Thoughts on Vitamins and Foods August 27, 2010

I want to spend some time talking about vitamin and mineral supplements, and other supplements.  Other than multivitamins for children, the elderly, chronically ill, and pre-natal vitamins for pregnant women, I am not a firm believer in multivitamins and other supplements. 

 And let me tell you why:

 Who’s Steering this Ship?

Vitamins and all other supplements are NOT regulated by the FDA.  This is so important, I’m going to repeat myself:  Vitamins and all other supplements are NOT regulated by the FDA.  To the consumer, this means a couple of things.  First, it doesn’t technically need an ingredient list on it, so you might have additional unknown ingredients in your supplement.  Also, the origin of the nutrient and the amount of nutrients contained in the supplement may be inaccurate.  The FDA only steps in if there is a reported death or other serious reported harm. 

  Ta-Da!!  Food is Always the Answer (or at least it’s always my answer!)

My dad likes to tease me that he gets all his nutritional information from The Wall Street Journal.  He sent me an article this week that looked at the results of a study of vitamin use and disease prevention in post-menopausal women.  The results indicated what fledgling dietitians learn in Nutrition 101:  Pills aren’t really a great substitute for whole foods.  When you take a multivitamin, you are not getting the benefits of fiber and other micronutrients call phytochemicals. 

 Now, I haven’t looked up the actual paper to look at the variables and results (nerd), but this leads me to another conclusion I’d like to discuss:  If you’re going to use a vitamin supplement, use a MULTI-vitamin supplement.  You should never (unless you’re working with your doctor) take the vitamins individually because you run the risk of storing toxic amounts of fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E and K) in your body. 

 Vitamin C and the B Vitamins are water soluble.  Your body will use what it needs and then the rest, well, ends up in the toilet.  Most people need about 70-95 mg/day of Vitamin C to function.  People with scurvy, severe vitamin C deficiency, are given 100-500 mg/day.  So if you’re taking a 1000 mg Vitamin C supplement to prevent a cold, you’re likely just wasting your money. 

 Did you ever wonder why it is recommended that you eat at least 5 servings of fruits/vegetables daily?  Because theoretically, if you did this, you’d get all the vitamins and minerals (and fiber and phytochemicals) you could ever need. 

 Here are some tips on choosing your daily 5: 

• Fruit juice is fine, but limit that to just 1 serving/day.  You’re not getting any fiber out of the deal and after 1 glass it just becomes a high calorie drink. 
• Choose 5 different colors, (another tip from my 4-year-old cousin).  If you ate 5 apples today, yes, you technically had 5 servings of fruit/vegetables.  However, you limited your vitamins and minerals to just what is in an apple.  Where’s your Vitamin C?  B vitamins?  Try mixing it up.  Have an apple, 1 glass of orange juice, broccoli, a banana and then a handful of blueberries.  There’s a whole lotta fiber in that 5 and you’ve got most of your vitamins. 
• Sneak vegetables into your meals:  I generally find Rachel Ray annoying, but she is excellent at this.  She’s always chopping up some kind of vegetable and tossing it in some unexpected place.  Grate in some carrot and/or zucchini into a meatloaf.  Put a little spinach or some slices of red bell pepper between the cheese and the bun of your cheeseburger. 
• Generally, one half of a cup is considered a serving.  For an apple or an orange, something the size of a tennis ball is considered a serving.  But remember, no one ever gained too much weight by eating too many fruits and vegetables.
• Give the ranch a rest.  If you need to cover your vegetables in sauces or dressings to eat them, practice going without.  You’re taking a naturally low fat/calorie food and turning it against you.  I find that I like a vegetable EITHER raw OR cooked, but not both ways.  So if you’re not a fan of raw broccoli, try it cooked.  You might be surprised at the difference in taste. 

Have an excellent day:

Beth