Minerals supplements for women have increased in popularity over the last couple of years. More women are looking for ways to better take care of their bodies, and taking vitamins and minerals is one way they are doing that. What many people don’t realize though is that minerals supplements are not all the same. There are several different types, and some may be more important than others.
For example, one of the most important minerals for women’s health is calcium. Calcium works with many other nutrients to keep our bodies strong and healthy. However, it is often lost through dietary supplements and can even be taken by adults as a supplement to replace less valuable forms of calcium in their diets. This makes dietary supplements particularly important for older women, or women who have been on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or similar medications for a while. The calcium in these medications wears off and needs to be replenished.
Other minerals that are commonly sold as dietary supplements include iron and magnesium. While these two minerals are found in various foods, they are also lost when we eat. Iron can be lost when red meat is cooked, or if your hair is washed with strong detergents. Magnesium, on the other hand, tends to be lost more readily through sweat. It can also be lost when you sleep.
A mineral evaluation tool can help determine how much of each mineral a woman should be getting. The evaluation uses a multiple-nutritional panel to identify the different marks on the panel that indicate the levels of each mineral. The results of the test are then combined with a table showing the results of the mineral content in commonly sold body supplements. Based on the information in the table, the mineral supplement dose can be determined. The results of this test are shown in the drop down list.
If you take a multivitamin containing iron, it is likely that you will get more of an iron boost from the tablets than you would get from eating an iron-fortified meal. So even though your body is getting more iron than usual, dietary supplements may not be the best option for increasing the amount of iron in your body. Similarly, a multivitamin containing magnesium will not provide more magnesium than you would get from eating a dinner with dinner, or even a snack throughout the day. In many cases, the minerals and nutrients in the supplements do not match up with the amounts contained in the foods. This means that a person could be getting too much magnesium or too little iron, or too much copper and not enough of the other nutrients. Body builders and sportsmen are at particularly high risk of this problem, as their nutrient deficiencies are very pronounced.
One of the problems with using a single label claim to determine your nutrient intake is that the claim may be based on a misreading of the bottle or can itself. Some manufacturers state that their nutritional supplements are ‘made specifically for you’ but this is not an accurate way to describe what goes into a bottle of multivitamins or the components that go into a multivitamin. As the manufacturers themselves do not understand all of the components of a multivitamin, they cannot accurately and honestly claim that a supplement is ‘designed especially for you’. This leaves the door wide open for all kinds of potential problems. For example, although they may state that their minerals and other nutrients are carefully balancing to make sure that there is a proper balance between the minerals and other ingredients, they still have no idea what that balance is and how to achieve it.
The other problem with dietary supplements is that they are rarely sold as individually packaged products and, therefore, the nutritional information is not presented in easy to read and understand formats that can be easily compared between different brands. This makes it very difficult to compare the differences in nutrient content across different brands of supplements. For example, it is not unusual for a vitamin E supplement to contain significantly less antioxidant than a brand of multi-vitamins that contains the same amount of antioxidant, yet the nutrient content of one product is significantly higher than the other.
As, well as these issues regarding mineral supplements, there is also a potential for allergic reactions to some of the ingredients in the formulations. If you suffer from a sensitive skin condition such as acne, eczema or rosacea you should avoid using a product that contains vitamin A or an alpha hydroxyl acid (AHAs). If you are prone to anaphylactic shock, you should avoid any formulation that contains aspirin. Although you should consult with your doctor before taking any dietary supplement, it is important that you consider the possible benefits and risks before you start consuming them. If you are unsure about which minerals supplements to take, you can obtain reliable dietary information on the internet.