Why are nutrients important for my body?

by jenniferprofitt on July 19th, 2005

Good Health Requires Essential Nutrients

* An "essential nutrient" is a nutrient that your body does not make on its own and that is so important that you can�t be healthy without it.

* There are about 45 essential nutrients that are required for overall good health. If you get those nutrients from diet or supplementation then your body has the raw material it needs to function properly. Without them problems begin to occur.

A Shortage of Essential Nutrients Results in Nutritional Deficiency

A prolonged shortage of any essential nutrient results in a "nutritional deficiency." Nutritional deficiencies, depending on duration, affect people in different ways, all negative. For example, scurvy (lack of vitamin C), pellagra (lack of vitamin B3), beriberi (lack of vitamin B1), and soft bones (lack of vitamin D), are all common deficiency diseases.

Deficiency diseases like scurvy, pellagra, and beriberi are hard to miss, but what about sub-clinical deficiency states.

* A less severe example of vitamin C deficiency is tissue weakness, including bleeding and receding gums.

* A sub-clinical deficiency of zinc slows down wound healing and a sub-clinical deficiency of vitamin A results in proneness to infection and poor skin condition.

Nutritional deficiencies lower your body�s ability to withstand stress and, if uncorrected, result in diseases of deterioration. Frequently this deterioration is slow and insidious, doing great damage before the problem is even recognized.

Prolonged shortages of essential minerals used in hormone and cell production results in your body "robbing" minerals from your bones, organs, and muscles; this obviously weakens them and makes you more susceptible to stress, injury and disease.

http://www.totalhealthdynamics.com/vitamins.htm