What supplements are essential for low-carbohydrate dieters?
It may be helping you meet your weight loss goals, but your low-carb diet may also be robbing your body of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. Health experts report low-carb diets tend to fall short of a variety of essential nutrients such as vitamins A and E, thiamin, B6, folate, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, and dietary fiber.1 Your low-carb diet means being extra smart about your supplement choices. The good news is the Natrol® brand offers targeted solutions.† Read on to learn more.
Supplement Essential #1: Daily Multivitamin
A daily multivitamin is essential to help you fuel your body while on a low-carb diet. This is your best bet to ensure an adequate intake of key nutrients that may be lacking in your low-carb diet. For example, Natrol® My Favorite Multiple® multivitamins and most others contain one or more forms of vitamin A (as either beta-carotene, retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate) needed to repair body tissues and keep your immune system, visions, hair and skin healthy.2†
Your daily multi is likely to also feature the B vitamins thiamin and vitamin B6. Thiamin is essential for carbohydrate metabolism and healthy nervous and cardiovascular systems.2 Vitamin B6 is necessary for amino acid and protein metabolism, neurotransmitters production, and the generation of hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying protein in blood.2†
Your daily multi is sure to provide the critical B vitamin folic acid or folate. In fact, all Natrol® My Favorite Multiple® multivitamins contain at least 400 mcg of folic acid – the amount women of childbearing age need to help prevent having a child born with neural tube defects. This B vitamin participates in the synthesis of DNA and proteins among various other functions.2 Folate is found in dark green leafy vegetables, oranges, beans, and enriched cereal grains.†
Your daily multi is sure to provide magnesium, an essential mineral necessary for hundreds of metabolic reactions including the production of cellular energy, synthesis of proteins, nerve conduction, muscle contraction, and cell membrane integrity.2
For women, check the label to ensure your multi contains iron. This essential mineral is a part of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of the blood, and myoglobin, which helps muscle cells store oxygen. It’s also necessary for the formation of red blood cells that carry hemoglobin and oxygen through the body.2†
Supplement Essential #2: Calcium
Supplementing is an easy way to help meet the large recommended daily allowance for calcium, which is often difficult to do even with the best of diets. That’s probably why calcium is one of the most frequently purchased nutritional supplements on the market. Calcium is an essential mineral for bone health, nerve conduction, muscle contraction, and a variety of other functions.2 Natrol® Calcium with Magnesium offers an ideal solution to offset low food intakes of both calcium and magnesium.†
Supplement Essential #3: Fiber
Dietary fiber is found in those off-limits carb-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes, and whole grains, so supplementing is essential. Fiber is important for maintaining regularity, improving gastrointestinal health, promoting satiety, and supporting a healthy cardiovascular system.3 Psyllium seed husk, rice bran and oat bran such as Natrol® Oat Bran are a few types of dietary fiber available in supplement form. Don’t forget to drink more water as you increase your dietary fiber intake.†
For Added Nutritional Support
For added antioxidant protection,4 consider supplementing with vitamin E, especially if your diet doesn’t include foods rich in vitamin E such as wheat germ, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and greens. Natrol® My Favorite® Vitamin E is an ideal solution. And, a high dietary intake of vitamin E also appears to help protect cardiovascular health.5,6,7,8 †
Dietary supplements don’t contain large amounts of potassium so the best way to ensure an adequate intake is to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. † Don’t skimp as potassium regulates your blood pressure, nerve conduction, energy production, and muscle contraction among other functions.2
References
- Freedman MR, King J, Kennedy E. Popular Diets: A Scientific Review. Obesity Research. 2001;9:1S-40S
- Hendler S, Rorvik D, eds. PDR for Nutritional Supplements. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics; 2001
- Marlett JA, McBurney MI, Slavin JL. American Dietetic Association. Position of the American Dietetic Association: health implications of dietary fiber. J Am Diet Assoc. 2002;102:993-1000.
- Hendler S, Rorvik D, eds. PDR for Nutritional Supplements. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics; 2001
- Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Ascherio A, et al. Vitamin E consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease in men. N Engl J Med 1993;328:1450-1456.
- Stampfer MJ, Hennekens CH, Manson JE, et al. Vitamin E consumption and the risk of coronary disease in women. N Engl J Med 1993;328:1444-1449.
- Kushi LH, Folsom AR, Prineas RJ, et al. Dietary antioxidant vitamins and death from coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women. N Engl J Med 1996;334:1156-1162.
- Losonczy KG, Harris TB, Havlik RJ. Vitamin E and vitamin C supplement use and risk of all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality in older persons: the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly. Am J Clin Nutr 1996;64:190-196.