Vitamin and Mineral Supplements: What You Need To Know Before You Buy

Important! Read this before you buy anothermineral combinations in the same proportions. But
vitamin-mineral or nutritional supplement product.everyone needs certain amounts of vitamins and
This information is vitally important to your health.minerals to be healthy. Vitamins and minerals are
All vitamin supplements are not the same. ANDessential to life. And with the nutrient deficient
there is no one supplement that is good forsoils our foods are grown on, most people don't
everyone. If anyone ever tells you that theirs isget enough nutrients from their food alone to be
the one supplement that everyone needs, run,truly healthy. Even the American Medical
don't walk and don't look back.Association (AMA) recommends that every adult
How do you choose the vitamin-mineral andtake a vitamin/mineral supplement daily.
nutritional supplements that you take? Or maybeSo how do you choose a good quality supplement
you don't take any because you're sothat will give you all the nutrients that you need?
overwhelmed by the choices and you don't knowFirst, let's take a look at some facts that you
which to choose.need to know about how vitamins and minerals
One product claims it's "the most comprehensivework in your body.
answer to the body's need for life-giving1.Vitamins and minerals work together. They need
nutrients." It has "100's of healthy nutrients fromto be taken in the right proportions to be
all natural whole-food sources."effective. For example, calcium, magnesium and
Another company says they produce the "highestphosphorus, in the right proportions, work
quality nutritional … products available" thattogether to keep your bones strong.
"make you feel and look wonderful."2.If you take too much of one nutrient, it can
Still another company boasts "an exclusive line ofcause deficiencies in other nutrients. For instance,
cutting-edge nutritional products" that are "quality,if you take too much calcium, it can cause your
wellness and life-enhancing."body to absorb less magnesium, phosphorus, iron
Then there's the product that states it "has aand zinc. Too much vitamin C can cause a copper
total of 165 nutrients, vitamins, minerals,deficiency.
antioxidants and whole food extracts" which gives3.Taking too much of some nutrients can cause
you "a more complete and broad spectrum ofthe same symptoms as a deficiency of that
ingredients [and] faster absorption…"same nutrient. This happens with calcium, zinc and
These are only a few of the claims made forvitamin C.
nutritional supplement products available today.Your personal needs are also dependent upon
There are hundreds of different vitamin-mineralyour metabolism.
and nutritional supplement products competing forIs your metabolism fast or slow? Certain nutrients
your dollar.speed up your metabolism and others slow it
So, how do you choose?down. If you have a fast metabolism, you don't
Maybe you've heard someone say what fantasticwant to be taking nutrients that speed it up even
results they got from taking a specific product.more. If your metabolism is slow, you shouldn't be
You tried it and you didn't feel any different.taking nutrients that slow it down. You want a
Perhaps you did this a few times, with severalnutritional product that will balance your unique
different products, and still you got no results.body chemistry.
You might even have gotten discouraged andChoosing the right nutritional supplement sounds
decided that vitamin supplements just don't work.complicated, but it's not. It can really be quite
Or quite possibly you continued to take themeasy.
simply because you felt you needed to, to beYou see, your hair holds the key. It contains the
healthy, even though it didn't make you feel anyblueprint of the mineral balance in the tissues of
different.your body, past and present. And because
Why do some people get such fantastic resultsminerals interact not only with each other but also
that they rave about it to everyone who willwith vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats,
listen and some people don't get any results at allthe mineral status also gives you information on
… with the same product?your vitamin needs as well.
It all boils down to biochemical individuality. In otherYour hair gives you a good picture of your body's
words individual differences. Those who get thenutrient needs. When you have a hair mineral
most dramatic results are generally the mostanalysis test, there's no guessing, no trial and
deficient in the nutrients that product provides.error. With proper interpretation of the results,
They had deficiencies the product corrected. Andyou know what's in balance in your body, what's
why didn't you feel any different? Because theout of balance and what your body needs. And
nutrients in that product were not the rightwith the proper selection of nutritional products
nutrients for your body or they weren't in thebased upon the results of your hair analysis, you
right proportions.will get the nutrients your body needs.
Not everybody needs the same vitamin and