Can Vitamins and Minerals Increase Exercise and Sports Performance? by Jerry Brainum 11/24

 

 

Most people are reluctant to ingest various food supplements. The common excuse is, "I don't like swallowing pills." Such an attitude is less common among bodybuilders and athletes, who are aware of the importance of optimal nutrition in increasing sports performance and for bodybuilders to aid in building muscle mass. Most nutrition experts, when queried about various supplements, suggest a "food first" approach. That refers to obtaining all required nutrients from natural food sources rather than supplements. While that is good advice, it's often not practical. One reason for that is that the highly processed foods available today usually lack essential nutrients. The advice frequently voiced by physicians, most of whom have no training in the nuances of nutrition, is to consume a balanced diet. The balanced diet consists of several food groups: fruits and vegetables, protein foods such as meat, eggs, and fish, and dairy foods such as milk and cheese. Again, this is fine advice but is rarely followed by most people. Many people eschew foods that are sources of essential nutrients. One example of this is fruits and vegetables. Some of the most popular current diets, such as ketogenic diets and the Carnivore diet that restrict carbohydrate intake, often allow only small amounts of fruits and vegetables. That means a nutritional deficiency can develop if such restrictive diets are used for more extended periods.

Others just don't like many of the foods that contain essential nutrients. In other cases, the type of eating style can lead to a lack of nutrients. An example of this is strict vegan diets. Such diets are limited to eating only plant foods and are totally devoid of any animal foods. The problem there is that animal protein is superior to plant protein not only because of the greater amount of protein contained in animal foods but also the greater amount of essential amino acids. A recent study found that the suggested daily intake of protein, which is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight is not enough to support optimal nitrogen balance in vegans. In simple terms, vegans need to consume more food to get their protein needs. Certain other nutrients are known to be lacking in vegan diets. These include vitamin B12, iron, and calcium. Vegan advocates often say that these nutrients do exist in plant foods, but the quantities are low and plant foods contain other factors that impede the uptake of these nutrients. B12 is only available in animal protein foods and if a vegan doesn't ingest a B12 supplement, they will get a B12 deficiency.

Although many people don't like using food supplements, it's hard to understand why they wouldn't at least ingest a vitamin and mineral supplement, especially if they aren't consuming a large variety of foods. For some . . .