Tri Holistic Nutrition’s Professional Supplements

Where do vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants come from?

Vitamins are natural substances found in living things such as plants and animals. We must obtain them from the foods we eat and from supplements, as they usually cannot be produced by the body.

Minerals are found in plants that get their nutrients from the soil. The soil obtains minerals from water washing over rocks. Vitamins and minerals work together. Vitamin and minerals work synergistically to optimize the many chemical reactions in our body.  Like vitamins, minerals come from the food we eat and supplements we take.

Antioxidants can be either vitamins or minerals that help protect cells from the damaging effect of Free Radicals. Free Radicals are created in the course of everyday activities such as exercise, but also from smoking, chemicals, and stress; they are the primary causes of premature aging, sickness, and disease.

Supplements are vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other plant chemicals that have been extracted from a plant or created in a laboratory and put in a form that can be ingested by the body. Not all supplements are effective and some can be hazardous.

Should I take supplements?

Vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are vital nutrients for proper bodily functioning and prevention of disease. Many people are not getting what they need from foods alone for a variety of reasons.

The Journal of the American Medical Association states: “Insufficient vitamin intake is apparently a cause of chronic disease…Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”

Here are some of the reasons why I often suggest supplementation:

• Overworked and depleted soils
• Conventional growing methods leave produce far less nutritious than organic farming methods
• Poor digestion that leads to poor absorption and assimilation
• Overcooking foods which destroys valuable nutrients
• Microwave cooking which alters the nutritional structure in foods
• Long storage periods (including freezing) of foods which depletes the nutritional value of most foods
• Limited food choices which leads to areas of nutrient deficiency
• Food omission diets based on allergies, desire for weight loss, and poorly designed diets which omit important dietary sources of nutrients
• Pesticides and herbicides
• Poor lifestyle habits: smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption can inhibit the absorption of certain nutrients and accelerate the loss of others
• Stress can increase nutrient requirements and deplete existing stores

Choosing Your Daily Supplements

Choosing nutritional supplements from the massive array of commonly available formulas on the market can be overwhelming and complicated. As a health care professional who is committed to excellence in nutritional health, when I do suggest supplements, I recommend nutraceuticals that are scientifically formulated, with proven track records and superior results.

These products are developed by multidisciplinary teams of nutrition experts with backgrounds in a variety of medical fields and Clinical Nutrition. Using the highest quality ingredients, and the most bio-available forms, they are formulated to provide strength and dosing consistent with clinical experience and double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, the gold standard of research design.

Additionally, these supplements are manufactured at facilities with stringent internal quality control procedures that conform to top industry standards. Cutting-edge raw materials are used to make sure products are both unique and effective.

What to consider when shopping for supplements

• Does it utilize the most absorbable bio-available form of minerals?
• Does it meet the latest FDA guidelines?
• Does it contain meaningful quantities and ratios of therapeutic ingredients?
• Is it free of synthetic vitamins?
• Is it free of additives, artificial colors, sugars, binders, and preservatives?
• Are the raw materials validated through independent 3^rd party testing?