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Things to Know About Supplements

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Amino Acids​

Proteins are made up of the 20 different amino acids. Each amino acid can have forms such as L, D, alpha, or beta describing the arrangement of atoms in the molecule. The body cannot naturally produce 9 of them and these are the "essential amino acids" which are normally obtained from foods. There are also "conditionally necessary" amino acids which are normally non-essential except during illness or stress.

  • Essential: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
  • Nonessential: alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine.
  • Conditionally Essential: arginine, cysteine, glutamine, tyrosine, glycine, ornithine, proline, and serine.

Vitamins​

There are 13 vitamins, all of which are necessary.

  • Vitamins A, C, D, E, K
  • The B Vitamins: B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6, B7 (biotin), B12, Folic acid (Folate)

Minerals​

There are 15 necessary minerals and you need large amounts of the 7 macrominerals and only trace amounts of the 8 microminerals.

  • Macrominerals: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur
  • Microminerals: iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride and selenium

Chelating​

Mineral atoms such as zinc must be chelated with either an amino acid or a natural acid ("agent") that will act as a carrier enabling your body to process them. This means for any mineral supplement you will see up to eight variations such as zinc methionine and each chelating agent will affect how your body processes the mineral. The 8 agents are:

  • Amino Acids: aspartic acid (aspartate), methionine, monomethionine.
  • Natural Acids: acetic acid (acetate), citric acid (citrate), gluconic acid (gluconate), orotic acid (orotate), picolinic acid (picolinate).

Plants​

There are many plants and naturally occurring supplements such as Ginkgo, Green Tea, Saw Palmetto that are purported to have benefits in the body. These are not necessary.