Let’s take a look at vitamins and minerals a bit more…
Eric Bakker ND
A healthy balanced diet should consist of a variety of foods which provide your body with sufficient vitamin and mineral nutrients in amounts for our bodies to function properly. Our chart gives a brief description of what each vitamin and mineral does and what to eat in order to get not only your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), but also your Optimal Daily Allowance (ODA).
Most of us generally know by now, that nutritional supplements should never substitute for proper and adequate nutrition gained through a healthy diet. In an ideal world, we should not have to rely on dietary supplements to satisfy our body’s nutritional requirements — obtaining these nutrients from a varied and diverse diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is ideal; and, phytochemicals and some, as of yet, unidentified nutrients which could have cancer-preventative benefits, among other things, are found only in the freshest of foods. Nutrition is required to sustain life, provide energy, and help with tissue growth and repair. A healthy and nutritious diet involves six classes of nutrients: carbohydrate; fats; proteins; vitamins; minerals; and, water. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are the big ones (macronutrients) because our bodies require them in large quantities (grams per day), which are also known as the energy-yielding nutrients, because they are broken down to provide the body with usable energy.
Click on any of the links below to take you to the appropriate page on my website. www.naturopath.co.nz is NZ’s leading naturopathic website, and our site is aimed at educating you to take control of your health.
Vitamins |
| Vitamin A & Beta-Carotene Maintenance of healthy skin, eyes, bones, hair and teeth. Beta-carotene is an antioxidant |
| Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) |
| Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) |
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) |
| Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) |
| Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) |
| Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) |
| Biotin |
| Vitamin C |
| Vitamin D |
| Vitamin E |
| Folic Acid |
| Vitamin K |
Minerals |
| Calcium |
| Magnesium |
| Potassium |
| Sodium |
| Selenium |
| Zinc |
| Iron |
| Copper |
| Molybdenum |
| Manganese |
| Boron |
| Vanadium |
| Chromium |
- Schroeder HA. The Trace Elements and Man. Devin-Adair, New Greenwich (CT), 1973
- Dietary guidelines in The Weston A. Price Foundation brochure. Weston A. Price Foundation, Washington, 1999
- Nielsen F. Trace Minerals. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil.,1994:269-286
- Thiel RJ. Mineral salts are for plants, food complexed minerals are for humans. ANMA Monitor 1999;3(2):5-10
- Cunnane SC. Zinc: Clinical and Biochemical Significance. CRC Press, Boca Raton (FL),1988
- World Health Organization Expert Committee: Trace Elements in Human Nutrition, WHO Tech. Rep. Ser. 1973; 532
- King JC, Keen CL. Zinc. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 9th ed. Williams & Wilkins, Balt., 1999:223-239
- Jenkins DJA, Wolever TMS, and Jenkins AL. Diet Factors Affecting Nutrient Absorption and Metabolism. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea and Febiger, Phil.:583-602, 1994
- Malnutrition in hospitals in Britain. McWhirter & Pennington British Medical Journal 1994;308:945-8
- Vitamins for chronic disease prevention in adults: clinical applications. Fletcher RH, Fairfield KM. JAMA. 2002;287(23):3127-3129
- Toenail selenium and osteoarthritis determination http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/health/article.jsp?content=20051205_114334_4272