Multivitamin and mineral supplement

Conventional wisdom has held for long that healthy people as long as they eat a balanced diet agreeing to RDA guidelines do not need supplements. Still, many people buy multivitamin and mineral supplements as nutritional insurance against deficiencies.

Real world vs Imagined

Ideally, everyday our diet plan should obey the pattern set by Food Guide Pyramid. This means more of complex carbohydrates, whole grains, five servings of fruits and vegetables—preferably raw, steamed or sautéed, skimmed milk, lean meats and an occasional date with confectioneries.

Real world is different. When deciding food options we prefer french fries to steamed spinach and cola to pure water. Obviously we are falling short of micronutrients.

Besides people belonging to these groups can benefit with supplementation

• For postmenopausal women it can be difficult to obtain the recommended amounts of calcium and vitamin D without supplementation.
• Tobacco decreases absorption of many vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B-6, b-12, vitamin C, folic acid and niacin.
• Vegetarians as a group are healthier than meat eaters. Still, they may be deficient in some nutrients, such as iron, calcium, and vitamin B12.
• People on a healthy low-fat diet have a problem obtaining the recommended amounts of vitamin E from their food alone, because so many of the food sources for vitamin E are high in fat.
• Heavy drinkers—nonpregnant woman having more than a drink and men having more than two drinks in a day have impaired digestion and absorption of thiamin, folic acid and vitamins A, D and B-12. Their altered metabolism also adversely affects minerals such as zinc, selenium, magnesium and phosphorus.
• People on a special diet may benefit from a vitamin and mineral supplement.
• As we get older health problems can contribute to a poor diet. Coupled with malabsorption it may become difficult to get all the nutrients from food alone.
• Pregnant and breast feeding women need more of certain nutrients, especially folic acid and iron.

Facts

• Supplements cannot counteract a high intake of saturated fat and they cannot replace every nutrient found in food groups we ignore.
• Moreover whole foods provide dietary fibre, and disease fighting—phytochemicals.
• Supplements won’t compensate for habits known to contribute to ill health, such as smoking or a lack of exercise.

Optimal health requires a wholesome lifestyle — particularly if, as people get older. Supplement as the name suggests, are an extra to the nutrients available from foods.

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