4 Important Reasons Why You Need Dietary Supplements

Saturday, 10 November 2012

Most of us take dietary supplements as part of our daily routine. To some, it's because almost everybody they know is taking; to others, it's because the mothers / wives say so. Supplements are becoming more and more crucial as part of our health regime. Here are the reasons why:

1. Quality of soil and crops

Vitamins and minerals cannot be made in our body, therefore have to be obtained from the food we eat. Vegetables and fruits are one of our main sources of minerals, which these plants absorb from the soil. Unfortunately, the soil is becoming depleted of minerals, due to:

(a) repeated use of land for agriculture. Just like a well becoming empty after you keep drinking water from it, the mineral content in the same soil also decrease from continuous replanting.

Most agricultural soils today are low in zinc, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, calcium and magnesium. Research shows that this can result in up to 75% decrease in trace minerals in plant foods.

(b) intensive farming. High yield crops contain less nutrients because more crops are competing for the same nutrients from a finite amount of soil.

For instance, wheat farmers today plant 10 times the amount of wheat on the same land, compared to the amount grown 100 years ago.

2. Modern fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides

The superphosphate fertilisers used nowadays contain mainly nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. They stimulate crops to grow, but do not contain trace minerals that are vital for health.

Pesticides and herbicides kill the microorganisms living in the soil that make minerals for the plants.
When we eat these pesticides together with the plants, more nutrients are needed to remove these toxins, placing a heavy toll on our body.

3. Food transportation and processing

Our food often takes days or weeks from the time of harvest until it reaches our markets. Many vitamins are unstable and are easily destroyed when exposed to environmental factors like heat and light.

By the time the food is handled, packaged, transported long distance and cooked, a lot of nutrients have been lost. We consume a lot of refined, processed, canned and frozen food for convenience and economic reasons; even though we know they are less nutritious than fresh and natural food.

Refining wheat to white flour removes 80% magnesium, 70-80% zinc, 87% chromium, 88% manganese and 50% cobalt.
Making polished rice lost 75% zinc and chromium.
Making white sugar from sugar cane lost 99% magnesium and 93% chromium.

4. Unhealthy lifestyle

We often skip meals then binge on a heavy meal to make up for it. We make poor food choices that deprive us of the variety of nutrients we need.

High stress levels levels overstimulates our sympathetic nervous system, which causes poor digestion and weak absorption of nutrients.

As we age, our bodies will produce fewer enzymes that are needed to properly digest the food we eat. Hence, older people are more vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies.

As such, it is essential that we need dietary supplements if the food we eat fall into the above categories or we're pregnant, elderly, vegetarian or have a chronic illness.

(Source: Do I need supplements? by Dr Nor Ashikin Mokhtar, StarFit4Life, 16 September 2012)

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