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" Picture: Tom Allen for Harper&amp;#039;s Bazaar Imagine you could flood your body with vitamins and minerals in a single shot? Well, not only is that possible, it may also be a great way to achieve and maintain stellar health, too. &amp;quot;A vitamin IV allows for easier absorption of nutrients,&amp;quot; says\u00A0John P. Salerno, MD, an alternative medicine doctor and director of\u00A0The Salerno Center, who has a menu of approximately 31 vitamin IV options at his NYC practice, including those for boosting energy, decreasing anxiety and fatigue as well as lessening symptoms of arthritis and asthma. While eating nutrient-dense foods and popping supplements are the basic go-tos for getting vitamins and minerals daily, receiving them in IV form delivers extremely high doses otherwise not possible to reach. &amp;quot;For example, we can administer a very high dose of vitamin C - around eight times more than you could get orally,&amp;quot; explains Dr. Salerno. &amp;quot;Along with vitamin C, many of the IV&amp;#039;s contain other trace minerals including zinc, magnesium, calcium, manganese and copper, and vitamin B12 for energy, as well as glutathione.&amp;quot; Who can benefit from injectable vitamins? Dr. Salerno recommends the IV if you want to ward off or prevent a cold or flu, if you follow a specific diet where getting ample nutrients might be difficult, or if you have certain health issues with absorption such as gluten, or irritable bowel syndrome which can prevent your body from properly absorping nutrients. A vitamin IV can also help keep toxin levels - such as heavy metals - under control by adding chelating ingredients into the mix. To choose the perfect vitamin cocktail for your needs, Dr. Salerno administers a blood test to gauge levels of various nutrients and see where exactly you&amp;#039;re deficient. &amp;quot;Then depending on those levels, I&amp;#039;ll recommend that you receive the IV once a week to build higher levels of those specific nutrients,&amp;quot; says Dr. Salerno, who adds that you should expect to sit with the IV for around an hour at a time as it slowly enters the body. &amp;quot;Then we re-check blood levels after five to 10 treatments to see how they&amp;#039;ve changed and make any necessary changes.&amp;quot; Since it doesn&amp;#039;t replace a healthy diet, think of a vitamin IV as more of a supplement that you can try every few months to improve your health. &amp;quot;If you&amp;#039;re generally healthy and your vitamin levels are good and you don&amp;#039;t have any immune issues, then after the first session, I&amp;#039;d recommend maintenance and preventative treatments every three months or so,&amp;quot; he says, adding that eating a well-rounded diet rich in minerals and vitamins to get what you need naturally from fruits and veggies is essential, too. The bottom line: eat a wide range of fruits and vegetables such as green leafy kinds (think: kale, spinach and arugula as well as an array of other colors like carrots, beets, etc.) but if you want to take your health to a whole new level, consider using a customised IV, too. By Nicole Catanese, via HarpersBazaar.com  *** MORE FITNESS &amp;amp;amp; WELLBEING The best health and fitness appsTop tips for runningThe importance of water "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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