Can You Do Without Supplements?
Why nutritional supplements?
Have you eaten 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables today? Even if you have there’s a good chance you didn’t get the nutrients you need from those fruits and vegetables.
In fact, The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that it takes seven cups of today’s spinach to equal the nutrition that a single cup provided in 1960!
“I can do without supplements, so do I really need to take them?” I have heard this argument more than a dozen times before.
The problem with most people is that they base their health on how they feel. Just because you feel healthy and perfectly fit now, does not mean you do not need supplements.
You invest in your future financially, why wouldn’t you invest in your future health?
When it suddenly strikes - an illness, a health problem, a sign of old age, weakness - we begin to search for a dietary or herbal supplement to help us get out of the hole we have unfortunately dug for ourselves.
Our bodies need maintenance like anything else, don’t wait until you have a problem to think about health.
Nutritional deficiency is almost impossible to avoid in these modern times. With our busy lifestyle, the ever-tempting convenience of fast food, it is now very difficult to enjoy excellent daily nutrition.
The research is clear. According to the World Health Organization, diet and nutrition play key roles in supporting good health. A bulletin published by the USDA admits that Americans, as a whole suffer from generally poor nutritional habits (Frazao, 1999). As a nation we are overfed and undernourished. Two thirds of American adults are overweight or obese (Flegal et al, 2002; Hedley et al, 2004), and high percentages of us are chronically deficient for one or more of the essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants (FASEB, 1995).
Is it shocking that we have such high rates of preventable diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and bone disease? Of course not.
It would be ideal if everyone could eat at least 5 to 7 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day, which is generally recommended by nutritionists in order to get the optimal daily nutrient intake. However, modern day food practices account for measurable losses of necessary nutrients. The Journal of the American Medical Association published a report by the Harvard researchers, Fletcher and Fairfield, stating that:
“Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”
Dr. Bruce Ames, from the Oakland Children Hospital Research Institute, has published reports on how his patients have seen benefits from taking high doses of vitamins to prevent genetic diseases.
Unless you’re living near an organic garden year around, eating large quantities of fresh vegetables then there is a good chance you’re malnourished.
This is not to say, though, that health supplements should replace proper nutrition. Besides, nutritional supplements are still supplements. They work by complementing your diet to make sure you get the right nutrients that you need.
I admit that it is difficult to stay away from restaurants or non-fresh foods. If your lifestyle and work conditions prevent you from having a nutritious diet, then your only hope for better illness-free health is a good dietary supplement.
What are the benefits that you can get from nutritional supplements?
First of all, supplements help you overcome nutritional deficiencies. We need all the nutrients in their proper amounts for optimum health. Since our diets most likely can not provide all of them, nutritional supplements can fill in those gaps.
Nutritional supplements also help boost our immune system. The stronger your immune system, the more resistant your body can be against disease. Think of that next time you suffer a common cold or flu.
Two Harvard doctors reviewed approximately 40 years of research and discovered that there was a link between vitamins and certain diseases. While this information has been believed by many health care professionals for decades, there is now scientific proof. For example, these doctors reported “suboptimal levels of vitamins B-6 and B-12 are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, neural tube defects, and colon and breast cancer; low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteopenia (mild thinning of the bone mass) and fractures; and low levels of the antioxidant vitamins (A, C, and E) may increase risk for several chronic diseases.”
Nutritional supplements are also useful in getting rid of the toxins which we horrendously take in everyday. The environmental stresses we go through, chemicals we are in touch with, as well as our lifestyle - these all subject us to harmful toxins which can lead to serious health problems. Supplements, most especially anti-oxidants, can help our body keep toxins to a minimum.
There are much more benefits that nutritional supplements can provide. The main point is that these supplements help you have the optimum health you deserve and minimize the risk of diseases.
Many people have the same complaint, why spend more for a higher quality supplement? The problem that I mainly see is that people do not really take supplements seriously. They take the one most available, or perhaps the cheapest. They are stingy with their health and it shows.
If you’re not taking a daily multivitamin or supplementing with your necessary vitamins and minerals, now is a good time to start!
Check Out The Sage Multivitamin
One of the highest rated multivitamins on the market! A good start to supplementing your diet.
Resources
WHO (World Health Organization). 2003. Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. WHO Technical Report Series 916. 149 pp. WHO, Geneva.
FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology). 1995. Third Report on Nutrition Monitoring in the United States. US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, Johnson CL. 2002. Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2000. JAMA 288:1723-7.
Frazao E (ed). 1999. America’s Eating Habits: Changes and Consequences. USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin AIB750. 484 pp.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fruits.html
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/287/23/3127
http://www.tufts.edu/~eco/tfap/tfap.html
The Journal of the American Medical Association (2002; 287:3127-9)
High-dose vitamin therapy stimulates variant enzymes with decreased coenzyme binding affinity (increased Km): relevance to genetic disease and polymorphisms1,2,3
Bruce N Ames, Ilan Elson-Schwab and Eli A Silver
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