What are nutraceuticals and what are the advantages of using them?

Diet has a significant impact on our health, as has been more than sufficiently demonstrated. The key to a well-functioning body in the long term is to maintain a healthy and balanced diet. This can have crucial effects, such as influencing the onset or not of certain diseases or our life expectancy. 

We receive various nutrients from the food we eat. But, what exactly are nutrients?

Elements of food are called nutrients:

  • Carbohydrates: The main purpose of carbohydrates is to supply energy to the body.
  • Amino acids: They are essential to create and repair organ tissues.
  • Fats: They provide essential fatty acids and energy. There are several types:
    • Saturated: They usually come from animals.
    • Monounsaturated: Examples are avocados and olive oil.
    • Polyunsaturated: Omega 3 and omega 6 are examples of this type.
  • Vitamins: Vitamins must be consumed through the diet, as the body is unable to produce them. They perform crucial metabolic tasks.
  • Minerals: They are necessary for the metabolism to function properly.

Each food provides us with a more or less large portion of each of these nutrients, together with a normally significant amount of water, which is also crucial for the body.

Foods naturally include nutrients that, when consumed as part of a balanced diet, allow our body to absorb them effectively and maintain our health. In this way, the ideas of food and health are combined in a simple and straightforward way, and from this union a concept is derived: nutraceuticals.

Simply put, a nutraceutical is a product that combines nutrition with a pharmaceutical or therapeutic effect. It is about using the all-natural nutritional and functional properties of foods to offer health-promoting benefits that serve both to prevent and to aid in the treatment of ailments.

Using natural nutrients in a much higher concentration of active components than we can obtain in foods naturally is all that is needed to achieve this goal.

This additional nutritional contribution of nutraceuticals is intended to:

  • Assist in the prevention and treatment of disease.
  • Improve health.
  • Slow down the aging process.
  • Prolong life expectancy.
  • Support the structure and functionality of the organism.

Biobest Wellness products are intended to complement the diet and not to replace it. It is always important to maintain a balanced diet, even if you sometimes or regularly use nutraceuticals to support certain elements of your health.

Although nutraceuticals may seem like a modern, contemporary product, their fundamental components date back hundreds of years, as various civilizations have used nutrients offered by nature for therapeutic purposes. Thus, foods have been used as medicine for centuries by peoples such as the Indians, Egyptians, Chinese and Sumerians.


Importance of vitamins to health

Vitamins are essential nutrients for the control of various bodily processes. They are crucial for the synthesis of nerve neurotransmitters, hormones, blood cells, genetic material and tissues.

Vitamins can function as coenzymes or catalysts. They act as catalysts by binding to proteins to create enzymes, which in turn trigger vital chemical processes in the body. As coenzymes, they transport chemicals from one body cell to another.

The only naturally occurring vitamin that the human body can manufacture is vitamin D. The rest must be consumed through food or supplements. Studies have been carried out to determine the benefits of vitamins.


Water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins

At present, there are different types of vitamins that are classified as water-soluble, among them the vitamin B group and vitamin C. These vitamins are rapidly eliminated from the body through urine, so they must be taken more regularly because they cannot be stored. 

The fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins D, E, K and A. They enter the body and pass into the circulation after being absorbed by the digestive system. As they are more difficult to digest, the leftovers are stored in the liver or in body fat. 

In summary, vitamins are crucial for good nutrition, as they provide the elements necessary for normal growth and development of the body. In general, the body needs thirteen different vitamins that come both from the daily intake of fresh foods and from supplements. Certain diseases or vitamin deficiencies are likely to occur if the body does not get enough vitamins.