According to recent research, a daily multivitamin is a waste of money for most people, and some other old standbys may even harm your wellbeing. When it comes to vitamin and mineral supplements, sometimes they can be helpful, but often only at the recommendation of a doctor. Here’s what you need to know to protect your wellness.
Firstly, if you pick up a supplement, and it has a warning on the label, put it back down. It is a myth that a multivitamin can make up for a bad diet, as they often have two dozen ingredients compared to the hundreds of other useful compounds found in fresh fruits and vegetables. An apple, for example, contains over 10,000 phytonutrients for helping your body fight disease. That kind of defence cannot be duplicated in fragmented vitamins, and you may be missing out on lots of beneficial compounds.
If you’re thinking “hey, it can’t hurt,” think again. Although vitamins are safe when attained through food, when taken in pill form they can act more like a drug, with the potential for unexpected and sometimes dangerous side effects. Whilst we’re on myths about these pills, let’s bust a few others; vitamin pills do not prevent heart disease, vitamin C cannot fight colds, and taking vitamins won’t protect you against cancer. In short, there’s no point unless your doctor advises otherwise.
Real foods, and fresh fruits and vegetables in particular, are far superior sources of vitamins and minerals than supplements. 70% of diseases are preventable through good nutrition, especially if you follow solid dietary advice. Enzymes, which act as catalysts for the 10,000 functions per second that your cells undergo, are only found in raw foods, so cooking fruits and vegetables destroys a lot of their benefits. Also, if your produce is vine ripened, it allows the nutrients to develop in the food so your body can better absorb them – and it creates more beautiful and bright colours in your fruits and vegetables.
When you’re choosing your fruits and vegetables, remember freshness is key. Produce loses 75% of nutrients within five days of picking, and most produce is picked weeks before it is ripe and nutrients have had a chance to develop. Finally, make sure you get a good variety of produce as each fruit and vegetable has a unique composition of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients, and trace elements.
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