What are Micronutrients?
Vitamins and Minerals are nutrients that "do not" bring energy, but whose presence is essential for the correct functioning of the body. They act at very low doses and are therefore defined as "micronutrients".
In people in general, but especially for athletes, microelements can make the difference in sports training; in particular for bodybuilders, who often fail to meet their needs for various reasons:
- some have milk intolerance and do not eat dairy products due to the fat content
- many do not eat vegetables or fruit due to their sugar content or because they are not very pleasing to the palate
- they consume minimal amounts of fat and not at every meal
- in pre-competition diets they almost totally eliminate fats and carbohydrates
It follows that integration is almost always indispensable.
For example, for minerals it would be useful to carry out a blood test or a "hair analysis, then on medical advice to act accordingly. It would be much more practical to take a multivitamin-mineral complex daily. Some vitamins have a very short" half-life (especially the water-soluble ones, 3-4 hours) so it is better to use a prolonged release compound associated, perhaps, with essential fatty acids.
Vitamins
They are enzymatic substances and, similar to some amino acids and fatty acids, they are essential nutrients, as our body is unable to synthesize them. The vitamin requirement varies greatly from one individual to another, because the activity of certain enzymes can differ up to 50 times from case to case. Depending on their solubility we distinguish the vitamins into fat-soluble and water-soluble.
The fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the organism and can give rise to overdosing phenomena. If, on the other hand, one or more of these substances, whether or not they are soluble in water, are supplied in insufficient quantities, deficiency problems arise. We will therefore talk about AVITAMINOSIS and HYPOVITAMINOSIS.
Avitaminosis is the complete lack of a vitamin; if this problem is rare in countries in good economic conditions, it is instead a common plague in underdeveloped regions. Much more widespread than one might believe, even in industrialized populations, is hypovitaminosis. , that is, the deficiency of vitamins; the causes are mainly found in the "high consumption of preserved foods, as well as artificially ripened fruit and vegetables. In addition, vitamin deficiencies may arise due to the administration of drugs, especially antibiotics or due to increased needs in pregnancy, breastfeeding, growth, infectious diseases and physical activity intense.
The Minerals
A mineral is a substance composed of the "association of a metallic element and a non-metallic one. These" elements "are" simple bodies "that is not divisible. The universe is composed of 103 known chemical elements, of which 22 are indispensable for the organism; others are present in traces but are not essential, on the contrary, they can even become toxic, such as arsenium, mercury or lead, to the point of causing death.
The elements cannot be created or destroyed, but they are preserved integrally and cannot be transformed with each other to cover a deficiency.
Hydrogen is the basic element from which all others are composed. In fact, 96% of the human body is made up of only 4 elements: OXYGEN - CARBON - HYDROGEN and NITROGEN, of which oxygen represents 65% of body weight. The remaining 4% is composed of the other elements, of which 2 , 5% (of the total body weight) is given by calcium and phosphorus.
The chemical composition varies from individual to individual, for example a bodybuilder will have a higher nitrogen percentage than that of a normal individual. There can be significant differences in the content of mineral elements between various individuals, due to:
-l "age: many metallic elements tend to accumulate over the years
- sex
-l "physical activity
- drugs: both taken regularly but also in past years
-eating habits
-l "environment (from the ground, from the water, from the air ...)
The origin of the food is fundamental; if a certain element is not present in the soil it will NOT be present in the fruit and vegetables where they are grown and not even in the meat of the animals that feed in that place. In theory, in order to have all the foods we need, we would have to eat everything at every meal, but this is practically impossible. Furthermore, for the correct assimilation of minerals the presence of vitamins is often necessary and vice versa. Many minerals, then, to be active must be linked to other substances and the fat-soluble vitamins require the simultaneous presence of fats. Finally, excessive consumption of alcohol and dietary fiber can create intestinal malabsorption problems.
Considering that most of the water-soluble vitamins are eliminated within a few hours, the ideal would be to take a small amount of a multivitamin-mineral supplement with each meal, or a slow-release product.
We can divide the minerals into "MACROELEMENTS" that is present in the organism in greater quantities and in "OLIGOELEMENTS" or in "TRACE", that is present in infinitesimal quantities; among the latter we still have some useful elements (zinc, iron, iodine, selenium, manganese, copper) and some toxic ones, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic. In any case, the toxicity of minerals essentially depends on the quantity that reaches the organism, so they are all potentially toxic at high doses.
