Tweezers Holding Pill ca. 1998

Published On:Monday, January 04, 2010

By REUBEN SHEARER

Tribune Features Reporter

rshearer@tribunemedia.net

THERE are hundreds of different dietary supplements on the market today that claim they will boost your overall vitality and give you all the vitamins that your body requires.

Some general practitioners and pharmacists claim that it's necessary to take a vitamin pill each day to make up for the nutritional deficiencies of the modern-day diet which often includes processed and fast foods.

But others say that simply taking a pill a day can't replace getting all of your nutritional needs through eating a balanced diet made up from items of all of the food groups.

"Vitamins should only be taken if it's recommended by the doctor," Myra Albury Deputy, chief dietitian at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), told Tribune Health.

"These include cases where the person has a health condition, which includes diseases that affect your iron count, like a kidney ailment which makes taking a vitamin necessary to make up for deficiencies."

Only in cases such as these does Ms Albury recommend taking multivitamin supplements.

"I'm not knocking down vitamins," said Ms Albury. "I just think that consuming high protein foods and drinks can't match getting your protein from natural sources. I recommend eating well-balanced diets covering all the food groups such as starch, vegetables, meats and other food sources," she said.

"Eat a variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups. You may be eating plenty of food, but your body may not be getting the nutrients it needs to be healthy."

Nutrient-rich foods have vitamins, minerals and fibre, and also have less calories.

The PMH dietitian said people must eat balanced meals, prepared in the right way, and ensure that they get physical exercise.

"To get your requirements of protein, have lean cutlets of meat. You can have tuna, salmon, fish, chicken, turkey - skinless, less red, more white meat," Ms Albury said.

"If you have chicken, ensure that is baked well and broiled."

Have three to five servings of fruits and vegetables, and 25 to 30 grammes of fibre daily.

The best vegetables are fresh, the next best are frozen and the worst are canned. The minerals go down the drain with the water, she said.

And Ms Albury recommends not to overcook vegetables; they should be slightly raw when consumed.

Some people, for instance, cook broccoli until it loses its colour. The richer in colour the food is, the greater the nutritional benefits.

"You destroy the natural vitamins inside (when you overcook). When you steam your vegetables down, only have them on the stove for five to ten minutes, but the purpose is not to cook them," Ms Albury said.

"Some vegetables take a long time to cook. But don't cook them with a lot of water, and you can also microwave them."

When it comes to a good source of protein, Ms Albury recommends eating fish.

"If the person is healthy and eating a well-balanced diet they don't need to be on vitamins at a healthy age," she said.

The dietitian also added that too many vitamin supplements can lead to vitamin poisoning - high storage levels of vitamins which can lead to toxic symptoms.

But there are those who disagree with this stance on vitamin supplements, and are of the opinion that it is almost impossible to get all of your necessary nutrients from food items sold in supermarkets today.

Dr Humblestone, a physician for stress related disorders, for example, said that "the premise that you can eat fresh fruits and vegetables and you'll be okay is too simple."

"There's a lot more to health," he told Tribune Health.

He explained that a significant amount of nutrients that a body requires cannot be found in foods that are made from white flour and sugar.

"White flour and white sugar don't have the micro-nutrients, the minerals and the vitamins which are so important," he said.

"In animal experiments, it has been clearly shown that if you give animals less calories that they are normally calculated to require for the given body weight of the animal, they die if you give them less calories, but you add extra vitamins and minerals and some of those animals live up to 50 per cent longer. The ones who live on the regular balanced diet do not live as long," he said.

Times have changed, and so have people's nutritional needs, Dr Humblestone said.

"We are under stress more than people in old times with regard to food. The island food as it used to be was from the sea. We don't get natural foods (anymore), as everything is processed and packaged, even down to vegetables.

"We've got so much canned foods now where the minerals go down the drain with the water," said Dr Humblestone.

Dr Humblestone said that eating fresh produce, fruit and vegetables, is required to live healthy, but warned that you can still lose high levels of zinc and vitamin D through drinking alcohol and even by taking on psychological stress, which internalised, depletes the body of vitamins B and C.

"If you have a high sugar diet you can lose more zinc in your urine, it's just one of the things that happens," said Dr Humblestone. If you lose too much zinc, your sense of taste will diminish and you will need a lot of flavours in order to satisfy you," he said.

"So much of the diet nowadays is unhealthy, so you've got to ensure that the mineral and vitamin function is boosted."

In Dr Humblestone's opinion, there is sufficient support for taking micro-nutrient supplements (vitamins).

"Vitamins do play a very important part in health and longevity. If you can't get it in your diet, then you supplement," he said.