Vitamins And Minerals That Support The Circulatory System

The circulatory system provides essential services to the body, including the transport of oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body, as well as the removal of waste products. In order for this system to be at its most efficient, it is necessary to have a sufficient intake of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that are essential to the health and functioning of the body.

Many of these vitamins and minerals directly affect the circulatory system, supporting it in its tasks within the body and contributing to the various physical structures that make up the system.

The circulatory system is made up of the heart, the arteries, which transport the oxygenated blood throughout the body, the veins, which carry out waste products and return the blood to the heart to be re-oxygenated, and the capillaries, which are the tiniest blood vessels, running through the tissues of the body. In addition to oxygen, the nutrients and water that the body needs also are carried through the blood via the circulatory system.

Vitamin C is important to this process, as it is responsible for strengthening the walls of the blood vessels throughout the body. This has to do with its role in the production of collagen, which is an essential connective tissue.

Copper is a mineral that is also necessary for the process of making the body’s connective tissue. Biotin is important to the health of the circulatory system, as well as to the circulatory system’s functioning, as it has a role in several essential enzyme processes.

Vitamin E helps to promote the healthy functioning of the circulatory system in a couple of ways. It helps to dilate the veins and it has a role in the controlling of blood clotting. Another important aspect of Vitamin E is its antioxidant properties, something that it shares with Vitamin C. These vitamins, with the help of other antioxidants, serve in the essential capacity of bringing free radicals, which if left unchecked can damage body tissue, under control.

Potassium, in addition to its well known benefits to the heart, serves the other parts of the circulatory system, as well. One important function of potassium is to regulate blood pressure and fluid balance in the circulatory system.

Sodium shares in these important functions of maintaining the blood’s balance and pressure. We hear so much about the negatives of sodium that it’s easy to forget that sodium is, in reality, a mineral that is essential to the body’s functioning, particularly in the circulatory system. Sodium also offers a valuable lesson concerning moderation – too much of it can kill you, as can too little.

The circulatory system is essential to life itself. It makes sense to support its essential processes and functioning with a diet that each day meets the standard recommended intake levels of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Nutritional supplements offer a reliable and safe means of accomplishing this important health goal.

Because the balance of nutrients is so vital to proper functioning of the body and its supporting systems, you may want to consider devising a personalized nutritional supplement plan, according to your individual dietary needs, with the assistance of a licensed nutritionist or you usual health care provider.

The Antioxidant Minerals

Because the antioxidant vitamins tend to get most of the press and publicity, many people are unaware that there are also important antioxidant minerals that are essential to the body’s continuous battle against free radicals and the damage they do. Making sure that the proper nutrients are consumed daily is a necessary part of helping the body to be able to keep free radical damage as low as possible.

A mineral, vitamin or other nutrient is deemed antioxidant if it, on its own or as an essential part of a group of substances, it serves to bring free radicals under control. Free radicals are unstable molecules that generally come from both environmental contaminants and some of the body’s natural processes. There are certain minerals that are an integral part of managing the free radical population within the body.

Selenium has come to be recognized as one of the most important of these minerals, though each does play an important role in free radical management. Selenium is an essential component of the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase, and this substance is one that is able to stabilize the free radical.

Since the universal acceptance of the mineral selenium, a trace element, as an essential nutrient during the 1950’s, researchers have been studying the ways that it affects health. In 1973, researchers confirmed the antioxidant properties of the mineral selenium, and since then, numerous studies have demonstrated that it may play a significant role in the prevention of certain types of cancers.

However, it should be noted that excessively high levels of selenium can cause serious health problems – as can deficiencies of selenium – and some studies have found excessively high levels of selenium to be associated with other types of cancer. The body is a delicate balance of a variety of chemicals and substances, and optimum performance requires thought and planning.

The minerals zinc and copper form part of another of the body’s important antioxidant enzymes. This enzyme, called superoxide dismutase, is present in the body in two forms. The first form is found almost everywhere in the body, and it needs zinc and copper to function.

The second form of this important antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase is found specifically in the mitochondria, which is the part of the cell responsible for changing the energy that comes from the various nutrients into a form that can be used by the cells. In this second form of the enzyme superoxide dismutase, it is the mineral zinc and the mineral manganese that are essential to the antioxidant enzyme’s ability to function properly.

Making sure that the body has all of the minerals, vitamins and other nutrients it needs each day is very important for both day-to-day and long-term health and well-being. Dietary supplements are a safe and effective means of seeing that the body does have all of the nutrients it needs for all of its systems to work at peak performance levels, especially those that maintain daily health and those that protect health over the long-term. However, nutritional supplements are powerful agents, and must be used within the established dosage guidelines to be beneficial to the health. Used in this fashion, dietary supplements can serve as a valuable part of any health routine.