Why do I need to take a daily multiple vitamin?
Would it surprise you to learn that many of us do not get the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamins and minerals necessary from our foods, even if we are consuming the suggested daily servings of fruits and vegetables?
Due to current farming practices, mass food production, processing, and cooking, our foods are less nutrient dense than they were in previous years. In fact, The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that it takes seven cups of today’s spinach to equal the nutrition that a single cup provided in 1960.
Vitamins and minerals help maintain cellular efficiency by activating enzyme systems that are essential to cellular function. Phyto-nutrients which are found in various forms of plant life are so important that nutritionists recommend at least 5 to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and suggest even more is better. Sadly, less than one in five Americans get even half of these amounts.
Two Harvard researchers, Robert H. Fletcher, MD and Kathleen M. Fairfield, MD, are working to help us understand the importance of taking a daily multiple formula in order to help get the nutrients that one may need to prevent certain diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Important reasons for taking a multi-vitamin and mineral formula with phyto-nutrients:
- To prevent diseases
- To get the Recommended Daily Allowance of nutrients
- Nutrient deficiencies in food
- Consistent nutrient intake
- To maintain cellular efficiency
- The activation of enzymes essential to cellular function
It would be ideal if everyone could eat at least 5 to 7 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day, which is generally recommended by nutritionists in order to get the optimal daily nutrient intake. However, as mentioned above, modern day food practices account for measurable losses of necessary nutrients.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (2002; 287:3127-9) published a report by the Harvard researchers, Fletcher and Fairfield, stating that
“Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/287/23/3127
The two Harvard doctors reviewed approximately 40 years of research and discovered that there was a link between vitamins and certain diseases. While this information has been believed by many health care professionals for decades, the proof is finally in the pudding. For example, these doctors reported “suboptimal levels of vitamins B-6 and B-12 are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, neural tube defects, and colon and breast cancer; low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteopenia (mild thinning of the bone mass) and fractures; and low levels of the antioxidant vitamins (A, C, and E) may increase risk for several chronic diseases.”
Can we get all of the vitamins and minerals that we need from our food today?
Not necessarily. Significantly reduced concentrations of vitamins and minerals in today’s produce can be attributed to the fact that the majority of the foods we eat today are mass produced and no longer grown on local or community farms. Food processing and refining is also responsible for measurable nutrient losses that increase our need to supplement with a daily multiple.
Why our food supply is nutrient deficient:
- Current farming methods
- Mass food production
- Foreign grown produce
- Processing
- Cooking
Mass production has resulted in destructive farming practices that are leaving our nations top soils devoid of nutrients. For example: burning crops rather than tilling residuals back into the soil, no longer using animal fertilizers that fortify the soil with essential trace minerals, and the use of synthetic chemicals for pest and weed control. http://www.tufts.edu/~eco/tfap/tfap.html
Additionally, mass production of food contributes to a lack of nutrients in our diet because vegetables and fruits are harvested prior to being ripe, which does not allow the important antioxidants in the skin and pulp to come to full completion. Produce must be ripened on the branch or vine to achieve their most abundant nutrient levels.
Fruits and vegetables that are grown in other countries and picked prematurely may lack nutrients and the protection from antioxidants. Therefore, if the fruits and vegetables you eat are not local, picked ripe, and delivered to you fresh, then consumed within hours, you are most likely not receiving their full nutritional value, even if you eat plenty of them.
“What is considered plenty?” According to the Harvard School of Public Health,
“If you don't count potatoes, which should be considered a starch rather than a vegetable, the average American gets a total of just three servings of fruits and vegetables a day. The latest dietary guidelines call for five to thirteen servings of fruits and vegetables a day, depending on one's caloric intake. For example, a person who needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain weight and health, this translates into nine servings or 4½ cups per day.” http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fruits.html
Food processing and refining has also been shown to reduce vitamins and minerals in our food sources. Take white flour for example; the beneficial part of the wheat berry that is high in fiber, essential fatty acids, and nutrients are removed. The remaining part, which is primarily starch, is then ground, bleached, and fortified with four nutrients, including iron and three B-vitamins, niacin, riboflavin, and thiamin that have been artificially added to the refined white product, even though many more nutrients were actually removed.
“Thirteen minerals were depleted from wheat by the refining of flour. Bulk minerals were lost to the extent of 60.0 to 84.7%, and trace metals of 40.0 to 88.5%. Large losses of magnesium and most trace metals apparently resulted from the refining or partitioning of foods into two or more fractions,” according to the article “Losses of Vitamins and Trace Minerals Resulting from Processing and Preservation of Foods” in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, written by Henry A. Schroeder, M.D., (24: May 1971, pp. 562-573).
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/24/5/562.pdf
Many other foods were researched in this study in addition to refined wheat and Schroeder concluded,
“From these data, it is apparent that American diets may be marginal in respect to adequate intakes of several micronutrients essential for optimal function.”
Furthermore, certain cooking methods can also result in nutrient losses. Click here to read more.
