Durban - Vitamin and mineral supplements are big business. Consumers are sometimes lured into buying them because our food is supposedly not as nutritious as it used to be, modern living saps the strength out of us and we need to buy health insurance in a bottle to guarantee health, wellness and vitality. But is this fact or fallacy?
The answer is not that simple as the truth probably lies somewhere in between. To unravel the argument, one needs to determine what vitamins and minerals are and what their job description is.
Vitamins and minerals are known as nutrients. However, we eat food and not nutrients. Foods are complex in nature and while there is no single food that contains all the nutrients we require for optimal health, every food we eat contains a variety of nutrients including vitamins and minerals.
And the combination of nutrients in many foods is so unique that they actually enhance the absorption of each other.
Then there are phytochemicals, non-nutrient substances in food that are often responsible for giving fruit and vegetables their bright colours. Lycopene, the red pigment in tomatoes, is a phytochemical that has a powerful protective effect against prostate cancer.
Phytochemicals are not always freely available in tablet form. In addition, the consumption of fruit and vegetables would not only provide you with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, but also a good source of dietary fibre.
Large studies in the US have shown that supplement users have higher nutrient intakes and eat more fruit and vegetables. As a result, they are not actually the individuals that require additional health insurance. Scientists have also shown that supplement users do not necessarily live longer, nor are they less likely to get cancer. A possible explanation for this finding could be that taking supplements gives them a false sense of health security, not realising that good health is related to numerous factors that include diet, exercise, and cutting back on stress and stimulants such as coffee and cigarettes.
On the other hand, populations that consistently consume a diet rich in fruit and vegetables seem to have struck the jackpot, as they tend to be less likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and cancer. As well as having powerful health properties, fruit and vegetables could also be viewed as an important marker of leading an overall healthy lifestyle. Therefore, these foods offer the best package deals in nutrition.
Vitamins are essential for human health. Twelve of them are supplied by the food we eat while niacin, a B-complex vitamin, and vitamin D can be manufactured by the body by the amino acid tryptophan and exposure to sunlight respectively. Vitamins trigger many body processes and in doing so they work like spark plugs, setting off chemical reactions in body cells. Each vitamin regulates a different body process. Because their roles are so specific, one cannot replace another. Each mineral also has its own unique job and therefore has a function similar to that of a vitamin.
A hectic lifestyle could be a possible reason why it’s not always possible to eat fruit and vegetables by the truckload. The question is: in cases such as these, would a supplement be the proverbial magic bullet your body calls for?
For starters, more is not necessarily better because if you consume large amounts of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A regularly, it could lead to toxicity – the body has the ability to store fat-soluble vitamins. On the other hand, drinking water-soluble vitamins such as the B-complex vitamins and vitamin C in excess of the body’s requirements could be a waste of money as your body will merely excrete the excess by producing expensive urine.
However, if you have a diagnosed deficiency, like anaemia, or are at a critical stage of the life cycle where diet alone may not supply your body with the nutrients it requires, a multivitamin and mineral supplement is called for. Consult a health professional like a dietician, nutritionist, doctor or pharmacist for guidance.
The following conditions and stages of the life cycle would call for a round pill in addition to a square meal:
* Pregnant and breast-feeding women – nutrient requirements are increased. The body’s requirements for folic acid (a B-complex vitamin), iron and calcium are increased. However, a combination of vitamins and minerals is recommended as opposed to taking individual vitamins and minerals, as the consumption of a single nutrient in excess can influence the absorption of another. There are vitamin and mineral supplements formulated for pregnant women. If a supplement worsens pregnancy-induced nausea or “morning sickness”, take it before bed.
* Teenagers – youngsters are renowned for poor eating habits, erratic eating times and strange food choices, coupled with their being very active. The rapid growth spurt associated with the onset of puberty increases the need for calcium in boys and girls, whereas menstruation signals that girls require more iron per kilogram of body weight than boys. Encourage your teenager to eat regularly and sensibly. Milk, maas, yoghurt and cheese are excellent sources of calcium, and fortified bread, maize meal and breakfast cereals contain added iron.
Animal food sources such as fish, chicken, pork, beef, lamb or liver are good sources of iron. Iron is also found in wholewheat cereals such as wholewheat bread or high-fibre breakfast cereals, beans, peas, lentils, nuts and dark green, leafy vegetables such as spinach. Should you have lost all hope that your teenager will ever be converted to square meals, a multivitamin and mineral supplement is a good idea.
Cost is not necessarily an indication of quality. Rather study the label on the bottle and buy one containing the widest variety of vitamins and minerals.
* Women – if you have a heavy menstrual flow, you may require an iron supplement to prevent or treat iron-deficiency anaemia. To improve absorption, iron supplements should preferably be taken with a vitamin C-rich juice such as orange juice on an empty stomach. If your iron supplement causes symptoms such as nausea or constipation, try taking it with food.
Oral contraceptives can increase the need for riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), folic acid and vitamin C. Women watching their weight may have difficulty in consuming the optimal level of nutrients, especially if energy intake is less than 5 000 kilojoules a day. But very restrictive weight-loss diets are not recommended. Rather follow a sensible weight-reducing diet containing a wide variety of foods in combination with regular, moderate exercise. - Daily News
* Suna Kassier MSc Diet, RD(SA) is a lecturer in the department of Dietetics and Community Nutrition at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.