Vitamin Supplementation is huge worldwide. Most of us take vitamins now or have taken vitamins in the past. The US ranks top in dietary supplementation globally. 18.9% of Americans had taken at least one dietary supplement in 2004. Over 100 million Americans use vitamin and mineral supplements everyday. The global market has become a multi-billion dollar industry and the dietary supplement sector is growing the fastest.

The most common reason for supplement use is “to improve overall health and general well being.” It is a popular belief that vitamins are antioxidants and can therefore protect us from oxidative stress that causes many health conditions.

The most common supplements taken are:
multivitamin/multiminerals – 22%;
multivitamins plus vitamin C – 15%;
vitamin C as a single vitamin – 13%;
herbal and botanical supplements – 7%;
vitamin E as a single vitamin – 6%.

Over the years, more and more reports on the health benefits of vitamin supplements have emerged, ra Continue reading »

Vitamins are very important for your overall health and are just as important when trying to lose weight.

Here’s a list of some vitamins and the foods they can be found in:

<b>Vitamin A</b>

Vitamins A, D, E and B12 can be stored in the body for a considerable period of time and prevent us from short-term shortages. The body also produces vitamin A from carotenes in fruit and vegetables. However, eating these in large amounts does not cause an excess of vitamin A. Some vitamin A in food is lost due to strong heating during cooking and exposure to air during storage.

Vitamin A is necessary for growth and normal development of tissues. It also maintains the health of skin and surface tissues and is important for vision.

Foods that contain vitamin A are full-fat milk and eggs, cheese, butter, oily fish, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, sweet potato, dried apricot Continue reading »

Science is amazing in its ability to duplicate natural things. Man-made fabrics can feel just like fine silk at a fraction of the price. Man-made flooring looks remarkably like prized hardwood, yet is more durable and cheaper.

But when it comes to nutrition, nature has the upper hand. Even the idea that a synthetic, laboratory created vitamin could be a replacement for a natural vitamin supplement is ridiculous.

Natural vitamin supplements start and end with real substances from nature that are known to build up the body. Synthetic vitamins are at best, cheap pretenders.

From a manufacturers perspective, synthetic vitamins can be less expensive to produce, so the profit margin is much higher.

Keeping “natural” in natural vitamin supplements is clearly more expensive to produce but its also more valuable to the consumer.

Nutritional health supplements are no longer relegated to health food stores. You can find vitamin supplements on the shelve Continue reading »

Vitamin P is a water soluble vitamin. It has a crystalline structure and yet it takes on the characteristics of a Bioflavonoid. In the case of Vitamin P, its main function is to keep blood vessels healthy. One way it accomplishes this task is by building up a capillary’s ability to resist bleeding profusely. This helps keep capillaries strong and a stronger blood vessel system is better able to protect itself from disease and infection.

In the case of Bioflavonoids, a significant benefit is their antioxidant capabilities. Antioxidants prevent many serious diseases from developing by neutralizing free radicals. If not neutralized, free radicals can cause substantial cell damage. Oxidation is what happens to the part of a car that develops rust. In much the same way as rust begins to destroy a car’s body, free radicals begin destroying cells. As cells begin to break down, the body becomes susceptible to heart and other types of diseases and other adverse conditions including premature agi Continue reading »