Vitamins for Active Adults
By: Dr. Obikoya

Not many people today can boast they are in perfect health. Indeed, many are so used to feeling “not at my peak” they have simply accepted it as normal. Life has become a continuous struggle for today’s people. You have to hurry to get dressed for work and get your child ready for school if you are a woman. You have to pick your child up from the day care and rush back to work to finish an assignment ready for the board meeting the next day. The salesman is juggling with the steering wheel and his cell phone as he struggles to negotiate the curve on the highway yet not miss an important call that might clinch a major sale. On top of all these hassles, we find or are unable to find little time to eat and eat well.

The scenarios described above will probably be familiar to most of the readers of this article. They are the reasons for the common complaints many of us have of feeling tired and lethargic, lacking stamina, having low energy levels, frequently catching colds/sore throats, having digestion or stomach problems, suffering from high blood pressure, allergies and breathing problems, and having poor skin or lifeless hair, aches and pains, and poor concentration and memory. As benign as some of these ailments sound, they can be persistent, slow you down, and compromise your quality of life.

Regardless of whether you are striving to advance a career; developing your own business; training hard to excel at a sport; juggling your life as a working parent; or just trying to keep up with your grandchildren, your health needs to be in excellent form for you to have the energy to continually succeed.

Nutritional deficiencies and lifestyle factors are major causes of many people's persistent health problems. In particular, many persons lack essential nutrients, including vitamins, trace minerals, antioxidants, enzymes and essential fatty acids, which are vital for good health. Indeed, many of these nutrients are now known to prevent major diseases including heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases particularly those common in middle and old age and to have anti-aging properties.

We need many of these vitamins and nutrients in combination to continually rebuild old and damaged cells, especially those of our immune system, which protects us from infections such as colds and 'flu', diseases of various kinds including heart disease and cancer, and against the many toxic chemicals we are exposed to daily.

The established link between abnormal homocysteine levels in the blood and heart attacks exemplifies the valuable role vitamins play in helping us prevent disease. Homocysteine is a by-product of methionine metabolism, methionine being one of the amino acids that constitute proteins, the basic foundation of life. Under normal circumstances homocysteine is metabolized by a series of chemical reactions and poses no problem to health but people that suffer from heart disease often have raised levels of homocysteine in the blood. Research has shown that if you have raised blood levels of homocysteine you are at risk of developing a heart attack. The evidence suggests that high levels of homocysteine may damage coronary arteries or make it easier for blood clotting cells called platelets to clump together and form a clot.

Further studies showed that three of the B vitamins: vitamin B6 , folic acid and vitamin B12, all have a positive effect on keeping blood homocysteine levels normal, thereby preventing heart disease. Of these three vitamins, vitamin B6 is the most important in this regard, because the enzyme that helps to break down homocysteine in the body hence needs vitamin B6 to be able to function properly.

Folic acid and vitamin B12) are also linked to homocysteine metabolism because the blood levels of homocysteine increases when theirs decrease, which can make you prone to developing heart attacks. There is no doubt that active adults need to take RDA levels of all 3 of these B vitamins, or we run the risk of developing high homocysteine blood levels, and in effect heart attacks.

Research with large population groups have shown that the majority of people have what is termed a 'subclinical deficiency' of vitamin B6, folic acid and vitamin B12. This is a wake-up call for all of us.

You probably have a deficiency of these vitamins if you have the following symptoms. For vitamin B6 deficiency, you will probably experience a variety of disturbances of the nervous system functioning, including seizures, chronic pain, depression, headache, carpal tunnel syndrome, and Parkinson's disease. Vitamin B6 is needed for the synthesis of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, required for normal nerve cell communication. Lower levels of serotonin have been found in individuals suffering from depression and migraine headaches. Alcohol abuse can result in neuropathy, abnormal nerve sensations in the arms and legs. A poor dietary intake contributes to this neuropathy and dietary supplements that include vitamin B6 may prevent or decrease its incidence.

With a folic acid deficiency you may suffer from depression and may develop pernicious anaemia. Women who are on a folic acid deficient diet are more prone to give birth to babies with neural tube defects. With a vitamin B12 deficiency you may also have pernicious anaemia.

The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for these 3 vitamins are:

Folic acid: 300 micrograms/day for adults; 400 micrograms/day for women before, and during pregnancy.

Vitamin B12: 3 microgram/day for adults

Vitamin B6: 3 mg/day for adults

Always check that the supplement you buy contains these 3 B vitamins in amounts equal to the RDAs, namely 300 microgram folic acid (400 microgram if you are contemplating pregnancy, or are expecting a baby), 3 microgram B12, and 3 mg B6 per daily dose.