The need to take supplements provokes great controversy among the population of medics and practitioners.
The EU is, again, deliberating on the potency of vitamin and mineral supplements being sold throughout Europe
The fact is that most adults in the western world regularly take a vitamin supplement. From a multi-vitamin to more specific supplements such as vitamin C or omega oil. It is believed that if we all eat a balanced diet, vitamin pills are not necessary; some will state that vitamin pills will affect health in an adverse way; others advise that taking vitamins and minerals is a total waste of money.
The controversy is fuelled by drugs regulators like the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK’s National Health Service, which believes that people do not need to take supplements.
Other pharmaceutical funded organisations also support the controversy by stating that supplements are not necessary. It is important to dig deep underneath the reasons of these negative beliefs to find the real reasons for their aversion to supplements.
The EU is, again, deliberating on the potency of vitamin and mineral supplements being sold throughout Europe. The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), a lobby group, fears the “maximum permitted levels” of supplements may be set even lower than the previous regulations, which not only reduced levels but eliminated certain vitamins from our high streets.
The FDA is putting forward proposals to restrict the sale of nutritional products available in stores in the US. They have even tried to block those supplements that have been introduced within the past 20 years until they pass prohibitively expensive trials.
So what is the baseline for deciding how to take supplements? The reference daily intake (RDI) is to replace the recommended daily allowance (RDA). This is the minimum requirement to avoid deficiencies and are not the levels required for maintaining good health.
In addition, we are all individuals with very different backgrounds and health levels. Therefore an RDA could vary from one person to the next. According to nutritionist Damien Downing, a research study of guinea pigs discovered that individual requirements for vitamin C differed twentyfold among the animals and “the range of human individual requirements can be assumed to be at least as great”, he said.
Our nutritional needs also vary according to our age and gender, stress levels and genetic profile. Some of us have inherently higher requirements for folic acid and vitamins B6, B12 and B2, for example. Low levels in women with this predisposition can increase their risk of breast cancer (Carcinogenesis, 2001). Those with a particular enzyme variant need far more B6 than the standard RDI suggests.
Before taking supplements, make sure the foundations of your life are solid. So what are the house rules for a balanced, healthy diet?
Choose your food supplier with care – try to eat locally sourced foods; organic is good, but even organic sourced overseas is not going to be as fresh and nutritious as that which is locally grown.
Grow your own food if possible – at least you can guarantee the nutritional value, ensure the soil is not depleted and no toxins are used in preserving the food.
Assume you are depleted in magnesium and zinc – most people are, so these are minerals to consider including in your regime.
Eat more than the five-a-day recommendation of fruits and vegetables.
Choose your vitamin supplier with as much care as you would choose your food supplier.
The unspoken assumption of the balanced diet is that the food we eat is nutritious; it must be providing us with the vitamins and minerals our body needs to function. All food starts to lose its nutritional value from the moment it is slaughtered, picked, baked or produced; so the fresher the food, the greater its goodness.
However, a survey of a typical European supermarket, reported by Alex Renton on Mailonline revealed that:
‘Fresh’ New Zealand lamb can be up to two months old when it reaches the shelves.
Bread (not local Maltese bread) can be 10 days old before it is sold, and can be used in our homes for days afterwards because of its preservatives and mould inhibitors, such as calcium propionate and ascorbic acid.
Eggs are sold up to 10 days after they were laid.
Fish can lay on ice for up to 12 days before it is available at the supermarket and may stay in the shop for four further days before it is bought.
Fruit juice can be up to a year old by the time you take it home.
‘Fresh’ vegetables can be up to 10 days old before they are on sale, especially if they are sourced from overseas and baking potatoes could be six months old.
Many of the apples sourced from foreign orchards can take six months before they reach our shelves. In the interim, they are waxed to give them a shiny ‘healthy’ look and are kept in refrigerated containers along with special gases to stop them decaying.
Next week, we will look at a handful of studies which suggest that supplements can help prevent and reverse serious health problems.
kathryn@maltanet.net