Deciding whether or not to supplement, and with what, is a complicated decision. When I analyze my own diet, I can see that, despite being a very intentionally healthy eater, I am at or below 60% of the RDA for some essential nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, manganese, and vitamin D. Am I still getting enough for me? Or is there something missing? Outside of the known vitamins and minerals, are there other things I should be taking? Fish oil? Flax seed oil? Ginko biloba?
Obviously, most of us aren't walking around with the blatant symptoms of nutrient deficiency. When's the last time you met someone with scurvy or rickets? We are blessed beyond belief to live in a place and in a time where and when food is widely available. Unfortunately, due to poor stewardship of the earth in the form of irresponsible and unsustainable farming practices, as well as a highly processed diet, many people may be taking in enough calories but not getting the nutrients they need. Could this have anything to do with our high levels of obesity, type II diabetes, and other chronic illnesses? I think it's a distinct possibility. It is possible to be deficient without having outright signs of deficiency. But I don't feel that slapping everyone on a multivitamin is the answer, either. I think that smart, targeted supplementation of nutrients that are specific to the needs of each individual is important. Multivitamin and mineral supplements, while appealing, can lead to a number of problems. One is that certain vitamins and minerals block the uptake of others, meaning that if you take them at the same time, you won't be able to absorb one or both of them. Also, I have found that many formulations include nutrients that are untested but include outrageous health claims. I have spent a lot of time in the past few weeks perusing vitamin and mineral supplements in major stores and health food stores, and the packaging, ingredient lists, health claims, and options are enough to make your head spin. How to make a good choice? I would say it's important to answer the following questions: 1. What nutrients do I need? 2. What is the best way to obtain these nutrients? a. Diet alone? If so, which foods are richest in said nutrients? b. Supplements? If so, which supplements are the "best"? The best way to determine what you need is to do a diet analysis. You can have this done by a professional, or you can do it yourself using a tool such as Fit Day (at fitday.com). It is free to set up an account. You enter everything you eat for a day or more, than look at an overview of your diet. Along with caloric breakdown, you also get to see a nice summary of where you are at with vitamins and minerals. I recommend looking at any nutrients for which you fall below 80% of the RDA. (Remember that vitamin D will be low because your body can synthesize this from sunlight. In reality, though, for those of us in Northern climes, you aren't synthesizing enough unless it's summer.) You also need to bear in mind that the Fit Day database does NOT take into account the vitamin/mineral loss due to storage, processing, and/or cooking. It also does not necessarily account for the relatively mineral-deficient crops that are being raised if you buy produce from large agribusiness-style companies. Now decide if you want to supplement with diet or with pills. If you want to stick to whole foods, you can do an online search for foods rich in the particular nutrient you are low in. Figure out how much of that food you need to add to your diet to meet your basic requirements. It might require adding a few extra servings of vegetables or nuts and seeds to your diet, or an occasional slab of liver (from a grass-fed animal raised without antibiotics or hormones). Or you might decide you want to go the supplement route. This gets a little more complicated. Many supplement brands make claims about the superiority of their products. The truth is that supplement makers are not required to prove the efficacy of their products, due to an act (NSHEA)passed in 1994. It is also up to the FDA to prove that a given supplement has adverse effects (this happened with the popular weight loss drug ephedra) in order to pull it off the market. There is very little regulation on the manufacturing or sales of supplements in America, so it's hard to know what you're getting, how much of it will actually get into your blood stream, and whether or not it will even make a difference. Contamination with lead, among other things, has also been reported. I have no answers here, but it does seem that the USP (stands for United States Pharmacopeia) mark on a supplement is probably your best insurance that you are, more or less, getting what you pay for. Without lead. Which is a good thing. I will report back as I find supplements that seem to be safe, and available to the body once they've been consumed. I'll start with magnesium in the near future, as that's one I just happened to do a lot of research into. Until then...
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AuthorI'm Emily. I currently work in online education management, but I also have a Masters degree in Nutritional Sciences (my true passion). In addition, I am a mom, cook, avid reader, novice gardener, and enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities. On my blog, you will find articles on food, fitness, weight management, and eating issues. ALL recipes on my blog are gluten-free. Many are low-carbohydrate. Most are grain free. Enjoy! Categories
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June 2019
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