Controversial Questions You Should Know About Nutritional Supplements

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines a supplement as "a product taken by mouth that contains a 'dietary ingredient' intended to supplement the diet. The 'dietary ingredients' in these products may include: a wide range of substances, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes; herbs and other botanicals; and products like probiotics, glucosamine and fish oils." Supplements are intended to supplement nutrients missing in your diet, not replace them. Most common supplements used by people today are multivitamins, protein shakes and meal replacement shakes.

Why Supplements Are Necessary?

It works like a fertilizer for the humans. Give a plant adequate amounts of sunlight and water, and it will survive. Add some nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and the plant will thrive. For humans, the same principle applies. A healthy balanced diet supplies the body with sufficient nutrients to carry out routine tasks. Supplements such as vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, phytonutrients, and more enrich the body's internal environment to fortify cellular protection, repair, and regeneration and support the renewal process. 

One interesting study examined the incidence of vitamin deficiencies in a randomly selected group of hospital patients. Using the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) as the standards, 88% of the 120 patients came up short in at least one vitamin. Many showed multiple deficiencies. Only 12% tested at "normal" levels.

Diet is not the only reason behind the nutrient deficiencies. Other factors include the following:

• Alcohol consumption (depletes B vitamins, vitamin C, most minerals, and antioxidants) 
• Allergies and infections (deplete vitamins A and C and zinc, among other nutrients) 
• Exposure to air pollutants and other toxins (depletes antioxidants) 
• Smoking (depletes antioxidants) 
• Stress (depletes all nutrients, especially B vitamins and vitamin C)

Some people simply require more of certain nutrients than the general population does. Children and older adults tend to need a bit extra, as do pregnant women. Others with increased nutritional demands include those who diet and those who exercise strenuously. 

Then, too, some foods that we eat because we think they are healthy to have actually been stripped of their nutrients before they get to our plates. Whole wheat loses 75% of its B vitamins, minerals, and fiber when it is milled into flour. Likewise, rice loses most of its vitamins, minerals, and fiber when it's polished to turn it from brown to white. Even the soil that these and other plant-derived foods grow in is often nutrient-depleted.

Are We Paying The Price of Poor Nutrition???

Initially, the body hints of a nutrient shortfall with any of a variety of minor symptoms like fatigue, weakness, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, depression, poor concentration, memory loss, aches and pains, recurrent infections, allergies, circulatory problems, and just not feeling good. These are the uncertain symptoms that drive patients to doctors, and drive doctors up a diagnostic centres. Because most conventionally trained physicians have little education or experience in nutrition, so they are unable to make the connection between a patient's complaints and a nutrient deficiency. Then when the test results come back normal (as they usually do in such cases), the symptoms tend to be dismissed as "all in your head" or even worse, as "a natural part of aging."

If doctors do prescribe treatment, they usually bypass nutritional supplements in favor of drugs such as anti-inflammatories, antidepressants, sleeping pills, and the like. These not only mask symptoms but also deplete nutrient stores even further. This accelerates the degenerative process, which is the prototype of disease and aging.

Chronic nutrient deficiencies invariably lead to serious health problems. 

Data collected from large populations show that as the availability of nutrients declines, the frequency of illness increases. Unfortunately, when heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis or some other serious deficiency-driven condition develops, neither doctor nor patient is likely to realize that the symptoms had begun years before.

Do We Get It In Our Diet???

The Optimum Daily Allowances (ODAs) far exceed the nutrient levels that diet alone can supply. Supplementation is absolutely essential. 

Again, let's take an example of vitamin E. The RDA of 30 IU - the amount necessary to hold off deficiency-related illness and it's difficult to get from even the best food sources. So you can imagine the challenge of meeting the ODA of 400 to 1600 IU without the help of supplements. Sunflower seeds have more vitamin E than any other food. To get 400 IU of the nutrient, which is the amount provided by a typical multivitamin or a vitamin E capsule, you had have to eat approx 650gm of seeds every day. Even the most passionate sunflower seed fan would find this a bit hard to swallow. Other vitamin E-rich foods fare even worse. 

To meet the ODA, you had have to eat one of the following every day:

• Approx 1 kg of wheat germ
• More than 1 kg of almonds
• approx 4.5 kg of fresh corn
• approx 15 kg of spinach
• More than 20 kg of broccoli or butter

Hope you are not hungry?

You have to admit that getting your vitamin E in pill form seems a lot easier. And believe me, that you don't want to miss it. Vitamin E - An antioxidant, which protects you from free radicals, stimulates the immune system, protects against cancer and cardiovascular disease (such as hardening of the arteries, angina, heart attack and stroke), and inhibits the formation of cataracts. For these and many other reasons, vitamin E is a key player in the Renewal process. 

Another key player is vitamin C. Like vitamin E, vitamin C is an antioxidant with proven anti-aging effects. It protects from free radicals, bolsters the immune system, speeds healing, protects against infection, lowers cholesterol, and helps prevent cancer and atherosclerosis (hardening and clogging of the arteries).

To get these benefits, you need much more vitamin C than the RDA of 60 milligrams. This amount may prevent scurvy, a nutrient deficiency disease that's virtually unheard of these days, but it won't support Renewal. For this, you need the ODA of 1000 to 10000 milligrams. 

Suppose you are aiming for the low end of the ODA range. To get 1000 milligrams of vitamin C from foods alone, you had have to eat 5 Muskmelon, 10 cups of strawberries, 12 bell peppers, 12 cups of raw broccoli, 13 grapefruit, 15 oranges, 40 baked potatoes, 50 red ripe tomatoes, or 62 cups of raw spinach. Every day. And these are the best food sources of vitamin C. 

The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) have come under fire as being too low to prevent chronic degenerative diseases and slow aging. Nutrition-minded experts advocate the Optimum Daily Allowances (ODAs). Here's how the two intakes compare for key anti-aging vitamins and minerals. 

Note: The RDAs are for people ages 25 to 50. The ODAs are appropriate for adult men and for adult women who are not pregnant or lactating. They are not intended for children under age 15.

How We Eliminate The Waste?

Beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E are just three of the 100 or so nutrients that your body needs every day. Imagine how much food you'd have to eat to meet 100 ODAs. Your daily calorie intake would be astronomical. 

Despite claims to the contrary, you simply cannot achieve optimum nutrition through diet alone. Even the healthiest, most balanced diet supplies the essential nutrients in amounts far below what are necessary to prevent life-shortening degenerative diseases. 

Detractors often charge that supplements do nothing more than create expensive urine. If you take a multivitamin, for example, you may have noticed that it makes your urine turn bright yellow. This does not mean the nutrients are passing through your body unused. 

When you ingest water-soluble vitamins - namely, the B vitamins and vitamin C - your body stores as much as it can in its tissues. Then when the tissues reach their saturation point, any excess nutrient is excreted via the kidneys. So bright yellow urine doesn't mean that your body is wasting precious nutrients. On the contrary, it tells you that nutrients are in abundant supply and that your nutritional insurance policy is in force. 

Frankly, I am worried when my urine is clear. The absence of the telltale gold color warns me that my nutrient levels may be dangerously low. Consequently, my body is not able to protect, repair, and replace cells as well as it should. If this nutrient shortage goes on for long, it will shut down the Renewal process, leaving my cells vulnerable to degeneration. What critics refer to as expensive urine, knowledgeable doctors view as a sign of optimum nutrition. 

What's Your Best Investment???

Without optimum nutrition, you cannot achieve optimum health. And without supplements, you cannot achieve optimum nutrition. It's as simple as that. 

Look at it this way: For the price of a basic multivitamin, you can protect yourself against heart disease, cancer, and all the other health problems associated with chronic low-grade nutrient deficiencies. In the process, you supercharge Renewal and put the brakes on aging. 

Personally, I can't think of any investment that pays higher dividends than that. 

Notice: This information is intended as a reference only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you to take some decisions about your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.