The Five Pillars Of Nutrition

It is now scientifically and medically recognized that even high quality balanced diets often need to be supplemented with the nutrient groups listed below. Supplementation with these “Five Pillars”, or building blocks, to augment a good diet will ensure that you will have a complete and balanced nutritional intake, providing the best possible opportunity to enjoy optimum health and lower the risk of disease development.

Studies suggest that the levels of vitamins and minerals that are required for optimum health and disease prevention are above the amounts that can be reliably supplied in even a good diet. Most of these vitamins and minerals can be provided at optimal levels with high quality nutritional products.

These fatty acids are essential to optimum health from pre-birth throughout our lives, and adequate intake may help reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, allergy and cancer while enhancing brain and cognitive function. Maintaining membranes with essential fatty acids is essential for health.

Antioxidants are the body's defense mechanism against damaging levels of reactive chemicals called “free radicals”. The normal healthy person produces free radicals, but the levels are balanced against the amounts of antioxidants in the body to neutralize them. However, increased environmental toxins combined with decreased levels of antioxidants in our diet results in the over-production of free radicals. This phenomenon is a factor in many diseases. There are three major groups of antioxidants and all three need supplementing to be assured of optimum intake levels

Type I Endogenous antioxidants include Co Q10, alpha lipoic acid, glutathione

Type II Phyto-antioxidants include flavinoids such as those in green tea and green vegetables, Carotenoids such as lycopene from tomatoes and B-carotene from carrots

Type III Vitamin antioxidants include vitamin C and vitamin E

Probiotics are products containing living beneficial bacteria, which colonize the entire lining of our intestine. The amazing potential benefits provided by the bacteria in our intestine include

They enable the entire digestion and absorption functions of the intestine to operate efficiently

They protect us from challenge and infections by potential pathogens

They continuously prime and condition our immune system to function properly throughout our entire life

They can help protect us from allergy and intolerance and can reduce the symptoms in existing sufferers

Modulating the immune system starts with bowel health, the largest immune organ. Modulation means having an aggressive immune system where pathogens and foreign cells will be destroyed; but also turning off and not hyper-reacting to commonly occurring foods, environmental organisms and chemicals. Immune modulation is a balance between removing toxins and over reacting.

You can be tested to see what nutrients you may be lacking and it may be suggested to take nutritional supplements to compensate for what is missing in your diet.