Healthy Information"To Supplement or not to supplement, what is your question?" Life is easier for us now with relief from most of the infectious diseases that were killers in our grandparent's day. Mothers front up to the nurse at the clinic on immunisation day and are hardly aware of the significance of these routine shots for their children; Polio, smallpox, tuberculosis. All these unfamiliar names are now diseases of the past. Why then, when medical science has given us a freedom never before experienced are we not a healthy society? Diseases, which wiped out whole populations in the past, have given way to others more insidious and equally as deadly - cancer, heart disease, hypertension, just to name a few! The difference between these and the current diseases we are inoculated against is that they are degenerative. Nobody 'catches' cancer or heart disease. Like all degenerative diseases, they are manifestations of disorders in the body that are present years before the symptoms are even noticed, much less severe enough to force one to seek medical help. In some cases it is too late for help at all. The first symptom of heart disease can be a fatal heart attack! It is an unfortunate fact that the progressive degeneration of our bodies has been brought about because of the cumulative effects of illnesses, injuries, bodily pollution and malnutrition over many years. We do not die of old age, we die of disease! As many are coming to recognise, part of the problem in the past has been with the way medical science has viewed illness. We are items to be "fixed up", whether it is with new tubing or a drug. In fact, our thinking has always focused on treatment, not prevention. With skyrocketing costs in the health arena, people are now beginning to realise that the most sensible, cost-effective method of health care lies in the prevention of disease in the first place. The strategy of prevention is centred around the promise of good healthy nutrition. Everything you put into your body determines how well you feel and perform. One thing we can personally take control of is our diet. We have always thought that by eating a good mixed diet we were assured of obtaining all the elements needed for a healthy life. This may have been true in the past when people grew much of their own food or obtained it locally, but today much of our food comes from far away. Most of it is processed and stored for long periods of time. Under these conditions, healthy food is robbed of its vitamins and minerals. The few that are added back artificially are not sufficient to make up for those present in the original whole food. Even healthy 'fresh' foods can differ in vitamin and mineral content. Depending on the soil they have been grown in and how long they have been stored. The Vitamin C content of an orange can vary from a figure of well above the average to zero. Similarly, with many other "Fresh Foods" the variation in vitamin and mineral content can be surprising. This makes it difficult to formulate reliable nutritional tables and indeed, books on the subject vary in their statistics. Food preparation also affects the nutrient value of food. Vitamin C content is reduced by heat, as are the B vitamins. Canning reduces many minerals as well as vitamins and freezing is little better. To complicate the matter further, some foods (usually processed), contain an over abundance of ingredients that upset our metabolism. The presence of added sugar in many unlikely foods as well as those of the usual sweet variety has led to problems of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. In order to digest refined sugar, the body requires B vitamins and if they are not sufficient in the diet, the body is robbed of its supply. This begins to cause the occurence of imbalances and then we experience cravings and then often attempt to satisfy them with exactly the same type of sugar or fatty foods that created the problem in the first place. We then remain hungry and under nourished. Even with the best intentions we sometimes become embroiled in the dangers of our modern lifestyle, which does not cater for healthy eating. Often the pace at which we live makes it much easier to grab a takeaway on the run rather than give a meal the time and planning it deserves. Compounding this, is the physiological effect stress has on our bodies, depleting our reserves even further. Even if we were all saints and ate everything that was good for us, it would be impossible to avoid the pollutants that we ingest from the environment around us. Chemicals in petrol, mercury from hair dyes, aluminium from toothpastes and cookware, insecticides - the list is endless! To combat these pollutants our bodies must call upon reserves that may not always be there. To make sure we are equipped to deal with life in our society, it is clear that we may need to supplement our diets with additional vitamins and minerals. It is important not to add any vitamins or minerals as a single component since we know that these things work in conjunction with each other - a process called synergy. For example, a lack of Vitamin C results in an inadequate absorption of iron, which can result in anaemia. It also influences calcium metabolism, which can affect bone growth. Vitamin C itself is dependent on an adequate supply of zinc in the body, and so it goes! No person will have the same dietary requirements. Each one of us is unique in our biochemistry and our life situation. It is therefore important to consider one's individual situation. The science of nutrition has come a long way since its beginnings and is constantly making new discoveries.
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