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Our modern lifestyle – mainly sedentary, indoors, and involving toxic exposures – has left us deficient in many of the vital vitamins and minerals needed for our body to function optimally. Added to these factors, the usage of prescription drugs and antibiotics mug out essential nutrients from your body. Forget the food we eat, the soil where our crops are grown does not contain nutrients. Due to all these factors, the majority of Americans are highly deficient in some vitamins, nutrients and minerals. Some of the deficiencies are even considered normal to have. So, what are all those chemicals that our body most probably lacks in? In this post I’ll exactly walk you through some of the chemicals that you may be lacking, so that you can address the issue to prevent or even cure any diseases you might have.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is widely known as the “deficient vitamin” – 7 out of 10 children are vitamin D deficient in US. This number is only going to increase as the younger generation grow more accustomed to digital screens rather than playing outside. The lack of vitamin D correlates with cancer, a weakened immune system, anxiety/depression, and weak bone health.
Daily exposure to sunlight is essential to keep vitamin D levels in check. If you are living in areas like Alaska where sunlight will be lacking for months during winters, you may consider Vitamin D supplementation. Taking 5,000 IUs of vitamin D daily is what is recommended by health advisors. It will take 2-3 months to witness the positive changes in your body due to the supplementation. And, if you are elderly taking only calcium supplements for bone health, adding Vitamin D to it is crucial as this vitamin is necessary for proper calcium absorption. Or else the calcium gets deposited in the joints leading to further problems.
Magnesium
About 90% of Americans are Magnesium deficient. Why is that? The major factors are depleted soil conditions. Another factor is that the government have started adding chemicals to drinking water like chlorine and fluoride. These chemicals easily bind with magnesium present in our body, rendering it unusable. Caffeine intake also depletes the magnesium reserves in our body.
Consider taking magnesium supplements of at least 300mg per day. When you go to buy magnesium supplements you’ll be presented with different variants like Magnesium Oxide, Magnesium Citrate and Magnesium Glycinate. Among these the Glycinate and the Citrate variants are most recommended. For most people, the Magnesium Citrate causes diarrhoea problems due to poor absorption. So, Magnesium Glycinate would be the best option for you as the body absorbs it greatly and also has no/few side effects. When the Magnesium levels in your body is normalized you will witness an increase in energy, decreased stress levels, you will sleep better, and much more as magnesium is responsible for more than 200 chemical reactions in our body.
Vitamin B12
Also known as Cobalamin, is it known as the energy Vitamin. About half of Americans are deficient with this vital vitamin. The role of vitamin B12 is in energy formation, myelin formation, and also blood formation. The deficiency of this vitamin shows itself as depression, mood swings, brain fog and memory problems.
The best way to combat B12 deficiency is by supplementing yourself with it. There are many oral Vitamin B12 supplements that are proved to be ineffective. So taking Vitamin B12 injections or sublingual B-complex supplements ensures that the Vitamin you take will absorb properly. Among the major two vitamin B12 variants called Methylcobalamin and Cyanocobalamin, always go for the Methylcobalamin as it absorbs well and does not cause possible toxicity.
Final words – These are some of the vitamins and minerals most of the population are deficient in. I hope you found this post helpful. Although Potassium, Zinc and Vitamin K deficiencies are prevalent among the masses, they are not that common when compared to the deficiencies I mentioned above in this blog post. Don’t forget to share this article with your friends.
Guest Post by Dave Foley