Most nutrients don’t work alone. They interact,
join forces, cancel each other out, or fight for
position on your body’s metabolic pathways.
This is one reason a balanced diet is preferred over
supplements: foods contain the right mixtures of nutrients
needed by your body, while some supplements, as we’ve
learned, aren’t a good mixed together.
We’ll look at only five examples. There are many,
many more.
1. Vitamin D and Calcium. Like most nutrients, calcium
is absorbed in your small intestine.
If there is a large amount of calcium in your gut, it
can move across the intestinal lining on its own.
But in smaller quantities, it gets some help from
vitamin D.
Vitamin D also helps with phosphorus absorption, also
needed for bone health. Today’s official nutrient guidelines
recommend that adults get 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium
daily, along with 400 International Units (IU).
When you hit 50, you need to increase the calcium to
1,200 mg daily, and once you’re past 70, up the vitamin
D to 600 IU.
2. Sodium and Potassium. Around 90% of the sodium you
get is in the form of common table salt – sodium chloride.
Both sodium and chloride are needed minerals, but the
average American consumes nearly 1,000 mg more sodium than
they need.
That excess sodium causes the arteries to lose their
ability to expand and contract, along with creating an
excess of water in the body.
So too much sodium leads to high blood pressure and
heart problems.
Taking potassium, though, can counteract some of those
effects. Potassium encourages the kidneys to get rid of
sodium.
Many studies have shown a link between high potassium
levels and lower blood pressure. Current guidelines
recommend keeping a 4:1 or 3:1 ration of potassium to
sodium.
This works out to your getting around 4,700 mg of
potassium daily, and only 1,200 to 1,500 mg of sodium.
Most Americans get about half the amount of potassium
and at least twice as much sodium as they need.
3. Vitamin B12 and Folate. B12 and folate (another
B vitamin) work together to support cell division
and replication.
They also work together to metabolize homocysteine.
And folate depends on B12 to be absorbed, stored,
and metabolized by the body.
You can easily get B12 from meat, eggs, milk, and
other animal foods – or from a monthly injection
or daily pill.
Folate is found in leafy green veggies, beans,
and legumes – or with folic acid pills.
In fact, folate in tablet form is even better
absorbed than that from food.
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