6 April
6 min. read
Съдържание:
Can we only count on food to obtain the necessary vitamins and minerals? Studies show this might not be a good idea.
I believe for the majority of Fitbg.net readers healthy lifestyle is a way of life. The modern man is flooded with all kinds of information sources about nutrition – some trusty, other completely wrong. So my mission is to give you the right facts and knowledge so you could distinguish the truth from the nutrition myths. Today’s topic is “vitamins” – these crucial organic substances needed for the proper flow of the body processes. And more specifically, I want us together to find the answer to a very common question these days: Is it possible to obtain optimal amounts of vitamins only through food?
Myth #1: You Can Get Your Daily Dose of Vitamins Only from Food
In my practice I work and meet with many people, most of who, one way or another try to eat environmentally friendly. I believe you too are smart enough to take care of the quality of the food you eat. But is this enough to meet the needs of our body for nutrients?
Most people think we can obtain the needed vitamins and minerals only through food. But is that so? Not in 21 century… The amount of vitamins in today’s food is as much as to keep us alive. But is it enough to reach optimal health condition? Probably not…
Due to the soils’ exhaustion vegetables and fruits grown nowadays are much poorer in vitamins than those from a couple of decades back. The best known research on the subject is by the American professor Donald Davis and his research team from the Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the University of Texas. In December 2004 Davis’ team publish their discoveries. The scientists examine the data from the American Department of Agriculture since 1950 to 1999 for 43 different fruits and vegetables. Conclusion is there are “significant reductions” in the amounts of protein, calcium, all of the B-complex vitamins – especially riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin C, phosphorus, iron, manganese and magnesium. In some plants micronutrients loss reaches up to 75%!
The main reason behind this are some agricultural malpractices which rob the soil from important nutrients. When cultures are repeatedly sown on the same acreage the soil loses nutrients at a greater rate than it can recover. Farmers are trying to compensate the loss of nutrients by constantly fertilizing the soil with artificial fertilizers. These industrial fertilizers contain as much nutrients as needed for the plant to just survive until it’s time to harvest. But this is not enough for growing healthy culture with optimal nutritional value.
In addition, most vegetables and fruits are being harvested while still unripe and put on the shelves weeks before they’re consumed. With time their nutritional value progressively gets worse. Moreover, modern agricultural production is grown in a way that gives priority to taste at the expense of nutritional value. As a results, a lot of fruits and vegetables are artificially enriched with fructose and sugar, which have significantly lower content of crucial nutrients.
Other underrated fact is the role of vitamins and mineral for fighting toxins. When toxicity in the organism rise the needs for nutrients significantly increase. Unless you live in a cave, you are most likely bombarded daily with tons of toxins. Your body must simultaneously fight with:
- Xenoestrogens (plastics, BPA, some molds, petroleum products)
- Industrial solvents and cleaners
- Insufficient sunlight
- Food toxins (not that big of a problem if you are already eating healthy)
- Stress and sleep deprivation
Our bodies are not designed to deal with such high toxicity only through vitamins and minerals in food. I.e. if you rely solely on nutrition from fruits and vegetables you risk your body’s detoxification functions to be weakened. Even if you’re perfect when it comes to eating it is almost impossible to obtain all the vitamins and minerals you need through food only.
Moreover, contrary to the common beliefs, people who work out regularly need much more vitamins and nutrients. When you burn your energy reserves during a workout you expend much more nutrients for energy production and recovery. As a result, athletes and trainees are in a bigger risk of vitamin and mineral insufficiency. As the majority of today’s training people eat with foods, poor in nutrients and rich with toxins – this becomes a really serious problem.
Myth #2: The Quality of Multivitamins is Not Important
With so many multivitamin brands on the market it is extremely difficult for the consumer to determine the quality for every individual product. However, quality IS important for a number of reasons.
First, you always have to know what you put in your body. Selection of the ingredients have the biggest influence on the quality of the product. With no quality ingredients even the best scientific formula won’t give you the promised health benefits. Secondly, the effect depends on the form of the supplement. Liquid multivitamins are proven to be the more effective – your body digest about 98% of vitamins and minerals in liquid form and only 3 to 20% of those per tablet. Liquid multivitamins don’t need digestion and enter directly in the bloodstream. Thirdly, the price of most products is not low and it’s important you get what you pay for. And fourthly, only the high quality and best production method will give you effective results every time.
My advice for you is to pay attention to the manufacturer. The products with cheap ingredients are not even half as effective as quality multivitamins, and there are even some health risks too.
In Conclusion
Unfortunately, we live in a highly toxic and stressful world and it’s completely normal to try and defend ourselves from the known sources of toxins with everything we can. For me, the idea that we can obtain all the nutrients we need solely from food sounds good in theory, but nowadays it sounds almost like fantasy. The exhaustion of the soils and water, pesticides, environmental and food toxins, as well as the excess physical activity lead to deprivation of crucial vitamins and minerals.
For those of you, who want to improve their health and better their training results, supplements are a great start. Unfortunately, thinking “vitamins in food are totally enough” is not applicable nowadays. It’s sad that fruits and vegetables are not what they have been. But this is the reality and we need to accept it. In this line of thinking it is completely unnecessary to put yourselves at a disadvantage by depriving your body of the needed optimal amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Your Turn
Do you take multivitamins as an addition to you diet? If yes, how often and in what form? Let me know in the comments!
