HW-499

PROFESSOR HENNINGSEN

APRIL 19, 2011

Vitamins & Nutritional SupplementsKaplan UniversityMichelle Snyder

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Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements

Vitamins & mineral supplementation can be essential in filling in nutritional gaps in the diet do to improperly balanced meals as well as heavily processing that or current food supply undergoes.

USP stamps on supplements verify their quality (U.S. Pharmacopeia, 2011).

An excellent reference for updated information on vitamins and supplements is the USDA’s dietary supplement web site (Dietary Supplements, 2010).

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Nutritional Supplements3

Vitamins and nutritional supplements can help to fill nutritional deficiencies associated with imbalanced eating and physical activity.

Prior to incorporating any supplements in to your diet and training program you should check with your doctor.

There is no supplement that will replace a sound diet and training program.

Multivitamin

Multivitamins help to fill in nutritional deficiencies form unbalanced nutritional plans as well as strenuous physical demands.

Tablet form is most common but should be a high quality supplement in order to gain the best possible benefits.

Liquid multivitamins have been shown to be assimilated by the body 5x more than that of tablet form (Obikoya, 2011).

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Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that is known as a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants are known to “scavenge” free radicals from the tissues of the body working to prevent the various negative effects that these free radicals inflict upon the body (Hatfield & Gastelu, 2006).

The RDI of vitamin C varies greatly from children to adults and again for those who have disease conditions such as heart disease.

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Vitamin C6

Studies have shown a strong correlation between high levels of vitamin C in the body and the body producing less cholesterol and conversely when there are lower levels of vitamin C in the body cholesterol levels are shown to be higher (Spencer & Saul, 2010).

Calcium

Calcium helps fight osteoporosis

Helps maintain bone density and strength

Nutritional deficiencies are one of the major causes of poor bone health in older adults.

As adults age calcium absorption as well as the micronutrient vitamin D diminishes and thus bone strength weakens over time (Edelstein & Sharlin, 2009).

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Vitamin D

Vitamin D aids in the Absorption of calcium.

Vitamin D deficiency is also quite common among aging adults as their skin is less able to make vitamin D when exposed to sun and less time spent outdoors.

Older adults become less active over time which contributes to

weakening of the bones and loss of muscle mass (Edelstein & Sharlin, 2009).

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Essential Fatty acids

Essential fatty acids are crucial in brain health as well as immune and hormone function and joint lubrication just to name a few (Sessions, 2003).

Some of the functions include hormone balance, joint lubrication, healthy hair and skin, regulation of body temperature and the transport of vitamins and minerals as well as fat metabolization. (Gastelu & Hatfield, 2006).

The best sources of healthy fats are those that are in there most natural state and not processed such as nuts, avocados, healthy oils like cod liver oil, olive oil, flax oil and natural peanut butter.

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Meal Replacement Powders

Protein shakes are a great way to have a properly balance meal that is convenient for those on the go (Sessions, 2003).

Protein shakes are a much healthier option than not eating or eating processed highly foods.

Whey, soy, egg and casein are the most common types of protein powders (Gastelu, 2006).

Selecting an brand a flavor that works for you is important.

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Creatine

Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid that provides cellular energy within the body that enhances ATP which is use by the body for muscle contractions (Gastelu & Hatfield, 2006)

Creatine is a supplement that has been found to provide benefit for various populations as well as many training styles. As numerous creatine research has supported the facts that creatine does in fact increase muscular strength to a greater capacity than strength training by itself.

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Creatine cont.12

Creatine has been found to have positive supplementation benefits in healthy patients as well as those who have diseases in the body such as ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (J Neurol Sci., 2001).

Supplementation with creatine increases the stored energy in the form of CP and ATP within the muscle.

Creatine cont.13

A study presented in an article of in The Journal of Strength Conditioning and Resistance demonstrated greater improvements in strength as well as lean body mass when athletes were supplemented with Creatine Monohydrate as well as Creatine Glutamate (J Strength Cond Res., 2003).

Glutamine

Glutamine as well as leucine, tryptophan, proline, arganine and cystsine are all considered functional amino acids that are needed in the body to carry out various metabolic functions within the body (Wu, 2009).

Stimulates glycogen formation thus energy for the body (Gastelu & Hatfield, 2006).

Increases protein synthesis & boosts the immune system (Sessions, 2003).

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BCAA’s

BCAA’s enhance certain biochemical processes within the muscles thus help prevent muscle damage and delaying the onset of muscle soreness which is directly beneficial to recovery and ongoing athletic performance (Gastelu & Hatfield, 2006).

Research shows that supplementing with BCAA’s pre and post workout is beneficial to decreasing micro trauma endured by the muscle while training and promoting muscle protein synthesis at the same time (J Sports Med Phys Fitness, 2008).

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BCAA’s16

There is also growing evidence that these amino acids are critical in the growth and repair of muscle tissue as well as immunity and reproduction (Sessions, 2003).

References:

Dietary Supplements; USDA United States Department of Agriculture (2010) http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=2&tax_subject= 274&topic_id=1329

Edelstein, S. and Sharlin, J. (2009) Life Cycle Nutrition: An

Evidence Based Approach Jones and Bartlett

Gastelu, D. & Hatfield, F., (2006) Specialist in Performance

Nutrition. International Sports Science Association. Carpintina, CA

J Strength Cond Res. (2003). The effects of 8 weeks of creatine monohydrate and glutamine supplementation on body composition and Performance measures. Lehmkuhl M, Malone M, Justice B, Trone G, Pistilli E, Vinci D, Haff EE, Kilgore JL, Haff GG. Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

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References: continued18

Negro, M., Giardina, S., Marzani, B., Marzatico, F.; J Sports Med Phys Fitness. (2008). Branched-chain amino acid supplementation Pharmacobiochemistry

Laboratory, Section of Pharmacology and Pharmacological , Department of Cellular and Molecular, Physiological and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy 

Obikoya, G. (2011) The Benefits of taking a Daily Multivitaminhttp://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/daily-multivitamin.html

  Sessions, K. Iron Dolls: Bodybuilding Secrets Revealed. (2003) www.IronDolls.com

Spencer, A. and Saul, A. (2010) Vitamin C and Cardiovascular Disease

http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n20.shtml

U.S. Pharmacopeia (2011) http://www.usp.org/USPVerified/dietarySupplements/