Researchers have identified literally thousands of phytochemicals and have also developed the technology to extract these chemical compounds and concentrate them into pills, powders, and capsules. By understanding the principles of holistic nutrition, and knowing what vitamins, nutritional supplements, minerals, you need, you can improve the state of your health, stave off disease, and maintain a harmonious balance in the way nature intended. Part One should provide you with a clear understanding of the vitamins, nutritional supplements, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, you need, as well as important information on natural food supplements, herbs, and products that enhance nutrient activity. They contribute to good health by regulating the metabolism and assisting the biochemical processes that release energy from digested food. They are considered micronutrients because the body needs them in relatively small amounts compared with vitamins, nutritional supplements, minerals, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water.
Enzymes are essential chemicals that are the foundation of human bodily functions.
As coenzymes, vitamins work with enzymes, thereby allowing all the activities that occur witin the body to be carried out as they should. Of the major vitamins, some are water soluble and some are oil soluble. Water-soluble vitamins must be taken into the body daily, as they canot be stored and are excreted within one to four days. These include vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins. Oil-soluble vitamins can be stored for longer periods of time in the body's fatty tissue and the liver.