Benefits of Food Supplements

#Sample College Research Paper

Nutrient shortage in the human body causes significant health problems and the overall daily body functions and performance. Nutrition studies in America indicate that there are shortages of consumption of many important food elements in prevailing nutrition patterns. Dickinson (2012) estimates that almost a third of American adults fall short of their average daily requirement of basic vitamins and minerals that are needed for enhanced body health, activity and immunity. The author also observes that more than two-thirds of women of childbearing age have low intakes of iron, which can impair cognitive function, physical capability, and endurance (Dickinson, 2012).

Nutritional patterns have changed with time due to changing agricultural practices and the climatic, ecologic, cultural and socio-economic factors, which determine available foods (FAO & WHO, 2001). According to FAO and WHO (2001), important alternatives that aid food-based approaches in satisfying the nutritional needs of people in developing and developed countries include vitamin supplementation and the fortification of food.

There is proven clinical evidence that folic acid supplements protects against some birth defects such as neutral tube birth defects, as well as support better pregnancies and more healthy children; they also help prevent child and maternal mortality at birth (Dickinson, 2012). In general, research findings show that vitamin supplements support better ageing by helping to reduce onset of complications such as cataracts, improving lung performance, enhance brain function, skin development and health, bone health, muscle health and immune functions (Dickinson, 2012). They are therefore, of great importance in nursing homes and more specifically, for the aged. In general, food supplements helps to provide specific nutritional building blocks that enhance balanced human health and immunity.

In conclusion, food supplements are necessary to boost the supply of necessary nutrients in the human body to enhance body health, performance and immunity.