ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the essential vitamins and trace minerals, reviews studies of supplementation with combinations of vitamins and trace minerals, and explains some largely unexplored areas in sports nutrition that affect physical performance. All cells of the human body require relatively small amounts of certain biochemical compounds and several atomic elements to enable all body systems to utilize fuel, water and electrolytes for survival and function, including physical performance. Vitamins are an extremely diverse range of low-molecular-weight compounds that have been classified more by legislative definitions than by common biochemical functions. Sodium, potassium, chloride, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium are macrominerals, with typical daily intakes in the gram range. The essentiality for general health of almost thirty micronutrients combined with potentially irregular intakes of any has fostered a particular solution for optimizing adequate status — the multiple vitamin-mineral dietary supplement.
