Nutrition and Cells

Our bodies are composed of several trillions of cells – these cells have specific duties and work together towards maintaining health.

For example:

Muscle cells aid movement, bones are sculpted by bone-resorbing, and bone-forming cells, the lymphatic and immune system cells are important in our defence against disease, the stomach cells put out gastric juice and enzymes, the liver cells are designed to secrete bile, detoxify, to regulate thyroid hormone and blood sugar levels, to store nutrients (such as iron, vitamin A, D, E, F, and K) for future use, and play a major role in the metabolism of the three kinds of food – the liver alone has one thousand functions which are performed by the liver cells.
Every tissue in the body is made of cells – organs are organized clusters of related cells.

Although cells differ in their functions – they require the same basic nutrients.

What are the contributing factors to the mutation of the cells or the aging process?
If new cells were exact duplicates of already existing healthy cells – we would never age or get sick.

The primary causes of misduplication of a normal cell is when we do not have all the necessary components for the cell to function properly – and when we have excess of other things that should not be there.

The contributors to mutation or impairment of the cells are: diet, lifestyle, stress, sugar imbalances, radiation, lack of oxygen, thyroid problems, accumulation of toxins, lack of physical activity, and poor digestion.

Body tissues cannot be repaired unless all of the necessary components to power the cells are there. If the cell is lacking in just one nutrient, in addition to being unable to repair itself or create a new cell – it now also has to remove the excess waste created by the unsuccessful biochemical processes.

Enzymes, Vitamins and Minerals, Antioxidants

Enzymes “The spark of life”

We have 6,100 different types of enzymes working throughout our bodies causing reactions to take place – humans could not exist without enzymes.

Enzymes are key players in all biochemical activities that occur in the body – they are essential for proper digestion, stimulating the brain, providing cellular energy and for repairing all tissues, organs, and cells.

Enzymes are protein-based substances - some last 20 minutes and others can last several weeks – as they age and die, they are quickly replaced by new enzymes of the same type.

Coenzymes and Cofactors

Enzymes can only do their important work when other molecules called coenzymes and cofactors are available in the body.

Cofactors are the minerals and coenzymes are the vitamins. All vitamins and minerals are required if enzymes are to do their job effectively.
Our bodies do not produce minerals and vitamins – they must be obtained from our food and through supplements.

Body pH level

Enzyme activity works best when a healthy pH level is maintained in the body.

Enzyme Inhibitors

There are numerous factors in our daily lives that can inhibit and destroy important enzymes in our food and bodies such as stress, chemicals in foods, irradiation, and lifestyle.

When the body becomes depleted of enzymatic activity illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypoglycemia, thyroid problems, malabsorption problems, etc. soon follows.

What do vitamins and minerals do for our bodies?

Vitamins:

Historically, vitamins were discovered primarily through the deficiency diseases caused by their absence in the diet.

Vitamins are essential for growth, vitality and health – they are necessary for digestion, elimination and resistance to disease.
Vitamins help to convert carbohydrates, proteins and fats into more bioavailable and metabolically useful forms.

Minerals:

Minerals come from the earth – if a mineral is not contained in the soil – it will not be in the food grown there.

Minerals are essential to our physical and mental health and are a basic part of all cells, particularly, blood, nerve, and muscle cells, as well as bone, teeth and soft tissues.

The special electrolyte minerals, sodium, potassium, and chloride, help to regulate the fluid and the acid-base (pH) balance of our bodies.

Vitamins and minerals work synergistically – this means that these nutrients work as catalysts to each other to facilitate better absorption and assimilation.

The dosage of most vitamins and minerals supplement available today does not meet our daily requirements – in addition, some of these go through the digestive system into the colon, undissolved.

We obtain some of our daily requirements for vitamins and minerals through our diet but it is nowhere nearly enough – the increasing stress in our lives, chemicals in foods and the environment, the depleted minerals in the soil, high sugar intake, and lifestyle, increases our needs for a good quality balanced vitamin and mineral supplement.

A daily supplement to support and maintain a healthy body should be taken from early childhood on. It is the ONE WAY to ensure that the body has what it needs to function properly.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants are powerful substances that help protect the body from harmful free radicals.

Free radicals are atoms or group of atoms that are highly unstable – because of their ability to join with other compounds – free radicals can be detrimental to our bodies. The problem occurs when there is an excessive formation of free radicals – this creates a domino effect – overproduction of free radicals stimulates the formation of more free radicals.

This leads to damage to heart muscle cells, nerve cells, and immune system sensor cells – and in turn to heart disease, cancer, impaired immune system, infections, and other degenerative diseases. Calcium levels in the body may be off-balance – and this can lead to other health problems.

Free radical damage is also known to be the primary cause of the aging process.

The good news is that antioxidants appear to neutralize the free radicals.

Carotenoids are some of the most powerful antioxidants – they help maintain the structural integrity of the cells and the healthy functioning of the mucous lining – it has been shown to improve immune response by stimulating T-helper cell activity – just in these ways alone it appears that the carotenoids would be greatly beneficial in preventing the development of cancer.

It is not possible to get enough antioxidants from the diet alone; therefore, it is recommended that a good quality supplement be taken on a daily basis.