Are you one of the many who take daily supplements?
If you review what vitamins and minerals inhibit or compete for absorption, it may be helpful. Your intestinal track is a long route with a vast surface area; therefore every vitamin and mineral has a good chance of being absorbed during its trip through your digestive track. However, when taking higher doses of some vitamins and minerals, conflicts could occur.
Some common conflicts:
Vitamin C is a fellow friend of iron and increases iron’s absorption. However, it can inhibit copper absorption when they coexist in the digestive track. On the flip side, too much copper can lead to vitamin C deficiency.
Magnesium, copper, iron, and calcium can all compete for absorption; therefore too much of one can lower blood levels of the others.
Fiber can also pose a problem. It can bind many vitamins and minerals and carry them to excretion without a chance of absorption.
How do you prevent this from happening?
The vitamins and minerals you get from a meal will not cause too much of a problem with competition because the amounts found in foods is most likely lower than the RDA. If taking a daily supplement, many are “time released”; therefore they are coated and made particularly to introduce into the gut at different times, keeping the competition low. However, it can vary from person to person, especially when taking other medications. The bottom-line is when increasing a particular vitamin or mineral, make sure that you monitor others that could pose an imbalance. It is always best to ask Dr. Zoll if you question your regimen.