Why Take A Multivitamin?

Why Take a Multivitamin?

There are many reasons for taking vitamins. The reasons can usually fall into one of two categories: nutritional or therapeutic.

nutritional needs

Vitamins and minerals are essential to life. These essential nutrients must be obtained from the food we eat. They cannot be made in our body. If we don’t get enough of any of the essential vitamins, minerals or amino acids, we will develop what is called a deficiency disease and if this deficiency is not corrected, we will die.

From this standpoint, in order to prevent clinical deficiency, one would hope that all that would be necessary would be a well-balanced diet consisting of a variety of fresh, nutritious foods properly prepared to preserve nutritional value.

Unfortunately this is not the case. Food isn’t what it used to be, our lifestyles aren’t what they used to be and, just as important, our environment isn’t what it used to be.

Today, fresh food is often transported across the country for several days, which means that the nutrients are naturally reduced by exposure to oxygen. Fruits and vegetables are grown using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, meat and dairy products are obtained from animals raised on hormones or other growth-promoting drugs and bleached or brominated grain products.

Processing food to enhance flavor and extend shelf life is a major cause of nutrient deficiencies. When brown rice is processed into white rice through milling, bleaching and other processes, 80 percent of many trace elements such as magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc are lost.

A corresponding loss occurs when whole grain berries are reduced to bleached white wheat flour, one of the mainstays of the standard diet.

Nutrients can be lost in other ways. Various cooking techniques such as microwaving can oxidize nutrients in food, resulting in lower nutrient levels. The same goes for a type of preservation, like canning fruits and vegetables.

Through the repeated cultivation of crops, nutrients are lost from the soil and are not replenished. Selenium, for example, is depleted in large parts of our soil.

Nutrients are also lost when plants are harvested before they are naturally mature. The still green picked products are then force ripened with chemicals.

Even when we strive to eat well, it may not provide the amount of nutrients we think it does. How many of us can resist the marketing pressure to buy and eat highly processed, low calorie foods that are so heavily promoted by the food industry? How many of us, when going to a restaurant or eating lunch and breakfast on the run, can avoid foods with too much fat and not enough nutrients? Why do the foods that taste the best always appear to those that are at least healthy?

Major national surveys consistently show that many people’s diets are not balanced. Inadequate intake of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, folic acid, vitamin B6, calcium, copper, iron, manganese and zinc, is commonly reported. In addition, it is estimated that 9 out of 10 diets are low in chromium and magnesium intake is about half the recommended amount.

Avoiding clinical deficiencies is one thing. Avoiding subclinical deficiencies is another. Certainly we don’t move from adequate to inadequate in the blink of an eye. Obviously there is a situation when a person can have a partial deficiency of certain nutrients.