Micronutrients help provide nutritional stability in the body and are essential to every diet. When the body lacks sufficient nutrients, it can’t perform optimally. Micronutrient deficiency can affect virtually every aspect of the human body including sleep, stress, mood, energy and focus. Unlike proteins synthesized from amino acids, micronutrients aren’t made in the body, so they must be provided in some other way.
Micronutrients, also known as bioavailable vitamins and minerals, help to regulate mood, mental health, physical health, aging, and physical fitness. Micronutrients help the body by providing the nutritional building blocks necessary for optimal health. While essential micronutrients can be found in foods such as raw fruits and vegetables, higher levels may be necessary for those with above average nutritional needs.
Clinical micronutrient supplementation has become a popular and important way to provide higher levels of bioavailable nutrition than even the healthiest of diets can offer.
Think of the human body as a vehicle with thousands of moving parts. If a vehicle runs low on gas and oil, it won’t function properly, and over time some serious damage could occur to the engine, transmission and other essential systems. Micronutrients are like premium fuel for the human body. The body cannot make all of these micronutrients, so they must be provided in the diet or through proper supplementation. Research shows that a lack of micronutrients can create serious health problems, and that providing a balance of highly absorbable micronutrients to the body can positively affect overall health in a major way.[1]
In a perfect world, humans would get all the micronutrients they need from the foods they eat. However, due to a combination of soil depletion, chemical intervention and other factors, there are simply less micronutrients in food today than there were 40+ years ago. [2] Even the most carefully selected diets no longer provide us with essential levels of vitamins and minerals. This creates a need for micronutrient supplementation, especially for those with higher than average nutrient needs due to illness, disease or other environmental and genetic factors.
When a person is deficient in micronutrients, they often feel drained and tired. This is the body’s way of telling us that it needs a nutritional refuel. The higher quality diet a person has, the more micronutrients they absorb. Have you ever noticed that eating fast food or processed foods make you feel tired? This is because while providing a form of sustenance, unhealthy foods do not contain the levels of essential nutrients the body needs to maintain a healthy balance. Even a diet high in fruits and vegetables often lacks the levels of micronutrients scientists have identified as essential in mitigating or preventing diseases and disorders in many cases.
This short video featuring David L. Hardy, nutrition expert and founder of Hardy Nutritionals® highlights how micronutrients help the body, and the importance of providing essential micronutrients for a healthy body.
In human nutrition, science has identified about 40 nutrients the human body must have in order to be healthy. [3] These nutrients must be provided by our diets or supplementation, because the body cannot synthesize them and they are available in no other way. Without these essential nutrients, the body cannot make everything else it must produce on its own to meet its needs.
According to the World Health Organization, "Micronutrients are the 'magic wands' that enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances essential for proper growth and development."
In fact, micronutrient deficiencies have been found by scientists to cause severe consequences in the body such as killing brain cells or degenerating nerves and nerve endings. Dr. Bruce Ames, world renowned human nutrition expert has found that deficiencies of at least 7 essential micronutrients cause mutations by inducing chromosome breaks much in the same way as radiation and chemicals.[4] It is little wonder that this renowned scientist has concluded that we’re starving. “Even though we’re all getting fat, we’re starving for vitamins and minerals.”
Micronutrients help bridge the gap between poor health and optimal health.
The body includes tens of thousands of metabolic pathways, all of which can be compromised if the body is deficient in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Even if we don’t see the effects of micronutrient deficiency right away, a long term lack of micronutrients can cause serious health issues which may be irreversible after years of inadequate nutrition.
One example is the homocysteine pathway, which helps regulates mood and emotions. A lack of proper micronutrition causes build-up of homo-cystine resulting oxidative damage which is a mechanism for severe brain insult. With proper micronutrient supplementation, the homocysteine pathway can function optimally, which can result in more stable moods and improved mental health. [5]
High quality micronutrients can be found in clinical supplements such as Daily Essential Nutrients by Hardy Nutritionals®. Studies on Daily Essential Nutrients micronutrient formulation carried out by independent university researchers have clearly demonstrated improved health and wellness in adults and children with mood and mental health disorders. Further, a number of epidemiological studies have demonstrated the importance of supplementing with properly balanced micronutrients.
A recent double blind study focusing on Alzheimer’s disease found that micronutrients help the body in another important way. The research showed that providing study participants with just three vitamins--folate, vitamin b6 and b12 --resulted in 7 times less brain damage in areas of the brain sensitive to Alzheimer's than in the same areas of the brain in those receiving placebo in just a matter of two years.[6]
With such an improvement from just three essential vitamins, one could imagine the benefit of supplementing all 40 essential nutrients in a balanced, highly absorbable format. Now over thirty independent medical journal publications back the use of clinical micronutrient formulations for a wide range of brain disorders including mood, mental health and brain injury recovery.
According to world renowned integrative psychiatrist Dr. Scott Shannon, the benefits of proper micronutrient supplementation are fairly straightforward. “They are better tolerated [than medications for mental health], they don’t cause sedation, they cause no weight gain issues, people feel more cognitively clear and their energy is better.”
A growing number of health professionals are recommending clinical micronutrients due to the research which supports the fact that micronutrients have no side effects and have demonstrated valuable results in those suffering from mood and mental health disorders.
Broad-spectrum clinical micronutrient formulations such as Daily Essential Nutrients provide a way to work with the health of the body rather than minimizing the symptoms of disease. Micronutrients help affect the core underlying process rather than just covering up symptoms.
Learn more at www.HardyNutritionals.com
References:
[1] www.hardynutritionals.com/studies
[2] www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/
[3] http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/micronutrients/en/
[4] Ames BN and Wakimoto P. Are vitamin and mineral deficiencies a major cancer risk? Reviews Volume 2 Sept. 2002
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2585731/