This is What Happens to Your Body When You Take a Vitamin

This is What Happens to Your Body When You Take a Vitamin

Previously shared on @onbetterliving

Research shows that eating a healthy, nutrient-dense diet is the key to long-lasting health, better immunity, and a lower risk of chronic disease. But according to the 2015-2020, Dietary Guidelines for Americans report, most people simply aren’t consuming enough essential vitamins and minerals in the foods they eat. And a poor, junk food filled diet may not be the only thing to blame.

Decades-long studies have pointed to a continual decline in the amount of nutrients in our soils and the food grown on them. A variety of factors may be at play, but it’s been suggested that the decrease may be due to modern commercial agricultural growing methods which aim to maximize quantity over quality. (1, 2)

This means even if we are eating the right amount of veggies, they simply may not have the same nutritional punch they once did.

For example:

• Too little iodine in the body can lead to hypothyroidism
• Too little calcium can cause osteoporosis
• Low magnesium can cause dizziness, muscle cramps, and personality changes when severe.
• Lack of Vitamin C can weaken immunity and in extreme cases lead to scurvy, a condition where your gums may bleed and your connective tissues weaken.
• Low B12 in the body can lead to weakness and anemia
• Vitamin D deficiency can cause lower immunity, muscle weakness, bone loss, and an increased risk of fractures. For children, it can cause soft bones and poor growth.

Plus, your nutrient demands can increase if you’re under a lot of stress, you’re pregnant, or you have a chronic condition. As we get older, our bodies can even have a harder time absorbing nutrients. This can lead to deficiencies, which ‌can cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms and chronic diseases.

To Get These Nutrients, Add a Multivitamin to Your Daily Routine

If you suspect you have a nutrient deficiency, it’s best to discuss it with your doctor. But in the meantime, supplementing with a daily multivitamin can be a great way to support your health and keep deficiencies at bay. We love Daily Multi Essentials+ from Flora. This yummy liquid formula is rich in antioxidants vitamins A, C, and E, protects cells from free radicals, and includes a full range of B vitamins for energy production.

Here are a few of the benefits a daily multivitamin can provide.

1. You’ll Fill Nutritional Gaps

While fat-soluble vitamins, which include A, D, E, and K can be stored by the body, it’s still easy to become deficient. Also, the body does not store water-soluble vitamins like B vitamins and Vitamin C, so it’s vital to get them in your diet every day.

Studies show that most of us can’t get all the nutrients we need through food alone. (3) Even the most committed healthy eaters can fall off track when traveling, not feeling well, or are too busy to cook healthy balanced meals.

That’s where multivitamins come in. They’re designed to give us the missing nutrients to help support our health and usually include essential vitamins like A, C, E, D, and a variety of Bs, as well as minerals like magnesium, calcium, and zinc. They also often include other beneficial herbs and compounds like antioxidants, which can help protect cells.

While nourishing food and a balanced diet free of processed and sugary foods should always be your priority, multivitamins can be a beneficial way to help your body to meet its individual nutrient requirements and fill the void when we’re not eating enough of the good stuff.

2. You May Feel More Energetic

Another benefit of multivitamins is that they often include energy-promoting nutrients like B vitamins, including B12 and magnesium. These nutrients help the body convert food to energy, while B12 boosts energy in the body. (4) Getting plenty of B12 can also help prevent a type of anemia that can cause weakness and fatigue.

Vitamin B3 (Niacin) can help stimulate metabolism and increase blood flow, while Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) is essential for the metabolism of glucose which is needed by our cells for energy and can help boost energy stores in the body. (5)

Iron, found only in some multivitamins, also plays an important role in energy production in the body and is a key component of our red blood cells, which transports oxygen to all tissues. Oxygen and glucose are both used by cells to produce ATP molecules, which is the major form of energy needed to keep all cells healthy.

3. You’ll Get a Boost of Cell Protecting Antioxidants

Health starts in our cells, and multivitamins often include important nutrients like vitamin C and E that act as antioxidants in the body and have cell-protecting properties.

In our food, we usually get antioxidants from plant-based foods. Antioxidants work to neutralize free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can cause damage to our cells. Free radicals make us prone to premature aging and a variety of diseases including heart disease, degenerative eye diseases, diabetes, asthma, cancers, and more. (6)

While free radicals are the natural product of some normal chemical reactions in body processes, other sources of harmful free radicals include drugs and medications, alcohol, cigarette smoke, pesticides, radiation, and pollution. (7)

If you want to live a long, healthy life, getting enough antioxidants each day may be key.

4. You’ll Support Eye Health and Vision

When eating right for our health, we often think of our immunity or boosting our energy, but our eyes need some nutrient love too.

Besides eating eye-nourishing foods like salmon, dark leafy greens, squash, carrots nuts, and seeds, multivitamins can provide key nutrients that can promote good eye health. Getting the right nutrients for our eyes early on can be extremely important to prepare us for the later stages in life when we can be more prone to eye diseases like cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration.

Vitamin A is‌ especially beneficial for maintaining healthy eyesight and is required by cells in our eyes called photoreceptors. Made of two different ‌cells known as rods and cones, these cells signal the brain to tell us what we are seeing. While vitamin A deficiency can cause dry eyes for mild cases, it is also is one of the most common worldwide causes of blindness. (8)

Research shows that B vitamins, as well as vitamin C and E may also play a protective role in the eyes.(9, 10, 11). In a few studies, a greater intake of vitamin C was associated with better eye health. (12, 13).

5. You May Feel More Productive

Multivitamins provide a variety of nutrients that can promote healthy brain function.

B vitamins, not only can help combat fatigue and boost energy, but they may also help improve focus, cognitive function, and alertness. (14) Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) in particular can help improve memory but may also improve concentration. (15)

While vitamin D deficiency can lead to fatigue and depression, optimal levels may help promote improved concentration. Since most food sources are low in vitamin D and about 50% of us are deficient because many of us spend most of our time indoors, causing a low exposure to sunlight, supplementing is usually recommended. (16)

Vitamin C isn’t only great for immune function, but it’s also used by the body to make the neurotransmitter and hormone called norepinephrine or noradrenaline, which is responsible for helping us maintain attention, focus, and memory. (17)

6. You May Feel Less Stressed

Stress can affect the mind and body in a variety of negative ways. But it can also deplete our body's store of nutrients more quickly than usual, leaving us feeling rundown and susceptible to infection if we don’t continually replenish to meet our body’s increased nutrient demand.

Multivitamins contain nutrients that help support the body’s stress response, like vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin C, and magnesium.

Low levels of magnesium have been linked in studies to induce symptoms of anxiety, depression, headaches, poor sleep, and muscle tightness. Getting plenty of magnesium is also important to help your body produce GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid), a neurotransmitter that can decrease stress and anxiety while promoting a sense of calm. (18)

Zinc can help promote a sense of calm while balancing cortisol, our body’s stress hormone, which can stay elevated during stressful times. Too much cortisol over time can lead to symptoms like weight gain, anxiety, high blood pressure, poor sleep, and bone loss. (19)

7. You Can Help Promote Healthy Immunity

A lack of essential nutrients in our body can lead to poor immunity. This means we might find ourselves with the sniffles more often than we’d like. It’s important to supply our immune system with the nutrients it needs to keep it running smoothly. In combination with a plant-rich diet, a multivitamin can help.

Nutrients important for promoting healthy immune cells include vitamins like A, C, D, and E and minerals like iron and zinc. (20)

8. You Can Help Maintain Strong Bones

Strong, healthy bones are important if we want to stay active. In addition to staying active and doing weight-bearing exercises, it’s important to supply them with a steady supply of nutrients, including magnesium, calcium, and vitamins A, C, and D throughout every stage of our lives. Building strong bones early on can also help decrease our risk of osteoporosis later in life, which can cause weak brittle bones, breaks, and fractures.

Fun Bone Fact: About 99% of the body's calcium and up to 60% of the body’s magnesium are stored in the bones. (21)

Hate Swallowing Pills and Capsules? Try Flora’s Daily Multi Essentials+™

Want the benefits of a multivitamin but hate those giant horse pills you’ve come across in the past? A liquid-based vitamin is a great alternative instead. 

Flora’s Daily Multi Essentials+ is a super delicious and potent vitamin formula that provides all the nutrients you need. Plus, it's free of any heavy metals and pesticides, which can be a concern when it comes to supplements like vitamins.

Perfectly formulated for optimal absorption, Flora’s Daily Multi Essentials+ multivitamin includes:

• Antioxidants like vitamins A, C, E, and the compound astaxanthin to help protect cells from free radical damage.
• B vitamins for energy production, hormone production, and healthy blood cells.
• Vitamin D3 for strong bones and healthy immunity.
• Iodine to support healthy thyroid function
• Choline for healthy cell membranes, the metabolism of fats, and sharp memory
• A bioavailable form of calcium and magnesium for healthy bones

It also has a herbal blend with:

• Elderberry (immune-supporting)
• Acerola cherry (immune-supporting)
• Anise (digestion-promoting)
• Chamomile (calming)
• Rose hips (a naturally rich source of vitamin C)

A healthy clean formula, Flora’s Daily Multi Essentials+ is also:

• Vegan + Dairy-Free + Yeast & Gluten-Free
• Free of artificial colours and flavours
• In a delicious base of fruit juices and herbs
• Sourced only from the USA, Canada, and Europe

Flora’s Daily Multi Essentials+ Tastes Great and Is Perfect For The Whole Family

Because Daily Multi Essentials+ is super delicious and made with mango, pear, and pineapple juices, it's a multivitamin you’ll look forward to taking every day.

Safe to be used by adults and children over the age of 4 to help support a healthy body, take it straight or add it to water and sip throughout the day.

For the same great formula but available in smaller sizes for the little ones, check out Kid’s Multi Essentials +  instead.

  Right now, the promocode: VITAMINS15 is good for 15% off the Daily Multi Essentials+  & Kid’s Multi Essentials + now through 8/1/2022 at florahealth.com