Micronutrients: Vitamins and Minerals

Like water, carbohydrates, protein, and fats, vitamins and minerals are essential to life. They are therefore considered nutrients and are often referred to as micronutrients simply because they are needed in relatively small amounts compared with other nutrients.

Because vitamins and minerals are so necessary for health, FDA has formulated recommended consumption levels for vitamins called "recommended daily allowances (RDAs)". However, these allowances do not account for the amount needed to maintain maximum health rather than borderline health, only the amount needed to prevent deficiency diseases. Therefore, the average adult who is not suffering from any specific disorder should obtain more than the RDA's of vitamins and minerals from food sources and/or from supplements.

Data compiled by the US Department of Agriculture indicate that at least 40 percent of the people in this country routinely consume a diet containing only 60 percent of the RDA of each of ten selected nutrients. A poll of 37,000 Americans conducted by Food Technology found that half of them were deficient in Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 42 percent did not consume sufficient amounts of calcium, 39 percent had and insufficient iron intake, and 25 to 39 percent did not obtain enough vitamin C. Additional research has shown that a vitamin deficiency may not affect the whole body, but only specific cells. For example, those who smoke may suffer from vitamin C deficiency, but only in the lung area.

Whenever you seek to correct a vitamin or mineral deficiency, you must recognize that nutrients work synergistically. This means that there is a cooperative action between certain vitamins and minerals, which work as catalysts, promoting the absorption and assimilation of other vitamins and minerals. Correcting a deficiency in one vitamin or mineral requires the addition of others, not simply replacement of the one in which you are deficient. This is why taking a single vitamin or mineral may be ineffective, or even dangerous, and why a balanced vitamin and mineral preparation should always be taken in addition to any single supplements.

Enzymes are essential chemicals that are the foundation of human bodily functions. They are catalysts (activators) in the chemical reactions that are continually taking place within the body. As coenzymes, vitamins work with enzymes, thereby allowing all the activities that occur within the body to be carried out as they should.

Of the major vitamins, some are water soluble and some are oil soluble. Water-soluble vitamins must be taken into the body daily, as they cannot be stored and are excreted within one to four days. These include vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins. Oil-soluble vitamins can be stored for longer periods of time in the boddy's fatty tissue and the liver. These include vitaamins A, D, E, and K.

Medicinal Herbs

ALfalfa

Cat's Claw

Celery

Chamomile

Dandelion

Echinacea

Fennel

Flax

Garlic

Ginseng

Goldenseal

Milk Thistle

Nettle

Red Clover

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Specials

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Coral Calcium

What does our body use calcium for?

"Calcium is fast emerging as the nutrient of the decade, a substance with such diverse roles in the body that virtually no major organ system escapes its influence." - Jane E. Brody, New York Times (10/13/1998) - "Calcium takes it place as a Superstar of Nutrients"

While we have always known that calcium is important for strong bones and teeth, it turns out that is just the tip of the iceberg. The New York Times articles goes on to point out the following additional benefits of calcium:

• Increased calcium intake reduced the risk of colon cancer in men prone to the disease.
• Calcium supplements led to a 50% reduction in life-disrupting premenstrual symptoms (PMS).
• Calcium plays a significant role in controlling high blood pressure.
• Pregnant women who took calcium supplements had children whose blood pressure remained lower than average for at least the first seven years of life, which would lower their risk of later developing hypertension.
• Adding calcium to the diet lowered blood pressure in teenagers.
• Transmission of nerve impulses that control muscle contractions.
• Release of chemicals that carry messages between nerves.
• Binding together of cells to form organs.
• Production and activity of enzymes and hormones that regulate digestion, fat metabolism, energy release and saliva production.
• Clotting of the blood to initiate wound healing.
• Secretion of hormones and other substances from glands throughout the body.
• Chemical signaling within cells.
• Growth and maturation of lining cells throughout the body.

What are some sources for calcium?
Most of us think of milk and cheese when we think of calcium. Dairy is an excellent source of calcium, but one of the issues is the body's ability to absorb calcium. Some studies indicate that calcium from Coral Calcium may be the best way to supplement calcium in your diet. Why Coral calcium? Coral Calcium is a calcium in the biologically preferred 2 to 1 ratio of Calcium to Magnesium. Coral calcium supplement is formulated from 100% marine bed coral calcium - it is a natural source of calcium with 73 other essential minerals and nutrients necessary for good health

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Antioxidants

A paradox in metabolism is that while the vast majority of complex life requires oxygen for its existence, oxygen is a highly reactive molecule that damages living organisms by producing reactive oxygen species. Consequently, organisms contain a complex network of antioxidant metabolites and enzymes that work together to prevent oxidative damage to cellular components such as DNA, proteins and lipids. In general, antioxidant systems either prevent these reactive species from being formed, or remove them before they can damage vital components of the cell. However, since reactive oxygen species do have useful functions in cells, such as redox signaling, the function of antioxidant systems is not to remove oxidants entirely, but instead to keep them at an optimum level.

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols or polyphenols.

Although oxidation reactions are crucial for life, they can also be damaging; hence, plants and animals maintain complex systems of multiple types of antioxidants, such as glutathione, vitamin C, and vitamin E as well as enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase and various peroxidases. Low levels of antioxidants, or inhibition of the antioxidant enzymes, causes oxidative stress and may damage or kill cells.

As oxidative stress might be an important part of many human diseases, the use of antioxidants in pharmacology is intensively studied, particularly as treatments for stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is unknown whether oxidative stress is the cause or the consequence of disease. Antioxidants are also widely used as ingredients in dietary supplements in the hope of maintaining health and preventing diseases such as cancer and coronary heart disease.

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Enzyme Supplements

Enzymes are biological catalysts: this means that they speed up the chemical reactions in living things. Without enzymes, our guts would take weeks and weeks to digest our food, our muscles, nerves and bones would not work properly and so on - we would not be living!
All enzymes are made of protein; that is why they are sensitive to heat, pH and heavy metal ions. Unlike ordinary catalysts, they are specific to one chemical reaction. An ordinary catalyst may be used for several different chemical reactions, but an enzyme only works for one specific reaction.

For example, human saliva contains an enzyme called amylase. This enzyme helps to turn starch into a sugar called maltose. When you swallow a mouthful of food, the amylase stops working because it is much too acid in the stomach pH 2. Amylase works best in neutral or slightly alkaline conditions, i.e. at about pH 7. When your food gets into the small intestine, more amylase is made by the pancreas and this turns the remaining starch into maltose. Another enzyme (maltase) turns all this maltose into glucose. Glucose is then absorbed into the blood.

Enzymes are used in ALL chemical reactions in living things; this includes respiration, photosynthesis, movement, growth, getting rid of toxic chemicals in the liver and so on.

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