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Page 1 of 3 Why use Vitamins
24 Good Reasons Why You May Need Nutritional Supplements
Many people believe that eating a well balanced diet provides all the vitamins and minerals necessary for good health. In ideal circumstances, this is the case, but in reality there are many reasons why you may need vitamin supplements to cope with living in the twentieth century environment. Taking vitamins when required is a safe method of optimising your dietary sources of nutrients, providing you follow the instructions on product labels.
1. Poor Digestion
Even when your food intake is good, inefficient digestion can limit your body's uptake of vitamins. Some common causes of inefficient digestion are not chewing well enough and eating too fast. Both of these result in larger than normal food particle size, too large to allow complete action of digestive enzymes. Many people with dentures are unable to chew as efficiently as those with a full set of original teeth.
2. Hot Coffee, Tea and Spices
Habitual drinking of liquids that are too hot, or consuming an excess of irritants such as coffee, tea or pickles and spices can cause inflammation of the digestive linings, resulting in a drop in secretion of digestive fluids and poorer extraction of vitamins and minerals from food.
3. Alcohol
Drinking too much alcohol is known to damage the liver and pancreas, which are vital to digestion and metabolism. It can also damage the lining of the intestinal tract and adversely affect the absorption of nutrients, leading to sub-clinical malnutrition. Regular heavy use of alcohol increases the body's need for the B-group vitamins, particularly thiamine, niacin, pyridoxine, folic acid and vitamins B12 and C as well as the minerals zinc, magnesium and calcium. Alcohol affects availability, absorption and metabolism of nutrients.
4. Smoking
Smoking too much tobacco is also an irritant to the digestive tract and increases the metabolic requirements of Vitamin C, all else being equal, by at least 30 per cent more than the typical requirements of a non-smoker. Vitamin C, which is normally present in such foods as paw paws, oranges and capsicums, oxidises rapidly once these fruits are cut, juiced, cooked or stored in direct light or near heat. Vitamin C is important for good immune function.
5. Laxatives
Overuse of laxatives can result in poor absorption of vitamins and minerals from food, by hastening the intestinal transit time. Paraffin and other mineral oils increase losses of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Other laxatives used to excess can cause large losses of minerals such as potassium, sodium and magnesium.
6. Fad Diets
Bizarre diets that miss out on whole groups of foods can be seriously lacking in vitamins. Even the popular low fat diets, if taken to an extreme, can be deficient in vitamins A, D and E. Vegetarian diets, which exclude meat and other animal sources, must be very skilfully planned to avoid vitamin B12 deficiency, which may lead to anaemia.
7. Overcooking
Lengthy cooking or reheating of meat and vegetables can oxidise and destroy heat susceptible vitamins such as the B-group, C and E. Boiling vegetables leaches the water soluble vitamins B-group and C as well as many minerals. Light steaming is preferable. Some vitamins, such as vitamin B6 can be destroyed by irradiation from microwaves.
8. Food Storage
Freezing food containing vitamin E can significantly reduce its levels once defrosted. Foods containing vitamin E exposed to heat and air can turn rancid. Many common sources of vitamin E, such as bread and oils are nowadays highly processed, so that the vitamin E content is significantly reduced or missing totally, which increases storage life but can lower nutrient levels. Vitamin E is an antioxidant which defensively inhibits oxidative damage to all tissues. Other vitamin losses from food preserving can include vitamin B1 and C.
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