Do we really need nutrition supplements? There are various opinions related to this, covering the whole area from “no we don’t” to “we definitely need them”.

Let’s approach a bit in greater detail this topic, as I believe it is important. Many claim that we should get the nutrients we need from food. Moreover, they say a balanced diet should contain all we need, if we take care to ensure proper food variety.

Now here comes the other point of view, which is that we really need nutrition supplements. The reason behind is that in reality we do not have a balanced diet. It is very hard to make sure you get all the proper nutrients in your diet. We have a hectic life style and there is little time for that. Moreover, due to different pressures our system has to face, we have increased needs of certain nutrients. What I mean here for example is stress. In times of increased stress, our body has increased needs of certain elements and even if we get some from food, it is not enough.

I am with the second idea, as I believe the reasoning behind is very sound. We do need health supplements. Now, of course, there is another discussion on what supplements do we need and how much should we take out of each of them. Well, my take on that is that every person is different. We need to make a complex assessment in order to draw a relevant conclusion. Each individual has its own particularities, lifestyle, health condition, diet, etc. I don’t believe in a one size fits all here. There are supplements that can benefit most people, such as vitamins and minerals. Others supplements such as whey protein, glutamine, creatine, BCAA, nitric oxide are mostly addressed to bodybuilders, but they do have benefits valuable to other people, as well. The ones who need to lose weight look at fat burners and the natural solutions fans use herbal supplements. On the market there are products to suit any need.

Nutritional supplements should not replace the key elements that come from food, though. In fact, even their name suggests that they are not meant to replace, but to be added to a good base nutrition. In this case, if well chosen, they need to complement our diet and be adapted to the specific needs that we have.

A special mention has to be made regarding the situations in which we push our body via increased physical activities or sports. The sport supplements are very well spread, as their is a more common perception that these are situations where you really need to use supplements. Indeed, if you require more from your body, ou need to support this. The fitness supplements aka bodybuilding supplements are useful to achieve superior results and ensure the body recovers properly after the effort.

To summarize, there are a lot of sound reasons why we should use nutrition supplements. We will get into more specific details in the following posts. Enjoy!