, you took a look at the FDA’s food pyramid…what’s that? Oh, you’ve got it memorized and always select the proper number and size of portions throughout the day. Right! Well, maybe you at least counted calories and checked the nutritional labels… Oh, you…er…didn’t do that either, huh?

Do you see my point?

The nutritional elements we need ARE probably there in the foods available to us, but the choices we make, and the knowledge we have, are not the choices we should be making.

But who has the time, or the will-power, to lug around a copy of some book on nutrition, or memorize calorie charts, or check the menu against them even if we had them? I don’t, and I bet that you don’t either.

Maybe that’s why we see people with vitamin deficiencies!

How about this one?

We’re all different, and we have different eating patterns, or we don’t have a lot of money, so we eat a lot of starchy food (carbs…very bad carbs), or we just never learned that much about nutrition.

Tell you what! Let’s try to eat all the foods we need to eat to get all the natural nutrition we need. What’s that? You tried that, and gained weight because it required you to eat so many calories?

What if you are trying to lose weight? Maybe you are eating a healthy diet, but you are restricting or avoiding certain foods. Maybe you are also avoiding some of the vitamins and minerals you need.

How about the food itself? Has that radish or apple been processed or stored so long that it may have lost some of it’s nutritional value?

That smoking and drinking thing: Did you know that smoking and drinking actually interfere with your body’s ability to process or effectively use some essential vitamins?

It seems as if it’s a losing battle. Actually, there are a lot of things that someone can do to make sure they get all the vitamins and minerals they need. Knowing something about nutrition is good, planning meals or selecting carefully from the menu based on nutrition is good, and so is getting the proper amount of exercise and rest. But, it seems plain to me that making sure you are getting the appropriate amounts of the various vitamins and minerals can be difficult the way we live our lives today.

Recommendation? Take a daily multivitamin supplement…just to be safe. A bottle of vitamins doesn’t cost much, but it can potentially head off major and minor health problems in you and your family.

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He developed an interest in health and fitness in the ’70s after reading numerous books, including Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s “Aerobics”. This has led him to continue his personal research into health and fitness for over 30 years, and to pursue course work on health and fitness. Learn more about vitamins, minerals, and other supplements.

[tags]health, fitness, diet, nutrition, vitamins, supplements, weight loss[/tags]

Tags: diet, fitness, health, nutrition, supplements, vitamins, weight loss

We are told that the keys to longer and healthier life are simple: eat right, exercise, manage stress and get enough sleep. However, putting this into practice is more difficult. For example, take eating right. The National Cancer Institute is now recommending that adults eat between 7 to 9 servings of fruit a day. However, over 90 percent of us are unable or unwilling to follow this advice. Given our diets and lack of access to healthy foods, and given the dwindling nutritional quality of food generally available today, our bodies need vitamin, mineral and other dietary supplements to fill in this nutritional gap. Fortunately, the majority of us take supplements to compensate for this. About 100 million Americans take supplements – at least occasionally. About half of us pop vitamin and mineral supplements every day, spending about $4 billion annually. Do you ever wonder whether you should be taking supplements or whether the supplements you are taking are right for you?

Background
Vitamins and minerals – or at least foods containing these nutrients – have been used as therapy for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians ate livers of roosters and oxen to combat night blindness caused by Vitamin A deficiency, and sea sponge as a source of iodine to treat goiters. However, it wasn’t until 1906 that vitamins were theorized, because protein, fats and carbohydrates were insufficient in-and-of-themselves to sustain life. In 1926, Vitamins were isolated and named vitamine (for vital amine, amine being a chemical structure).

There are at least 13 vitamins and 15 minerals that are considered essential for good health. Vitamins are organic compounds, which means they contain carbon, and are found naturally only in living things. Four of these vitamins – A, D, E, and K are fat soluble – meaning they can be stored in the body. Vitamins C and the eight forms of vitamin B are water soluble, meaning that excess amounts are eliminated through urination, and thus must be consumed daily. Vitamins C, E and A are known as antioxidants. They help our bodies fight damage from free radicals, highly reactive compounds that create oxidative damage to your cells. Vitamin C, once suspected of boosting our immune systems, has now come to the forefront in cancer, cataracts and cardiovascular therapies.

Minerals are simpler, inorganic compounds and are found in all foods. Minerals are also classified in two categories – major minerals (macronutrients), such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, that are found in relatively high concentrations in foods, and trace minerals (micronutrients), such as copper, iron, zinc, and chromium, that are usually only found in minute amounts.

All of these vitamins and minerals play an important role in your body’s ability to build cells, releasing energy from our food, and in maintaining the good health of our organs, bones and immune system. Taking vitamin and mineral supplements can help us target deficiencies in our diet, to fill in the gaps.

Is your supplement right for you?
Our vitamin and mineral requirements vary at different stages of our lives, generally because of changes in how effectively our bodies absorb these nutrients. Additionally, our vitamin and mineral requirements vary with our daily caloric intake. The more calories you consume, the more vitamins and minerals your bodies need.

Many people select their vitamin and mineral supplements based on the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). The RDA, developed by the Food and Nutrition board in 1941, is updated periodically. However, the RDA is a general one-size-fits-all measure about daily vitamin needs to avoid vitamin deficiency diseases. Current research shows that higher levels of some of these vitamins and minerals are required to truly achieve good health and for therapeutic benefits to undo years of environmental damage our bodies have suffered.

In addition to vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals are increasingly recognized as playing a crucial role in proper absorption of nutrients and in cellular function and regeneration. Phytochemicals are nutrients found in fruits and vegetables and their extracts, that are generally not present in synthetic vitamin supplements.

You can find help in determining if your mineral and vitamin supplements are meeting your daily vitamin requirements and are nutritionally available to your body. You can also find out about phytonutrients that your body needs to maintain good health and ways to get phytonutrient sources conveniently into your diet.

Kris Kelkar has been practicing natural healing techniques for years. These routines have proven effective in lowering cholesterol, substantially reducing allergy symptoms, eliminating insomnia and eliminating adult acne.

Visit Six Steps to Good Health to learn more about diet, nutrition and natural techniques to improve your health.

[tags]vitamin supplements, phytonutrients, vitamin requirement[/tags]

Tags: phytonutrients, vitamin requirement, vitamin supplements