BASIC CONCEPTS

Lef s start with a few basic definitions. A supplement is any prepara­tion designed to help the body reach its optimal state of nutrition. It supplies the vitamins, minerals, and other elements essential to op­timal bodily and immune function. Very literally speaking, a sup­plement is simply supposed to furnish what is lacking. Minerals, the focus of many supplements, are nonorganic substances that usually

 

come from the earth's crust. Minerals contain many of the elements essential for cellular function, such as sodium, potassium, magne­sium, and calcium. Vitamins, also emphasized in many supple­ments, are largely unrelated organic substances that the body requires in tiny amounts to maintain normal metabolic functioning. Finally, there is a huge variety of other supplements that are unre­lated chemically, and are touted to have different effects on the body, based on either scientific evidence or empirical observations. A sampling of such supplements could include coenzyme A, aloe vera, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), pycnogenol, colostrum, saw palmetto, N-acetylcysteine, and methyl-sulfonyl-methane (MSM). Literally, thousands of different such supplements are presently available. The only common thread in this category is that a benefi­cial effect on the body is felt to occur from the ingestion of these nonvitamin, nonmineral supplements, although they may have their own vitamin and mineral content. They can have hormonal ef­fects, vitamin-like effects, enzyme-helping effects, toxin-neutralizing effects, or immune system-supporting effects. Generally, if you don't take any of these different supplements, you will never be considered to have a "deficiency state" of any of them, as you may if you become depleted enough of the basic vitamins and minerals. This is not to say, however, that a selection of some of these prepa­rations may not prove to be essential to your maintenance of good health or your return to good health. However, choosing the right ones is not always straightforward, and no single regimen of sup­plementation is right for everyone. Lef s look at each of these cate­gories in more depth.