Vital signs.
More and more products are being marketed as ‘vitality supplements’. What are vitality supplements and what can we expect from them?
Well, the more we’ve seen of them the more we’d categorize these as a product that spans more than supplement niches, and as a result is neither one nor another.
SO you could get a test booster combined with a nootropic marketed as a ‘Vitality Supplement’. In many cases, we’ve seen products which have aspects of multivitamins and aspects of nootropics, so in this article we will cover a few basics. The benefits of multivits and nootropics.
The food we consume in modern western countries often lack important nutrients, with reasons ranging from poor preparation, poor farming and storage techniques, and processing/production methods.
Multivitamins aim to address that issue;
Nutritional deficiencies cause diseases such as anaemia, constipation, and pellagra. Restrictive diets such as vegetarian and ketogenic diets lack important nutrients that are equally important to your body.
The former, for example, lacks zinc, iron, vitamin B12, and calcium.
Taking regulated dosage of multivitamins gives you all the important vitamins and minerals lacking in such a diet.
Research done by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2003 and 2006 concluded that 44% of people who don’t partake multivitamin supplements were at risk of having nutritional deficiencies.
On the contrary, only 16% of those taking multivitamin supplements were at risk of lacking nutrients in their bodies. They also found that using multivitamin supplements reduces the risk of malnutrition for persons taking poor diets from 70% to 30%.
It isn’t uncommon to have decreased bone density as you grow older, exposing us to the risk of fractured bones and osteoporosis.
People with nutritional deficiencies, women and the elderly, are susceptible to developing osteoporosis. An effective way to reduce the risk of decreased bone mineral density and associated diseases is by taking multivitamins.
Studies concluded that taking vitamin D and calcium can help minimize the risk of bone fracture. For women and the elderly, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, and vitamin D based supplements are useful in checking the risk of developing osteoporosis and improving general bone health.
Vitality supplements, as their name suggests, are great energy boosters.
They boost both physical and mental energy. Coupled with the right dietary plans and healthy eating habits, multivitamins boost your energy by modulating metabolic processes in your body.
They help with the healthy flow of blood to and from the brain. Blood supplies both glucose and oxygen which are important constituents in the production of energy. Even better, they provide a conducive environment for the optimization of brain cell mitochondria to produce energy.
If you take on physically or mentally draining tasks and can barely go through the day without burning out, then vitality supplements are a great solution. They help in relieving stress and improving the brain’s resistance to stress.
Multivitamins have been proven to improve eye health. Beyond that, they help in treating certain eye conditions such as cataracts and macular degeneration that causes blindness.
As people age, they are naturally affected by macular degeneration. Multivitamins help in reducing the progression of such conditions.
Nootropics are supplements that are responsible for improving cognitive function. People who use nootropics attest to improved memory, attention, energy, and focus.
They are geared towards boosting overall brain performance, but other reasons for nootropic use include prevention of age related cognitive decline.
Another main reason consumers supplement with nootropic products is the potential for protection. If they have a parent or other elderly blood relative with a potentially heritable cognitive disease such as Alzheimers or dementia they may use the products to stop symptoms developing in themselves.
Supplement manufacturers are not allowed to mention at all that their product may help in the treatment of illness or disease. And this includes mention of illness or disease in testimonials. I know for a fact that nootropic manufacturers regularly recieve glowing testimonials about how their product has reduced symptoms of a cognitive illness in their customer (or often their elderly relative). To their frustration, they cannot publish that review.
The general health of our brains reduces as we grow older. On the onset, they are subtle, almost unnoticeable and are easily brushed off as cognitive decline caused by aging.
With time, they go full-scale and are evidenced by health issues such as poor memory, and being temperamental. Aging of the brain has been proven to be caused by unstable molecules that continuously hit against brain cell membranes, damaging them.
Antioxidants found in vitality supplements can effectively stabilize them and in the process prevent cellular damage. Supplements derived from pine bark extracts that contain complex proanthocyanidin antioxidants help negate the effects of brain damage through the process mentioned above.
Bacopa Monieri, also found in nootropics, contains antioxidants such as bacosides that protect the brain from neuroprotective effects.
Stress is a major contributing factor to reduce mental performance, mental fatigue, burnout, and even depression.
Although some of the symptoms mentioned cannot entirely be exclusively dealt with by using vitality supplements, to some degree, supplements are helpful.
Nootropics, for example, are crucial in regulating the body’s resistance to stress, invoking relaxation, and regenerating brain chemicals that are reduced due to stress. All three play an important role in ensuring higher cognitive performance. Nootropics that reduce stress include:
Beyond having physical benefits, vitality supplements have been proven to improve brain function and mental health.
Nootropics, for example, have been proven to aid in brain regeneration, memory, attention, and neuroprotection. Like every organ cell in the body, brain cells and their membranes need regeneration and repair to ensure optimal brain performance.
Antioxidants found in multivitamins and nootropics help in shielding the brain from anti-aging effects caused by unstable molecules and free radicals. They help in improving brain function by protecting brain cells from natural degeneration, degradation, and damage.
Nootropics such as citicoline have been proven to have neuroprotective agents that speed up brain regeneration and protecting the brain from degeneration. This, it does by improving the structure of brain cells and their membranes.
Multivitamins like vitamin B12 are responsible for the creation of the myelin sheath that shields neurons and brain cells against free radicals.
To be effective, multivitamins and nootropics have to supplement a balanced diet. Without proper nutrition, they won’t effectively offer the health benefits mentioned above. Even then, they have to be used in the right dosage.