Vitamins - Wise
Vitamin Intake
Although nature intended for us to receive the needed vitamins and
minerals through food consumption, the changes that have been occurring
in people's lifestyles, working environments, free time and rest hours,
have tremendously altered their dietary habits and thus, the quantity of
vitamins and mineral supplements received. In order to resolve this
recent negative development, physicians and researchers have been
advising people to take vitamin and mineral supplements. But although
governments set guidelines of how much of each vitamin and mineral
people should take in order to stay within the safe range, many people
believe these levels are too low and consume larger doses of vitamins
thinking that they are doing good with this extra vitamin and mineral
intake.
Unfortunately, this is not the case and there is worse. Some people
justify their poor eating habits and try to provide sound arguments
against eating properly during the day, by saying that they orally take
a few vitamin and mineral pills to cover their bodies' needs. These
people are catastrophically wrong. Not only they do not receive their
normal amount of energy through food, they can cause even bigger harm by
consuming pills that have not been advised by their doctor. Even if one
follows a balanced diet it is not advisable to consume more than the
directed dose of vitamins and minerals, but taking extra vitamins and
minerals within the guidelines are considered safe.
The Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA's) for each vitamin and mineral
have been set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of
Sciences. The recommended doses were based on studies completed more
than 25 years ago to see how much of each vitamin and mineral the human
body needed and how much people received from foods. But exactly because
the guidelines are now more than one quarter of a century old, some
people think that the RDA's need to be increased as they consider them
antiquated. In fact, in recent years some RDA's, such as Vitamin C, have
been increased. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been slow
and hesitant to increase others because of studies that indicated taking
more is not always better.
Vitamins are nutrients required for essential metabolic reaction in
the body and along with minerals are extremely important substances in
fighting disease and curing many ailments. Until the 1900s, vitamins
could only be obtained by eating food, but many people today believe
vitamins can stop the aging process, prevent or even heal cancer, grow
back hair, ease arthritis, prevent Alzheimer's disease, and many other
health related conditions. People are spending absolutely billions of
dollars on vitamin and mineral supplements believing they can cure all
their illness.
Researchers are now studying if taking supplements above the
recommended levels is actually harmful and the results have shown that
while some vitamins are harmful if taken above their recommended levels,
others are not. For instance, overdosing yourself with Vitamin E (at
more than 1,000 mg) it is possible to cause bleeding. Also, Vitamin C
used to be thought of a safe vitamin to take megadoses of and many
people take a lot thinking it can cure a cold and prevent cancer. But
the FDA disproves of such practices and supports that too much vitamin C
can cause diarrhea. The best approach to vitamin and mineral supplements
is to only take what is a prudent dose. In case you think you need to
take more for some reason, then it is best if you consult with your
doctor who is familiar with your exact health history and can give you
expert advice.
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