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ACHIEVING A BALANCED DIET CAN BE DIFFICULT

Guest post by: Linda Sage

Article Overview: A well balanced diet is essential for good health. Healthy nutrition requires the appropriate dietary intake of macronutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins, as well as all micronutrients including vitamins and minerals. An improved understanding of the importance of diet and a general rise in the standard of living has brought substantial improvements to the nutritional status of Europe’s citizens, wide spread malnutrition is a thing of the past.

ACHIEVING A BALANCED DIET CAN BE DIFFICULT

Vitamins, minerals and a balanced diet

A well balanced diet is essential for good health. Healthy nutrition requires the appropriate dietary intake of macronutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins, as well as all micronutrients including vitamins and minerals. An improved understanding of the importance of diet and a general rise in the standard of living has brought substantial improvements to the nutritional status of Europe’s citizens, wide spread malnutrition is a thing of the past.

Despite the knowledge that proper nutrition can help us maintain good health, few of us take full advantage of this knowledge. Whilst the macronutrients – protein, carbohydrates and fat are usually more than adequately supplied by our western diets, the micronutrients – vitamins and minerals can sometimes be in short supply due to the way food is stored, cooked or processed, or simply because we do not eat enough of the micronutrient-rich foods, such as fruit and vegetables.

Vitamin and mineral intake We cannot, however, be complacent about our intake of vitamins and minerals. Poor diets with low quantities of fruit and vegetables can lead to an insufficient intake of micronutrients. Iron and Vitamin D deficiencies although less common than in the past, still exist in Europe and can have a serious impact on health. Certain groups, such as the elderly, do not absorb vitamins and minerals as efficiently, so a higher intake may be required. Moreover, recent research has pointed to the potential benefits of higher intake of micronutrients for the maintenance of good health and protection against health challenges.

Supplement your diet with essential nutrients

The role of food supplements Many people enhance their weight programme with vitamin and mineral supplements to maintain a good level of health and a sufficient intake of micronutrients . For users of food supplements, it is important to know what role they can play in general health and how to ensure safe use.

Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA)



Food supplements come in various forms capsules, tablets, powders or liquids. Whatever the form, food supplements provide labelling with an indication of the quantity of each micronutrients in that dosage (in grams, milligrams, or micrograms) and in terms of the RDA (often in multiples of RDA e.g. 300% of RDA). RDA or Recommended Daily Allowances were established by the authorities over 50 years ago with a view to ensuring sufficient nutritional intake for the general population. The Recommended Daily Allowance represents the amount needed to prevent health challenges stemming from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The RDA was developed with deficiencies in mind and therefore does not relate either to the safety of the food supplement or to the health benefits now associates with higher levels. Taking food supplements will normally reduce risks of health challenges associated with nutritional deficiencies.

Safety Excessive intake of certain micronutrients (e.g. Vitamins A and D) might lead to unwanted side effects. It is therefore important that consumers are responsible in their use of food supplements and do not exceed certain safe levels. If consumers follow the instructions provided on the label, they can be certain that they will not be exceeding safe levels and are therefore at no risk. Some consumers may take more than one product containing the same micronutrient. In such a case, the consumer should check that the combined intake does not go beyond suggested upper safety limits.

But what about the safety of higher intakes? How safe are the supplements we take, and are there any dangers from taking them over long periods? Here are some important points to remember: Micronutrients (Vitamins and minerals) are essential to good health. Some micronutrients may have particular benefits at levels in excess of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). The Upper Safe Levels determined for micronutrients are not related in any consistent way to their Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs). For example, Vitamin E products contain at least 80 times the RDA are considered safe, whereas long term daily intakes of supplemental zinc may be undesirable at only a little above the RDA.

Supporting Good Nutrition

Our bodies are composed of trillions of tiny building blocks, living cells, which grow, die and are replaced many times over during our lifetime. As all nutrition is absorbed at this level our bodies need good nutrition for them to perform their vital functions of metabolism, growth, repair, detoxification and reproduction.

In an ideal world, we would obtain a correct balance of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from the food we eat. But with today’s hectic lifestyle and poor eating habits, this is often impractical, resulting in a lower level of nutrition than desirable.

Weight problems and nutritional deficiencies are widespread in our society, mainly due to bad eating habits, such as over eating, skipping meals, yo-yo dieting, stress, medication, smoking, alcohol and poor eating habits all lead to decreased nutrient absorption. Many people try to lose weight quickly, abuse their bodies with radical and unsafe slimming methods, which can lead to long-term health disorders.

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Article Tags: balanced diet, citizens, dietary intake, fats and proteins, good health, malnutrition, micronutrients, nutrition, nutritional status, standard of living, substantial improvements, vitamins and minerals
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com/



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