Elson Haas

Your mom may not be giving you chewable vitamins with your breakfast anymore, but that doesn't mean you can just forget about them! Following a daily program of taking supplements and eating nutrient-dense foods is vital for maintaining your health and getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy.

Alanine is a nonessential amino acid, meaning that if you don’t get this nutrient from you diet, your body can manufacture it. It is an important part of human muscle and one of the few amino acids that transforms into glucose, an important sugar that your body uses as an energy source. Alanine is included in some energy and sports formulas, but is less popular as a single supplement.

Inositol and Paba are manufactured by your body from the nutrients you ingest when you chow down on a meal or a snack. Nutritionists usually lump them with the B vitamins. Inositol is a lipotropic vitamin-like substance that is found in soy lecithin along with choline. Your body can create all the inositol it needs, so it’s unnecessary to get the substance straight from your diet.

The nutrient tryptophan is an essential amino acid well known for its ability to affect the levels of the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Tryptophan is important in helping your body create vitamin B-3 and the hormone melatonin. This amino acid and its byproducts play an important role in regulating mood, sleep cycles, and the perception of pain.

Boron is a trace mineral essential to human health and must be obtained from diet or supplements. This nutrient recently gained popularity after researchers found that it helps the bones use calcium. Increased boron levels in the soil have been associated with a lower risk of osteoarthritis. Trace minerals occur in the soil, in foods, and in your body at much lower levels than the macrominerals, so they become more easily depleted.

Calcium is a critical mineral nutrient. You must include calcium in your diet because your body can’t manufacture it. Calcium is essential for the formation and maintenance of bones and teeth. The strength of your bones depends on calcium and other minerals like silicon and magnesium that you absorb from your diet, particularly during your years of growth and development.

Glycine is a nonessential amino acid. Dietary sources of this nutrient include fish, meats, beans, and dairy products. It also comes from choline in the liver and the amino acids threonine or serine. Glycine is an important nutrient for detoxifying chemicals in your body and helps wounds heal. Its beneficial effects for schizophrenics have been studied for more than ten years.

Phenylalanine — an essential amino acid— is readily available in most food sources, particularly high in meats and milk products, with lower levels found in oats and wheat germ. To make use of phenylalanine, your body requires vitamin B-3, vitamin B-6, vitamin C, copper, and iron. Phenylalanine is used to form tyrosine.

Dietary sources of glutamic acid — a nonessential amino acid — are animal and vegetable proteins. This nutrient is found in high concentrations in the human brain. Proline derives from glutamic acid. Proline is one of the main amino acids your body uses to build collagen, which makes up the tough, elastic fibers of scar tissue and is the main structural material of your body — bones, tendons, ligaments, and skin all contain collagen.