Paradigm Shift: Why We Need to Supplement

Living a life you love begins with great health. However, the convenience of modern living comes in the way and many more and more families with both parents working, these involve many trade-offs when it comes to eating a healthy diet. And unfortunately, toxins are all around, which may cause diseases or illnesses, from the food we eat, air we breathe and water we drink. Degenerative diseases are caused by poor lifestyle choices. Research has shown that people are not aware or do not simply follow the recommended guidelines for healthy eating, which results to not meeting even the minimum recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for key nutrition. Many people I know don't take multivitamins, thinking that its just a waste of money or it's just for the sick. You may say, “But I eat fruits and vegetable!” But have you considered, or do you know what or how much you must eat to receive an optimal amount  of, say, 400 IU of Vitamin E, one of the most powerful antioxidant? Below are estimated amount of fruits and vegetable you must eat to meet the RDA for specific nutrient (Note: This are provided for information only. Certainly, you can get these nutrients from other fruits or vegetable. This is just provided for us to have an idea of how much we have to consume daily.):

With these information, can you say that you are getting enough nutrients you need. You may have eaten a banana for today, but it is not enough to cover all the key nutrients that you need. This is where supplementation play a big role. A nutritional supplement or multivitamins does not replace a healthy diet, true, but it can bridge the gap between what the body needs for optimal nutrient, and what most of us actually get from food. Sometime 2002, the American Medical Association began encouraging the use of supplements/multivitamins to adults, this is as a result of a study which is reported in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - who previously has an anti-vitamin view: “Insufficient vitamin intake is apparently a cause of chronic disease. Recent evidence has shown that suboptimal levels of vitamins (below standard), even well above those causing deficiency syndromes, are risk factors for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis. A large portion of the general population is apparently at risk for this reason.” – Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002. Based also on the study, it was concluded that supplementation with multiple vitamins is a preventive measure against chronic disease, given that most people does not consume anywhere near five servings of fruits and vegetables. 

We have to accept that in this day and age, we need to supplement, primarily as a measure to prevent chronic diseases. Yes, multivitamins involves cost, but imagine how much you will save if you prevent yourself and your loved ones from getting sick for a long period of time. Its much better if your hard-earned money does not end up wasted due to hospitalization cost and too much maintenance medications.