Why need to take dietary supplements (Health Supplements or Vitamins Supplements) (Giving your body an extra boost)

Original Title: Giving your body an extra boost

by LISABEL TING

A balanced diet won't cover all the nutrients your body needs, argues nutrition expert Jeffrey Blumberg. One way to boost nutrient intake would be to take dietary supplements. LISABEL TING reports

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, you may have heard your mother say.

However, is one apple every 24 hours truly enough? And what about the nutritional benefits of other fruits, such as oranges or guavas?

Research on nutrition is constantly evolving and it is still difficult to say for certain what the human body really needs to stay healthy.

Mind Your Body spoke to Dr Jeffrey Blumberg (right), director of the antioxidants research laboratory at Tufts University during his visit here last month, to find out about the latest developments in nutrition.

He said that in the last decade or so, there has been a paradigm shift. 'From simply avoiding malnutrition, the focus has moved to preventive nutrition which is about promoting optimal health and physical fitness, and reducing the risk of chronic diseases.'

While eating an apple a day may indeed ensure that you meet the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin C and lower your risk of falling ill, he emphasised that there is a big difference between being 'not sick' and 'well'.

'You may be doing okay if you have an adequate nutrient intake,' he said. 'But recent research has shown that if you take in more nutrients, above the level of your RDA, it could have positive effects on your physical fitness, bone density and cognitive function, which are all affected by nutrition.'

Dr Blumberg also shed new light on nutritional requirements for the elderly.

It was once thought that our nutritional requirements decrease as we grow older, shrinking along with our rate of physical activity and muscle mass.

However, it has now been proven to be otherwise. In fact, our nutrient requirements gradually increase with age.

Also, older people are more susceptible to chronic diseases, which heighten the amount of nutrients that they need.

'The elderly are also the age group that take the most medication frequently, and on a long-term basis. Many of these drugs interfere with the adsorption, utilisation or distribution of nutrients,' he added.

As nutrition is one of the keys to living a long and healthy life, how can we best get all that we need?

'Almost nobody fulfils all the requirements for all the nutrients all the time,' he said. He suggested that for those who don't, taking a dietary supplement would be good.

'It's difficult to change a person's eating habits,' he said. 'But taking a supplement every day is simple, and can easily help people to meet their minimum requirements.'

An example of dietary supplements would be multivitamins, calcium supplements or vitamin C tablets .

He also said that proper nutrition should start as early as possible as nutrition in our developmental stages is critical.

'Between the ages of 12 and 18 is when girls put down almost all of their bone mass. If you're drinking soda and not milk, then your bones won't be strong,' he said.

While it may seem dangerous to pop a dietary supplement packed full of nutrients on top of your regular diet, he said that it is perfectly safe. That's provided you are not taking medication for a serious illness.

'While it is possible to overdose on a vitamin, it is hard to do so,' he assured.

'There is something called the tolerable upper level (TUL), or the highest amount that scientific studies show that you can consume without harm. For some vitamins, such as vitamin B12, no one has found a TUL yet. For others, it is mostly 20, 30 times above the RDA.'


Information Source: Mind Your Body of The Straits Times dated April 16, 2008