“Get your vitamins in their original container…”
… Says the poster in my husband’s Kaiser doctor’s exam room, with an artful photo of an orange. Absolutely correct!
Almost none of us are getting fruits and vegetables to fill half our plate with every meal, every day- certainly not with dark green, dark red or bright orange vegetables. But that is what the USDA “Choose My Plate” campaign is recommending in response to our nation’s skyrocketing rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases, and the overwhelming evidence that changing our eating habits is the best way to reverse the tide.
Again, most of us know we should “eat better”, so turn to vitamin and mineral supplements to fill the perceived nutritional gap between the ideal and reality, to the tune of billions of dollars a year. What influences your choice – Basic science? Effectiveness proven by research? Quality? Purity? Safety? Cost? Recommended by a friend or health professional?
What if we could just simplify our quest with a basic whole food supplement that fills all of the above requirements? Our bodies know what to do with food and the hundreds and thousands of nutrients contained within all working synergistically together. Out of all the synthetic supplements available, there is very little clinical research showing that upon consuming them they are absorbed and bio-available (and not just contributing to expensive urine!) and actually do what they are purported to do – increase immunity, reduce inflammation, reduce cardiovascular disease markers, etc.
Specifically, there is no evidence anywhere in the medical literature that multivitamins have ever made any difference in any measured outcomes and in some cases have actually led to higher rates of disease or even death. Why is not clear, except that perhaps megadoses of isolated vitamins react very differently in the body than the small doses working together with the myriad of other components naturally occurring in plant foods.
Other than certain nutrients like Vitamin D, essential fatty acids, and in some cases B vitamins particularly B-12, we are always better off getting our nutrients in the form they naturally come in. For more information on how to accomplish that with a dietary supplement, please see my linked site www.gdubinskymd.juiceplus.com
Next blog—so what about Vitamin D?