The world today is becoming more dangerous for our health and well-being. Between the coronavirus outbreak and ozone depletion, it has become rather important to take a second look at the lifestyles we lead to ensure that we are doing everything we possibly can in order to maintain our health. Since our lifestyles nowadays often prevent us from being active, getting all the nutrients our bodies need, spending enough time outdoors, or compensating with certain vitamins has become more of a necessity, especially for women, rather than a mere choice. To understand more about the importance that vitamins hold for women, here are some of the reasons why you need to start considering integrating them into your diet.

Maintaining Reproductive Health

Whether you are leading an active lifestyle or a sedentary life, maintaining optimum nutrition is essential for your overall health. Following a healthy well-balanced diet is extremely vital, yet more often than ever now, food is not enough. As women, especially those who are expecting, not getting all the vitamins and minerals our bodies need can wreak havoc on our reproductive systems leaving them weak and unable to function normally. By extension, this can take a toll on the quality of our lives and our mental health. To avoid any complications, it's better to depend on taking essential vitamins in addition to following a suitable diet for your body.

Your Body Needs More Than You Think

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pays close attention to updating guidelines for health and nutrition every five years in regard to the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of each essential vitamin and mineral your body needs daily to be at its tip-top shape. However, there are some age groups and body types that require more than the RDA. This means that resorting to taking these vitamins and supplements in the recommended dosages that are tailored for your body type is far better than popping a multivitamin pill and calling it a day. Most women feel content with eating healthily a few times a week to meet the recommended doses of vitamins their bodies need. However, sometimes this can't be achieved through diets alone. So, make sure that you are getting enough vitamins and minerals into your body.

Avoiding Deficiencies

Certain vitamin deficiencies can take a serious toll on the body if not addressed quickly and properly. Vitamin D deficiency, for example, can cause mental health problems such as mood swings and depression. Women who live in places where long dreary winters are expected can even suffer from physical health issues such as inability to concentrate or get work done, chronic fatigue, slow metabolism, and weaker immune systems.

Since women are more susceptible to osteoporosis, even four times more than men, calcium deficiency is another risk to look out for while you are paying attention to your diet and your needed supplements. Calcium forms more than 1% of your body weight. To maintain good bone health and teeth, you need to ensure that you are getting enough calcium each day either from your diet or by supplementing with calcium to ensure that normal cells, heart, muscles, and blood clotting functions are running smoothly without any complications.

Pregnant and Nursing Women Health

The first thing you need to do when you find out about your pregnancy is to take a second look at your diet and the nutrients it provides you with. Studies found that being deficient in certain minerals and vitamins during your pregnancy will not only harm your health, but it might also put your baby's health at risk. There are endless benefits that a tiny multivitamin pill can offer to pregnant women or those who are trying to conceive. Some studies found that women with B12 deficiency might be at a higher risk of giving birth to babies with neural tube defects. Other deficiencies such as vitamin C, B2, and folic acid might also raise the risk of spinal cord defects such as spina bifida or even fatal defects such as anencephaly. If you did not pay attention to supplementing with enough zinc for your body during pregnancy, you might be at risk of premature and underweight births. Research even found that supplementing with multivitamins might reduce the risk of autistic children.

Depending on diets alone to maintain your overall health is not always enough. Women, especially during pregnancy or conceiving, need to start paying attention to what vitamins and minerals they consume in comparison to recommended doses. This is not only important for preventing any health complications and vitamin deficiencies, but also for their babies' health.


WRITTEN BY

Daria Brown