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| Yes | 75% | 201 votes | Total: 267 votes | |
| No | 25% | 66 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesAbsolutely, the majority of Americans would benefit from some form of nutrition support. Vitamins, along with minerals and phytochemicals (or "phytonutrients) are the spark plugs that ignite hundreds of metabolic processes in our bodies. They are crucial to energy generation, neurotransmitter production and regulation (which governs our mood), detoxification of chemicals, pesticides, solvents and even our own hormones! Vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals are essential to the maintenance of healthy tissue, blood pressure, glucose regulation and dozens of other bodily functions.
Some who haven't studied the field of clinical nutrition professionally will state that we get all the nutrients we need from the food that we eat (based on RDA guidelines from the 1940's). The RDA's don't come close to telling us what our nutrient requirements are today in the face of an industrialized society. RDA's were designed to keep 50% of a healthy population "healthy", that is, free from overt nutrient deficiency diseases including scurvy, rickets and beriberi. They were created to keep soldiers in WWII healthy enough to fight and citizens at home healthy enough to work. They do not address nutrient needs in sick or "less than healthy" individuals. RDA's in no way address "biochemical individuality" or our genetic differences that dictate what our micronutrient requirements are.
The majority of Americans would benefit from supplementation for several reasons... primarily because the nutritional value of much of the food we eat has been reduced. Loss or absence of essential nutrients is due to depleted soil, the use of synthetic pesticides, picking of produce before ripening, overcooking and overprocessing.
Curre nt guidelines recommend a MINIMUM of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Ideally intake should be 9-13 servings per day of whole, unprocessed, vine ripened, local organic produce... a lofty aspiration! It is entirely possible to consume the total number of servings, however, some produce itself is lacking.
Lack of minerals in the soil leads to a lack of minerals in crops as plants cannot produce minerals, they must depend on the soil they are grown in. Use of synthetic pesticides will reduce the plant's own production of chemicals, some of which are beneficial to us such as phenolic compounds. Synthetic pesticides, as well as other toxic compounds, must be detoxified or broken down in our bodies before they cause harm. Detoxification of these compounds relies heavily on vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. The more detoxification we must do, the more nutrition support we need!
Produce that is picked before fully ripened does not have the chance to produce all the vitamins and phytonutrients it was meant to. Vitamin and phytonutrient production stops once a fruit or vegetable is picked. Nutrient content is also reduced as produce is exposed to air, light, heat and extended transport time. Overcooking food can destroy delicate vitamins and phytonutrients as well as some enzymes that are beneficial to us. Overprocessing is known to deplete nutrients and often add unwanted chemicals... just more for us to detoxify and the cycle begins again!
Finally, the emerging field of "nutrigenomics" provides another clue to how nutrients effect our metabolism. We have learned that "nutrients modify gene expression" and also that our genes determine our nutrient requirements. For example, some individuals need a higher dose of B vitamins to activate cofactors in energy generation as outlined in work by renowned biochemist Bruce Ames in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Dr. Ames also equates nutrient deficiencies to DNA damage caused by radiation... a powerful comparison.
In conclusion, and quite clearly, most adults do need supplementation. What is most important to realize however, is that not all supplements are created equal and supplementation should be tailored to an individual's unique needs. Appropriate evaluation by a credentialed nutritionist along with laboratory analysis should be performed.
Learn more about this author, Beth Ellen DiLuglio MS RD CNSD CCN.
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No
This whole health obsession has become a national craze. It seems nearly every week some company has a new product that if you buy will 'magically' make you healthier. These products though all end up being the same thing with different names and different price tags, just to make these companies a bit of extra money. Nobody used supplements 30 years ago so why is there suddenly a huge demand for them?
The simple fact is you don't really need these supplements providing, of course, that your eating a balanced diet to begin with. It is much simpler and in fact much cheaper to just add these vitamins to your everyday diet, through fruit and vegetables. Yes you hear all the 'eat 5 a day' in the media all the time these days, that's because it's true. However supplements aren't needed for this.
The companies that sell these products try to make out you need them. Obviously they're going to do that but it's misleading and should not really be allowed in my opinion. Companies promoting there products as 'boosting your immune system significantly' and 'reduce you chance of disease by x%' are nonsense, if that were the case there would be some hard scientific evidence to support the need for supplements but as of yet there is not.
People spend an absolute fortune on these supplements without realising that you just don't need them. I had a friend who spent 100 a month on various vitamin supplements, when i showed him he was getting the recommended daily allowancene for all the vitamins just through his diet he was amazed, and thanked me for saving him that money! But it is that simple, plenty of fruit and vegetables and you have all the vitamins you need. If people ate what foods they knew were good for them then there would be none of this supplement rubbish. The fact is though the majority of people don't, otherwise there would be a great decrease in diabetes, heart disease and other health conditions related to diet and weight.
The only reason that anyone should take vitamin supplements, in my opinion, is if they are recommended by a doctor or nutrionist. There may be a genuine medical reason why vitamin supplements are required, for example a dificiency that cannot be replaced by diet. That is the only reason supplements should be taken, these are quite uncommon though. Other than that there is no real valid reason why vitamin supplements should be take. So long as you eat correctly you will get all the vitamins you need from your diet.
Learn more about this author, Daniel Fox.
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