WHY I THINK NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS ARE NECESSARY AND JUSTIFIED
It has for some time been accepted by some of the general public, and the medical fraternity, that the majority of people are not eating correctly as advised by the USDA Pyramid Food guide. The reasons being many and varied, from being to busy to eat at the right times and then eating so called “fast foods”, to being unaware of what the body needs in the way of foods on a daily basis to keep it healthy.
But even the enlightened, knowing that to keep a body healthy we must eat a variety of fresh foods, and the right balance of food, are still not getting all the nutrition their cells need for optimum health. This is due to foods being grown in soil poor in nutrients, plus the many chemicals and fertilizers being added to the soil, which is good for plant growth, but does not necessarily mean that human health will benefit as plant fertilizers are not designed as nutrients for the human body. There are many more nutrients that your body needs which it is not able to manufacture itself but needs to get from our food. So if the soil is nutrient deficient it stands to reason that our bodies are as well. Soil erosion too is a huge problem, and it has been estimated that 85% of America’s topsoil has been blown away, meaning that foods are grown in only 15% of the so called “nutrient rich” soil.
We are aware of some food sources adding IN vitamins to their consumable products because scientific data is telling them that you need more of some vitamins. But many more vitamins are taken out, or not available, and then only some put back in, leaving us still deficient of many necessary nutrients. Selenium and other minerals are added to animal foods because they are unable to get it in their fodder, and specifically added, along with other vitamins, in the processing of dog and cat foods. If it is seen that these added vitamins are of benefit or vital to an animals health why would the same not hold true for human consumption.
Contrary to the belief of some that you “get all the all the nutrition you need by eating a well balanced diet” why would the food industry think it necessary to add extra vitamins and minerals to some of their products. In a conference entitled "Diet and Optimum Health" held at the Linus Pauling Institute this month, some of the top medical researchers in the country shamefacedly confessed that the famous Food Guide Pyramid is a "dummied-down" version of a true healing diet. In fact, this government-sanctioned program of dietary recommendations is so generic as to be useless for achieving optimal health. It says nothing about the therapeutic power of specific foods such as cold-water fish, cruciferous vegetables, or brightly coloured berries, which nutritionally savvy physicians eat on a regular basis.
Not only are our foods being grown deficient of certain nutrients, but further more it is in the processing of foods that the remainder of vitamins and minerals are destroyed. They are lost during the storage phase, the artificial ripening of fruits and vegetable in containers and warehouses. “Destruction of nutrients in vegetables by modern cold storage”(Nutritional Evaluation of Food Processing, Dr. Robert Harris,) documents that for example grapes stored lose up to 30% of their B Vitamins and Tangerines stored for 8 weeks can lose almost half their Vitamin C”.
Just look next time you cut an apple in half, at the oxidation that has occurred during storage, by the colour of the brown flesh of the cut apple that appears. That means that it has lost most of its vitamins during its storage phase. And finally, most of the nutrients in our diet are totally depleted with the methods of cooking, and preparation, of our foods in the kitchens of the world. So it becomes obvious that we need to supplement our diet with the necessary vitamins, minerals, amino acids and trace elements so necessary to help with the process of preventing degenerative diseases as well as our over all wellbeing.
Although diet has been clearly associated with human health it is food nutrient deficiencies that manifests itself in many ways with the rise of not only infectious diseases, but also chronic degenerative diseases, among them Heart Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Cancer and Arthritis obvious more so now than in the past 100 years. Continued scientific studies that are emerging, state that, specific nutritional supplements can prevent, or cure disease, and that a lack of these nutrients in our diets can be a major cause of disease.
Nutritional Supplements provide the best defence against these degenerative diseases and help protect us against oxidative stress, caused by not only the foods we eat and the way they are processed, but also by many other toxins in our environment. Toxins like cigarette smoke, medications, chemicals, pollutants in the air we breathe and the water we drink. The UK Food Standard Agency has recently issued a warning for women in particular, to limit the amount of Tuna fish consumed per week due to the possibility of Mercury poisoning, especially in breast-feeding or pregnant woman.
Oxidative stress is not only caused by food nutrient deficiencies, or toxins, but also by excessive stress, emotional or physical.
It is now recognized that there are a number of conditions or lifestyle habits, which may further indicate the need for high levels of intake of specific nutrients.
All Adults Should Take a Daily Multivitamin, Recommends AMA Journal
“All adults should take a multivitamin every day, according to a
report published by two Harvard doctors in the Journal of the
American Medical Association (2002;287:3127-9). This
recommendation is based on research demonstrating that taking a
Multivitamin may help prevent a number of chronic diseases,
including heart disease, some cancers, and osteoporosis”.
(Vitamins for chronic disease prevention in adults: clinical
applications. JAMA. 2002 Jun 19;287(23):3127-9. PMID: 12069676)
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/287/23/3127
There is much literature available nowadays, and many books written, about how Nutritionals Supplements can be of great benefit and although many Health Care Providers take some form of Nutritional Supplement themselves, they may not necessarily recommend the taking of supplements to their patients, as they are still not quite sure if they will be of any benefit. But as they have chosen to take them for their own use it is possible that they may see that the daily use of a nutritional supplement containing vitamins and minerals may be a useful nutritional insurance policy. The most commonly used supplements are multivitamins plus individual minerals and vitamins.
It is well documented now that every cell and tissue must have abundant anti-oxidants to protect the body and fight free radicals, which can damage cells and cause disease, and huge imbalances can occur if any of some vitamins are present in excess of others. All vitamins must be available together for them to work in harmony. This is called Synergy. There must always be enough supply of anti-oxidants within every cell to protect the body against free radicals. The most common anti-oxidants are A,C, and E.
High Vitamin C amounts in the body can raise High Density Lipoprotein. But this critical vitamin is easily destroyed by heat and oxidative stress leaving us under protected against free radical damage. While Vitamin B12 is essential for every cell of your body especially red blood cells and the lining of your intestinal tract. In yet another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that another B vitamin -- niacin, or vitamin B-3 -- boosts the ability of a common but controversial cholesterol-lowering drug to fight heart disease. It's long been known that folic acid can lower homocystine, but this is the first clinical study to look at the effects of folic acid and B vitamins on heart disease.
And it has been reported that low Folate levels have been linked to bladder cancer in patients who do not consume enough Folate in their diets. Most Health Care Practitioners now recommend adding Folic Acid as found in a Multi Vitamin to the diet of pregnant women.
Magnesium Supplementation may be helpful for Migraine Suffers as evidenced at several clinical and experimental studies. Low magnesium levels have been implied as being part of the cause for migraine headaches and an infusion of magnesium brings rapid and sustained relief. Furthermore, many clinical studies suggest that long-term magnesium supplementation may also reduce the frequency of migraines.
Antioxidants also appear to protect against Type 2 Diabetes. Foods rich in anti-oxidants particularly carotenoids plus Vitamin E in certain forms was found to help reduce the incidence of getting this disease.
Higher intake of antioxidants, in particular vitamin C and--in smokers--vitamin E, reduces the risk of stroke.
"Perhaps the advice the Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association and other public health policy makers should be offering is that for the many people who cannot or do not select proper, well-balanced diets, a modest multivitamin/mineral supplement can be a safe nutritious and inexpensive part of a total health plan." (C. D. Jensen, G. M. Briggs, "Dietary Supplements" Letter, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 258:909; 1987)
Most people take out “health insurance policies” of various types when they should really be called “sickness benefit insurance” as they only pay you for being sick. Health Insurance is the daily use of a Nutritional Supplement containing vitamins and minerals and anti-oxidants plus a nutrient rich diet that is abundant in variety and balance. The old concept of “ you get all the vitamins you need from your food” is truly outdated and no longer valid.
As it is abundantly clear that you are no longer able to get all the nutrients your body needs from your foods therefore the necessity and justification for Nutritional Supplementation is imperative for Optimum Health.
copyright: M. Mason
