The 6 Essential Supplements Everyone Should Take
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The supplement industry has expanded, and with it introduced dozens of new supplements to choose from for many different goals, including boosting your muscle growth or fitness or improving the health of your immune system. However, many people are simply looking for the most important or vital supplements to add to their daily nutrition routine so they can achieve holistic wellness.
If that’s you, you’ve come to the right place.
6 Supplements Everyone Should Take
1. Multivitamins
Even folks not interested in maximizing their fitness potential or achieving well-rounded health should still take a daily multivitamin. Multivitamins are valuable supplements that help to shore up any weaknesses in our modern diets.
Unfortunately, a lot of food in today’s society is processed or overly washed and cleaned. This can sometimes lead to nutrient deficiencies (although some organic foods make up for this). Multivitamins contain many key vitamins and minerals, covering all of your nutritional bases in case you don’t eat certain food groups at all or in the correct amounts.
Vitamins You Should Look For in Your Multi-Vitamin
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Magnesium
- Calcium
- B vitamins including vitamins B1, B2, B6, and B12. All of these can improve the immune system and provide you with more energy throughout the day
Multivitamins come in a wide range of types and specialties. Some are better for regular exercisers or athletes while others are better for average people without major deficiencies in any area. Multivitamins can easily be taken daily by consuming a single capsule with your breakfast.
2. Fish Oil
Fish oil supplements are also good choices if you’re looking for a helpful daily supplement to add to your dietary plan. Fish oil contains a lot of omega-3 fatty acids: key compounds that can help to decrease bodily inflammation and improve the immune system.
Fish oils can also lower blood pressure and reduce blood clotting by themselves. This, in turn, makes fish oils crucial for lowering your risk of heart problems. Some multivitamins include a little fish oil in addition to their other vitamins and minerals, but not very many.
3. Probiotics
Probiotics are essentially helpful bacteria that can add to the positive bacterial colonies in your intestines and colon. Collectively, the probiotics in your digestive tract make up your gut microbiome.
Probiotics provide a number of advantages to your digestive system, helping your body to break down food and absorb nutrients afterward. Probiotics also make it more difficult for harmful bacteria to settle inside your intestines, which would otherwise lead to other harmful side effects.
You can take probiotics as dedicated supplements in powder or capsule forms, or eat foods with probiotics included in their formulas, such as yogurt.
4. Magnesium
While your body needs several key minerals for overall health, magnesium is one of the most important. However, about 80% of adults suffer from at least a mild magnesium deficiency.
Magnesium is necessary for a wide variety of reasons, including the transmission of nervous system signals, muscle contractions, the production of energy, and the absorption of calcium, itself a key mineral that is necessary for skeletal health. Without enough magnesium, your body can’t absorb calcium properly, which may eventually lead to two mineral deficiencies at once.
Magnesium supplements can also help you to avoid an array of uncomfortable conditions, like asthma, muscle cramps, heart problems, and migraines. Magnesium supplements come in powder or capsule forms and are easily added to your routine by taking them once per day.
5. Vitamin D (During Winter)
Vitamin D isn’t usually included in multivitamins, however, so it may be necessary to include a dedicated vitamin D supplement in your dietary plan.
Vitamin D is also called the sunshine vitamin because our skin can absorb sunlight for our bodies to synthesize vitamin D… provided we get enough sun exposure throughout the day. Most of us don’t, even during the summer since we spend most of our time indoors wearing clothes.
Dangers of Low Vitamin D
But without enough vitamin D, our immune systems don’t function properly and other bodily systems can start to break down. Vitamin D deficiency usually becomes more pronounced in the winter, when people spend even more time indoors and there is less sunlight to go around.
Therefore, it’s an especially good idea to take a vitamin D supplement in the winter at the very least. This can also help stave off seasonal affective disorder (a temporary condition that usually manifests throughout the winter months and clears up with the coming of spring).
6. Vitamin C
You might also consider a distinct vitamin C supplement, even if your multivitamin has some vitamin C already. Vitamin C is a key compound for immune system health – in fact, many immune system boosters are designed to lower the likelihood of you getting sick from the common cold or the flu are packed with vitamin C to give your immune system a temporary improvement.
Vitamin C can also be found in many citrus fruits, like limes or oranges.
Summary
Overall, the above six supplements are most important for well-rounded health and overall wellness, although you may have slightly different requirements based on your unique biochemistry and any existing conditions. Remember to talk to your doctor about starting a new supplement routine so you can target the supplements that will best suit your goals and needs.
Sources
Nutrition – Women’s Extra Needs | Better Health
Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements | NIH
Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Health Professional Fact Sheet | NIH
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