Your body is a wonderful miracle. It makes all kinds of chemicals and hormones inside itself. It even manufactures vitamins in your intestinal tract. In spite of its capabilities, there are some nutrients that your body can’t make on its own. Obviously they need to come from your food or supplements you may take in addition to your diet. In which form you take these nutrients into your body precludes how well your body can use them. A good example is cooked salmon that has a triglyceride form of omega-3 fats which is more efficiently absorbed than the ester form in cod liver oil which the body has to convert to triglycerides and is still less easily absorbed.
Nutritional science has discovered that nutrients do not work alone. They work in combination with other nutrients. There are some common nutrients that you might recognize like Vitamin C, magnesium, essential fatty acids, enzymes, fiber and beta-carotene. There are also some like beta-cryptoxanthin, anthocyanins, tryptophan, pantothenic acid, lutein and zeaxanthin that you might not recognize, but they are equally important as the more common ones.
Scientist used to believe that a nutrient was a nutrient, was a nutrient. It didn’t matter where it came from, the body couldn’t tell the difference if it came from food or from supplements, but recent studies are showing that in some cases, the body does indeed know the difference, such as in the case of omega-3 fats above. Some nutrients are so easily obtained from foods that supplements aren’t needed, such as in the case of beta-cryptoxanthin. You may be surprised to know that beta-cryptoxanthin is one of the most common carotenoids in the typical North American diet. Corn, payaya, red bell peppers, watermelon, oranges and cilantro are common sources of this Vitamin A precursor. Less common nutrients like Co-enzyme Q are found in fish, the germ portion of whole grains and in organ meats, like liver, kidney and heart, are essential for heart health and stabilizing blood sugar. It also helps Vitamin E be more effective in your body.
The advantage of eating specific nutrient rich foods is that the body can readily absorb and utilize the contents without having to remanufacture or convert refined ingredients. The less work the body has to do to nourish itself the better. In the case where certain foods are not available or they are way too expensive to manage in the food budget, you may have to resort to supplements. Check with your nutritional consultant, health professional or naturopathic physician as to which nutrients you may be deficient in and which foods or supplements you may require to make up the shortfall. As you get older, you’ll thank yourself for your awesome health.
Jean Perrins is a former nurse and admitted health nut who writes health articles for a number of on-line and off-line sources. As an avid researcher, she knows how to squeeze every ounce of health in a body. To access more of Jean’s articles, go to http://www.drinkalkalineionizedwater.com.
