Vitamins For Women

Know Your Dietary Supplements And Their Benefits

Normally, we can derive all our nutrients from our food – with the proviso that it is a balanced and varied diet that includes two fruits and five vegetables.

What is clear is that people who eat a varied diet are unlikely to develop a severe primary vitamin deficiency.

However, if optimal amounts of the nutrients cannot be obtained through a varied diet then vitamin supplementation becomes a valid argument.

Deficiencies occur when our food choices are poor in nutritional value or there is an underlying cause that prevents or limits the absorption of vitamins - such as smoking, excess alcohol intake, some medications.

Are Vitamins Of Value?
The question of vitamins and their supplementation has been a long standing debate – with the medical profession principally on the ‘no need’ side and the other side, massively supported by the massive supplementation industry – saying “yes we should”.

The Key Is A Balanced Diet
What is clear is that if our diets are well balanced and regular, we are not disadvantaged by not taking nutritional supplements.This does beg the question, who has the lifestyle where a regular balanced diet is the norm?

Being realistic, we live in a fast food world full of stress, we skip meals, and many never let fruit or most veggies enter their mouths.

So there are as many proponents for dietary supplementation (especially vitamins) as there are opponents.

Vitamins are essential for normal growth and development and must be obtained in our diet - directly (food) or indirectly (supplements).

Of course supplements are not always pills - they can be natural as in extra targeted foods. As was the case when citrus (limes) was introduced to the British navy to prevent scurvy.

Some Benefits from Vitamins

Basic growth and development
Promotion of a healthy immune system
Prevention of disease
Lessened susceptibility to colds and flu

It is up to individuals to assess whether they need to supplement their diet. Lifestyle and opportunity are important factors to consider when assessing the consistency of having a balanced and varied diet.

And then what vitamins to take? Some people must rattle when they walk they take so many pills at a sitting.

The simple answer is probably a multi-vitamin is sufficient .

If preferring individual vitamin supplementation, then perhaps first choice should be with water soluble ones such as vitamin C and vitamin B complex as any excess is easily secreted by the body.

Having said that, others are rarely likely to be deficient – such as vitamin D, which is easily obtained by 20 minutes in the sun – which we should in anyway because of exercising!

Supplementation without exercise is being half assed about health.

Other than dosage or ones targeting specific women's issues (e.g. PMT, iron deficiency)vitamins for women are the same as for men.

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