Longevity Vitamins and Minerals

Eating is a science, and should be regarded as such. Healthy eating is conducive to longevity living because it provides all the nutrients required for optimum health and wellness.

Since antiquity, special diets have been connected with mysterious healing as well as with spiritual and religious practices. Not surprisingly, only until recently, diet therapy had been regarded as pure quackery. Now, scientists are beginning to see the connection between diet and disease, especially the salutary impact of diet on the prognosis of diseases. The importance of diet for longevity cannot be over-stressed. A good and well-balanced diet is anti-aging because it enables you to get all the essential longevity vitamins and minerals to protect you from the ravages of time.

        Why you need vitamin and mineral supplements

Interestingly, your physical body is functioning internally in exactly the same manner the bodies of your ancestors did thousands of years ago.

Theoretically, you should be eating more or less the same types of food they did. Oddly enough, that is not quite the case. Unfortunately, the processed foods you daily consume may deprive your body of longevity vitamins and minerals necessary for maintaining your optimum health.

As you age, your immune system declines, and you will become more vulnerable to debilitating diseases, which further impair your immuno response.

It is of paramount importance that you supplement your food with adequate anti-aging vitamins and minerals. These longevity vitamins and minerals are food supplements to the foods you eat. As such, they are required to provide you with the anti-aging nutrients necessary for your optimum health.

The reasons for taking supplements for optimum health are many:

· You may be on a weight-loss diet.

· You may be too busy to eat during the day.

· You may be consuming foods depleted of anti-aging nutrients (processed and refined foods; foods genetically altered; hybrid foods to delay decay; foods harvested before being ripe; foods grown on poor soils).

Forever Young - The Anti-Aging Guide provides wisdom on your diet to enhance your well-being for a longevity life free of disease.

· You may be eating the same few foods repeatedly, instead of a variety. In addition, you diet may be too acidic, causing food allergies and addictions.

The Acid-Alkaline Diet provides excellent information on how to alkalize your diet. Many experts believe that a balance of acidity and alkalinity, known as your balanced pH level in your body, will make you disease-free. It is essentially an anti-aging diet.

· You may be living a very stressful life. Stress depletes your body’s storage of longevity vitamins and minerals.

Conquering Stress helps you get back your life by conquering stress, depression, and anxiety, without the use of drugs and medications. These ailments and disorders are commonly associated with aging, and they deplete your body's storage of longevity vitamins and minerals necessary for your optimum health.

· You may be getting old, and your body’s ability to absorb longevity vitamins and minerals from food decreases with age.

· Your genetic makeup may not be ideal.

Some common deficiency symptoms of vitamins and supplements may include the following:

· Irritability
· Nervousness and depression
· Cold hands and feet
· Fatigue
· Unmanageable hair
· Itchy scalp
· Lower back pain
· Dizziness after leaning over
· Itchy and watery eyes
· Lack of concentration

The most important dietary supplements you may need

Vitamin A

Benefits:

· Eyes, skin, and hair
· Immune system
· Digestive function

Sources:

· Egg yolk
· Green leafy vegetables
· Whole grains
· Vegetable oils

Deficiency:

· Anemia
· Physical weakness

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is antiviral, antibacterial, and anticancer. To determine your individual requirement, take heavy doses of vitamin C until your bowels become loose, then slowly cutting back until your bowel movements are normal again, thereby determining the optimum dosage for your individual need. Your level of dosage depends on your health conditions and your lifestyle.

(Read what contemporary anti-aging experts say about vitamin C on my web page The Longevity Wisdom.)

Benefits:

· Antioxidant
· The immune system
· Wound healing

Sources:

· Citrus fruits
· Strawberries
· Broccoli
· Cabbage
· Tomatoes
· Melons
· Dark green leafy vegetables
· Potatoes

Deficiency:

· Anemia
· Infections
· Muscle pain
· Joint pain

Magnesium

Magnesium is a mineral responsible for the many enzyme reactions in your body. An average daily dosage is 350 mg. However, consumption of caffeinated drinks may require you to have a higher dose.

Benefits:

· Bones and teeth
· Transmission of nerves
· Blood pressure
· Rheumatoid arthritis

Sources:

· Nuts and seeds
· Green leafy vegetables
· Whole grains
· Legumes
· Tofu

Deficiency:

· Heart attack
· Kidney stones
· Cancer
· Premenstrual syndrome
· Insomnia

Selenium

Selenium is a mineral that acts as a potent antioxidant in your body. It contains a potent enzyme responsible for detoxifying your body from toxins in the environment. Working with vitamin E, selenium protects your immune system against pathogenic bacteria and viruses. You daily dosage should be 100-200 mg.

Benefits:

· Heart disease
· Cancer
· Rheumatoid arthritis
· The immune system

Sources:

· Brazil nuts
· Seafood
· Meat
· Whole grains

Deficiency:

· Heart disease
· Infections

Zinc

Zinc is the most important mineral for monitoring your thymus gland that controls your immune system. It activates enzymes for their important functions in your body; it produces insulin and sperms. However, your daily dosage should not exceed 40 mg: too much zinc can impair the absorption of copper and potentially depress the immune system.

Benefits:

· Brain function
· Sperm production
· Wound healing
· The immune system

Sources:

· Red meat
· Poultry
· Whole grains
· Nuts and seeds
· Legumes and beans
· Oysters
· Shellfish
· Ginger root
· Potatoes

Deficiency:

· Delay in wound healing
· Growth retardation
· Delay in puberty
· Dry skin
· Vomiting
· Diarrhea

Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 is a naturally occurring body compound important to energy production within cells. Your body’s production of CoQ10 drastically decreases with age, and only limited amount of CoQ10 is obtainable from good. You should take a daily dose of 30 to 60 mg.

Benefits:

· The immune system
· Congestive heart failure

Sources:

· Sardines
· Organ meats
· Peanuts

Deficiency:

· Heart damage
· Breast cancer

Glutathione

Glutathione, composed of three important amino acids, is essential to your overall health. With the aid of selenium, magnesium, and vitamin C, glutathione is produced in every cell of your body. To protect you against radiation, X-rays, and toxins from prescription drugs, take a daily dose of 75 mg.

Benefits:

· Cholesterol
· Blood pressure
· Detoxification
· Insulin control

Sources:

· Avocado
· Watermelon
· Brussels sprouts
· Broccoli
· Cabbage
· Cauliflower

Deficiency:

· Allergies
· Cancer

        Some common concerns of dietary supplements

Although longevity vitamins and minerals are essential for your optimum health, you may be concerned with what is really inside the bottle of dietary supplement that you get from a health food store.

Your concern is well justified. The cost of developing and marketing a new prescription drug is over millions of dollars, while that of a dietary supplement may cost only a few thousand dollars. In the former case, the FDA monitors a new prescription’s adverse reactions and side effects, but there is hardly any government regulation regarding the benefits and safety of new dietary supplements.

· The dietary supplements may contain too little of the ingredients the label claims to contain, especially if the ingredients are expensive.

· The dietary supplements may contain too much of the ingredients, especially in multi-vitamins and minerals in which the ingredients are not expensive but measuring the exact amount may be costly. The manufacturer may simply give you more in excess of what the FDA specifies, because ingredients often degrade over time. However, it is not always the case that the more is better.

· The dietary supplements may contain the wrong ingredients, especially in herbal supplements, in which the manufacturer may have given the wrong species of the same type of plant, or the wrong parts of the same plant.

· The dietary supplements may have been contaminated, in particular herbal supplements, due to pesticides.

· The dietary supplements may have been enhanced with other hidden ingredients aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the product, such as caffeine is sometimes added as a stimulant to ginseng.

· The dietary supplements may be dangerous because it contains ingredients that are toxic or have yet to be proved safe.

· The dietary supplements may be useless due to poor absorption. To be effective, the ingredients must disintegrate and dissolve in order to be absorbed into the bloodstream, or else they simply pass through the body unused, especially vitamin and mineral supplements.

                How to overcome supplement concerns

Despite dietary supplement concerns, you should continue to take your longevity vitamins and minerals for optimum health.

· Choose reputable manufacturers of dietary supplements, and buy only top-quality products. Do not let price or promotion influence your purchase.

· Select dietary supplements with the most time left on the expiration date because ingredients tend to degrade over time.

· Educate yourself and be knowledgeable of the specific names of natural herbs and other ingredients.

· Check recalls and warnings to keep informed of adverse side effects and toxicity of ingredients of dietary supplements.

· Always read the labels of dietary supplements. Watch out for misleading health claims or false ingredient information.

Go to Herbal Remedies to get all your natural herbs, vitamins, and minerals, as well as information related to these dietary supplements.

                           Beware of fortified vitamins

Many Americans are short of meeting the recommended calcium intake. To help solve the calcium crisis, a wide variety of calcium-fortified foods and beverages have been introduced and marketed. Orange juice, juice drinks, cereals, waffles, snack foods, candy, water, and dairy foods are among some of the foods fortified with calcium. In many cases, relatively high levels of calcium are added. That has led to the concerns of calcium-fortified foods and beverages in the marketplace. According to many experts, fortified vitamins may not be good for you. What you need is natural vitamins and minerals mainly from your foods.

Longevity vitamins and minerals are anti-aging. Always be knowledgeable in your choice of daily vitamins and minerals.

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Copyright© by Stephen Lau

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