Sort Your Supplements Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vitamin

A form of Vitamin B3, niacin is absolutely necessary for the human body to function as it's used, within the body, to transfer electrons and allow your cells to work. To put it simply, niacin moves key minerals throughout the body to help facilitate your energy, and in doing so, it helps you metabolize other important components that come in through eating and breathing.

Niacin is quite plentiful in the modern diet, partly because, in many countries, it's supplementally added to processed foods-- especially flour-- to ensure that people don't develop a deficiency (known as pellagra). Aside from flour, niacin is found, naturally, in smaller quantities in nuts, legumes, fish, and meat.

Answer: Vitamin

Biotin, also known as vitamin B7, is primarily found in meats and eggs (though it also appears in some seeds and vegetables) and it plays an important role in metabolism, as vitamins are wont to do, helping the body metabolize carbohydrates and give you energy.

Many use biotin supplements, beyond that which can be obtained from a healthy diet, to restore and support healthier hair and nails, though the research has consistently been out on whether or not increased biotin provides a noticeable difference in this function. It is extremely rare for one to be deficient in biotin and, as such, it's rarely supplemented into existing processed foods.

Answer: Vitamin

You know...it's flavin of the ribo! Actually, it's Vitamin B2, a necessary for metabolizing niacin amongst other key nutrients. In addition to helping other vitamins do their job, riboflavin is considered good as support for better eye health and in migraine prevention/ease. At one time, scientists actually classified riboflavin as 'Vitamin G'.

Riboflavin is found in a lot of natural sources and you can get a lot of it from meats, eggs, and cheeses without needing to take additional supplements for it. Many countries also enrich grain products to include more riboflavin due to the fact that normal milling processes generally remove it.

Answer: Vitamin

Vitamin B3, or pantothenic acid, is an essential component in a regular diet because it contributes to the creation of a body's energy. By working with coenzyme A, created from consumed fatty acids, this specific vitamin breaks down most of the more complex molecules that animals eat. Found in nearly every food item, its own name lends to its ubiquity-- 'pantothen' is the Latin for 'from everywhere'-- and it can be derived from meats, dairy, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes. Even grains contain Vitamin B3, though most of this is found in a grain's outer casing.

Generally, because of its abundance, nothing is supplemented in excess to include pantothenic acid.

Answer: Vitamin

This one is Vitamin C, a vitamin with a great amount of solid marketing since most people know how to get it and what it's good for. Found most commonly in citrus and fruits, ascorbic acid is quite good for immune processes and is often used for cold and flu mitigation. Besides this, good intake of Vitamin C results in brain function and healthy development of bodily tissues.

A lack of Vitamin C, as has often been experienced by seafarers in history, would lead to scurvy. Because of its many benefits, and due to concern of deficiency, it happens to be one of the most-taken additive supplements in the world, whether as pill, tablet, powder, or otherwise.

Answer: Mineral

Found in high quantities in a number of vegetables and fruits, potassium is extremely important for managing electrical charges in every cell, balancing with sodium to ensure heart health, muscle function, and brain activity (amongst a number of other functions).

Those who eat items like potatoes, paprika, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, squash, spinach, or kiwifruit are getting a good amount of potassium, but for everyone else, there are water-soluble supplements that can help the body get to proper levels. A lack of potassium will lead to hypertension and in the worst case, hypokalemia, if left untreated.

Answer: Mineral

In the human body, manganese is most prevalent in bones though there is also some of this mineral found in both the liver and kidneys. It's because of this that manganese is best known for its use in the formation of bone cells.

In humans, manganese is absolutely necessary for the continued health of the human brain, and a regular diet is normally not deficient in this key mineral. Being deficient may lead to deformations in bone though this is quite rare. Fortunately, it's a substance that's found quite easily in fruits and vegetables.

Answer: Mineral

One of the most important minerals for overall bodily health, calcium is most easily obtained from dairy. But to chalk calcium up solely to bone health would be underplaying its role in the body as it also supports neurotransmission, cartilage maintenance, glandular health, blood flow, and overall metabolism.

Anyone not ingesting dairy shouldn't have a hard time getting calcium supplements. For anyone who pulls back from lactose for any sort of intolerance, calcium is also quite abundant in powdered milk, sardines, almonds, kale, and tofu.

Answer: Mineral

Derived most commonly from meat, iron also happens to occur naturally in nuts and legumes. This being said, iron deficiency, or anemia, is often considered quite the common affliction, making peoples' understanding of the need for iron in bodily function quite well-known. Iron is absolutely critical for blood flow and the transport of oxygen throughout the body, and it's the reason that blood is red.

Iron has long been known to be important to human life. Supplements to prevent iron deficiency have been sold, formally, since the 17th century.

Answer: Mineral

Although it seems like one mineral that may have no business being put into the human body, chlorine is actually quite prominent and important, being a key component in the hydrochloric acid that forms in the stomach and breaks food down into further nutrients.

By and large, chlorine is regulated by normal salt intake, and because it's so common for people to dine with salt of any kind (especially the ubiquitous 'table salt'), it's also a method through which most receive their daily intake of iodine, specifically through iodized salt, ensuring strong endocrine function at the same time.