The Importance of Vitamins and Nutrients: Our Body Needs to Help Prevent Deficiency

When you think of malnutrition, what comes to mind? You may think of someone who is not eating enough food or starving, right? Well, that is basically the truth but may not be in the way you are thinking. There is much more to malnutrition than you may realize.

Malnutrition is when a person's body is lacking in vitamins and/or nutrients due to him or her not eating the right foods, problems in his or her digestive system, not eating enough food or lacking in the vitamins and/or nutrients he or she needs. The body requires vitamins and nutrients on a daily basis but not all of them absorb in the body because they are water-soluble. Two vitamins the body cannot store but continually need are B and C vitamins. Lack of B vitamins will manifest symptoms of fatigue, weakness, depression and loss of hair.

Depending on the severity of malnutrition, taking 800mg of folic acid (vitamin B) per day, hair will begin to grow again, depression will begin to diminish and nails will become stronger and healthier. My mother has thyroid problems and her hair was falling out due to lack of circulation to the scalp, so I told her if she would take 800 mg's of folic acid a day she would see an improvement.

Two weeks later, she told me she noticed her hair was not falling out near as much and was beginning to grow again, which made her very happy. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that helps the body build collagen, which is very important to the skin, teeth, bones and blood vessels. Dry skin and hair, gums that bleed, loss of tooth enamel, anemia and many other symptoms result from the body not having enough vitamin C.

The older we get, the more our bodies have need of vitamins and nutrients. If the body does not have the necessary equipment it needs, it will not function the way it is meant to function. Our body is similar to a car with a full tank of gas. As the car is driven it operates just fine, until it runs out of gas. At that moment, the car will not work or go any farther because the gas tank is empty.

Well, it is the same with our body as it is our gas tank. Over time, it can easily become depleted without the proper vitamins and nutrients it needs. The more the lack or depletion accumulates, the worse the outcome of malnutrition can become, which can lead to disease, disability, ailments that cannot be reversed and death.

There is more to malnutrition than people are aware of and the side effects can be devastating. Eating a healthy and well-balanced diet is a very good start but not enough. Without the proper fuel the body will not work effectively as it is created to do so. Making a decision to add supplements to your daily regimen will help give your body what it cannot absorb. Vitamins B and C are two of the vitamins that our body cannot store, so these two would be a perfect way to start defending yourself against malnutrition.