Nutrients that athletes and active people tend to lack
It is important for athletes and active people to make a conscious effort to obtain adequate vitamins and minerals, as these perform a wide variety of functions in the body. B vitamins efficiently break down carbohydrates and fats to produce energy. Vitamins and minerals also have antioxidant functions that remove reactive oxygen produced during exercise. Iron creates blood-essential for delivering sufficient oxygen to the entire body. Calcium, magnesium, zinc, and vitamin D are essential for strong bones. One way to efficiently obtain enough of these is by adding supplements to your daily diet.
Circumstances in which you should consider adding supplements to your diet
Everyone's main source of nutrition should be their meals - even athletes and active people. However, using supplements is something to consider when you cannot get enough nutrients from your food, or when you cannot get certain nutrients for reasons such as:
- 1You are very active and cannot get enough nutrition from meals alone
- 2You have an unbalanced diet
- 3You are on a retreat, etc. and cannot get good quality meals
- 4You have restricted your diet to lose weight
- 5Your organs are weak
- 6You have no appetite
- 7You are vegetarian
Source: Shihoko Suzuki, "Sports Nutrition From the Basics"
