Vitamins: you can’t live without them, that’s for sure. The question, then, is: where do you get them from? In the ‘good old days’ (which may have been in your grandparents’ generation, but perhaps much further back than that) we got our vitamins and other nutrients from all-natural sources: the sun, the water we drank, and the food we ate. . .
Today, and this is no secret, our food and whatever we drink, simply does not have the same impact as in the old days. There are many reasons for this and I don’t want to write a dissertation on it. But, for example, many of us get our food from soil that is not as rich as it used to be. And the many chemicals that are used in most of the foods we probably eat can deplete nutrition even more, or at least add some unnecessary poisons to our diet. And it often comes from far away from where we live, so it may have lost some more of its nutritional content on the way here.
So what should we do? Well a common method is taking vitamins. This view has both supporters and detractors.
Recently, according to the Seattle Times, a former critic of this approach has changed his point of view.
They note that “the American Medical Association (AMA) recommends that all adults take at least one multivitamin a day, a reversal of its long-standing antivitamin policy.”
Its policy appears to have changed due to advances in research on the effects of vitamins. It now appears that people who get enough vitamins may have a lower risk of some common chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Perhaps your change of mind is reflecting that of the American public. For example, 20 years ago, the AMA only promoted vitamin supplements for pregnant women and those with chronic diseases.
I remember when I was younger there were some multivitamins on the market and also some other vitamins and nutritional supplements, but they weren’t the norm. And when I started hitting health food stores, I came across a whole host of weird vitamins that I had certainly never heard of in biology classes.
But now, for example, the value of folic acid in preventing some birth defects and heart disease is recognized.
Who has heard of folic acid 20 or 30 years ago?
Of course, it is not only that food has less nutrition today, but also that we are not as aware of taking care of our own nutrition and how it relates to health. The AMA says that nearly 80 percent of Americans don’t eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day to provide essential nutrients.
If that’s the case, then we need to get our vitamins and minerals from somewhere. And it seems that scientists and doctors now accept vitamin supplements, that they should know about these things.
Another thing scientists are learning more about is that our recommended daily amounts of vitamins may need to be reconsidered.
Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, of the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tuft University, said nutrition experts are concerned that the recommended daily allowances for many vitamins are too low. The recommended daily doses were originally established to prevent the symptoms of vitamin deficiency disorders. But evidence is mounting that higher levels of many vitamins are needed for optimal health.
And, as we know, if these vitamins don’t come from our food, we need them from somewhere, like vitamin supplements.
Dr. Robert Fletcher of Harvard University agrees. Reflect that many of us thought growing up that a reasonable diet would meet our vitamin needs. “But,” he says, “the new evidence … is that vitamins also prevent the common diseases that we deal with every day, (like) heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and birth defects.”
However, experts, and others of us with common sense, remember that vitamins are a “supplement” to our diet. They do not replace a balanced diet. So, eat a balanced diet, but if you want to reduce your risk of getting common chronic diseases today, it would also be wise to add a good multivitamin supplement to your diet.