Nutritionists and registered dietitians all recognize that a balanced diet is the best source of vitamins, minerals, and other phytonutrients. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, nutrient deficiencies occur, including in countries with abundant food supplies and the means to obtain nutrient-rich foods. For example, the typical American diet lacks many foods experts recommend, such as plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which are important sources of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. With time, deficiencies in one or many micronutrients may lead to serious health conditions

One of the main reasons people take multivitamins and mineral supplements is to maintain or improve health. However, nutritional research is still evaluating the effectiveness of multivitamins and minerals in the prevention of certain chronic conditions. In addition to helping fill relatively small but critical nutritional deficiencies, it may help conditions such as anemia, neural tube defects, osteoporosis, cataracts, and cognitive decline.

Unlike single-vitamin supplements, multivitamins and minerals are generally well tolerated and considered safe for most people when used as directed.

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 clearly states that dietary supplements are intended to supplement the diet, not to prevent or treat a disease. Yet, according to surveys in the United States, just 22% of dietary supplement consumers said they take supplements “to supplement the diet”. Among the most frequent reasons people cited for taking dietary supplements were to “improve overall health” and “to maintain health”.

Multi-Mix Complex™ – Extra Strength is a broad-spectrum supplement formulated with eighty -eight nutrients to promote overall health and wellness. This product contains vitamins, minerals, seaweeds, fruits, vegetables, essential fatty acids, herbs, digestive enzymes, flavonoids, mushrooms, and probiotics.

Ingredients

Vitamins – a group of substances classified as micronutrients essential in human nutrition. All vitamins are organic since they contain the element carbon and are found in plant and animal substances in small amounts. Most vitamins cannot be produced in the body and must be obtained from the diet. Exceptions include some B vitamins, which may be produced by intestinal bacteria, and certain vitamins that can be synthesized from precursors, such as the conversion of beta-carotene into vitamin A. Vitamins are not a source of energy (calories). Energy is obtained from macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats). Actually, vitamins help convert these macronutrients to more bioavailable or metabolically useful forms. Vitamins function as coenzymes (in collaboration with enzymes) for a variety of metabolic reactions and biochemical mechanisms within the organism. Vitamins are essential for growth, vitality, and health, and are helpful in digestion, elimination, and resistance to disease. Vitamins are usually classified as water-soluble or fat-soluble.

Minerals – inorganic elements of which there are approximately 103 currently known and listed in the chemistry periodic table. Minerals are basic constituents of all matter. They are part of living tissue and also exist in their inorganic form on the earth. Approximately 4 to 5 percent of body weight is mineral matter, and most of that is in the skeleton. Minerals are also components of proteins, enzymes, and blood, and they interact with certain vitamins to support many essential functions in the body. Like vitamins, minerals contain no calories or energy within themselves but assist the body in energy production. Although the body manufactures some vitamins, it does not make any minerals. Natural minerals come from the earth. If a mineral nutrient is not contained in soil, it will not be grown in food. Loss of topsoil, continual replanting without enriching the soil, and the use of fertilizers that contain only nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (all that stimulate plant growth), but not all essential macro and trace minerals, means that food may not contain all the minerals it once did. Food refinement and processing further reduce mineral content. Consuming the full spectrum of essential minerals is critical. In clinical nutrition, minerals may be even more important than vitamins. Mineral deficiencies are more common than vitamin deficiencies because the body does not manufacture minerals, and foods are often enriched with vitamins.

Seaweeds – vegetables that come from the sea are some of the most nutrient-rich foods since they are high in iodine, calcium, potassium, and iron, and some are very high in protein as well. Since these plants are constantly bathed in mineral-rich ocean waters, they have a regular supply of nutrients.

Fruits – they have a lot of nutrients, particularly important vitamins such as vitamin A and C, a little amount of B vitamins, and E. Fruits also have many minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, and manganese, some iron, and other trace minerals.

Vegetables – most are rich in vitamins and minerals and low in fat and protein. They are a perfect complement to animal-protein meals, supplying the nutrients that aid digestion and utilization of those concentrated foods.

Essential fatty acids – they are the basic building blocks of which fats and oils are composed. Fatty acids that cannot be produced in the body are called essential fatty acids (EFAs). They are occasionally also referred to as vitamin F or polyunsaturates. EFAs must be supplied through diet. Essential fatty acids are important for many conditions. There are two basic categories of essential fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6. Omega-6 EFAs, which include linoleic and gamma-linolenic acids, are found primarily in raw nuts, seeds, and legumes, and unsaturated vegetable oils such as borage oil, grape seed oil, primrose oil, sesame oil, and soybean oil. Omega-3 EFAs, including alpha-linolenic and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are found in fresh fish, fish oil, and certain vegetable oils such as canola oil, flaxseed oil, and walnut oil.

Herbs – used for centuries by people of many cultures. There is substantial evidence that herbs possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumorigenic, anticarcinogenic, and glucose- and cholesterol-lowering properties as well as effects that stimulate cognition and mood. Clinical research over the past decade has shown the wide range of health properties that herbs promote through their bioactive constituents, including sulfur-containing compounds, tannins, alkaloids, phenolic diterpenes, vitamins, flavonoids, and polyphenols.

Digestive enzymes – all belong to the hydrolase class, performing as biochemical catalysts that use water to break a chemical bond, which generally divides a larger molecule into a smaller one. Another unique property of digestive enzymes is that they are extracellular, mixing with food as it passes through the gut, while most other enzymes function within the cytoplasm in cells. The chemical digestion of food depends on hydrolase enzymes produced by the cells lining the gut, as well as other organs such as the pancreas. The goal is to break large food molecules into very small ones. These can then be rapidly absorbed through the gut wall and into the bloodstream for transport to other organs.

Flavonoids –phytonutrients (plant chemicals) found in almost all fruits and vegetables. Together with carotenoids, flavonoids are responsible for the vibrant colors in fruits and vegetables. They are the largest group of phytonutrients, with more than 6000 in existence. Recently, scientists have turned to various flavonoids to explain some of the health benefits associated with diets rich in fruits and vegetables. Like many other phytonutrients, flavonoids are powerful antioxidants with many health benefits.

Mushrooms – there are thousands of varieties, although probably only about twenty-five are consumed by humans. Most of them have a fair amount of protein content. Many mushrooms are high in iron and selenium. The B vitamins, biotin, niacin, folic acid, and pantothenic acid are often found in good quantities. Potassium and phosphorus are usually the next most highly concentrated minerals, although other minerals are present in varying amounts, depending on soil content.

Probiotics – microorganisms living within the body, while contributing positively to the organism’s health. These friendly bacteria are also called intestinal flora.  They have been shown to support the immune system. They could help rebuild cellular functions, support immune cell activity, and stimulate better immune responses. In addition, research has confirmed that probiotics may stimulate the effects of vaccines. Because probiotics help identify pathogens entering the organism, they can stimulate immune functions.