The Truth About Multivitamins
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During a graduate nutrition course at the University of Minnesota, a professorposed a challenge to the class: Construct a 2000 calorie-per-day diet thatat least met the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for vitamins andminerals without the use of supplements. Most of the graduate studentsthought that this was going to be a simple assignment. After all, we hadbeen told over and over again that people can get all of the nutrientstheir body needs simply by eating a well-balanced diet. Well, the professorwas putting that statement to the test.
To everyone’s surprise, no one was able to come up with a sustainabledaily diet that met the minimum RDA requirements. The graduate studentsdiscovered that it is impossible to get everything that you need from thefood we eat. But how could this be? Certainly people have lived on thisplanet for a long time and must have been able to get everything they neededfrom their diet. The answer has to do with modern farming techniques, fertilizersand environmental stresses.
Following the Second World War, chemical manufacturers were sitting onhuge stockpiles of phosphates and nitrates that were initially intendedfor use in explosives. They discovered that when they spread these samephosphates and nitrates on the soil where plants were growing, the plantsgrew bigger and looked healthier. Thus began the boom of the fertilizerindustry.
The problem with modern fertilizers is that they don’t replace soiltrace minerals, such as chromium, zinc and copper, as do cow manure andother natural fertilizers. Over time, these trace minerals become moreand more depleted from the soil and, consequently, our food supply becomesmore depleted as well. The bottom line is that in order to get enough traceminerals in our diet to at least meet the minimum RDAs, it is necessaryto take a good quality supplement.
How to Select a Good Multivitamin
All vitamin supplements are not created equal. Supplements are just likeanything else- there are some good ones out there and a whole lotof supplements that are not as good. Here a few keys to determining whethera particular vitamin is good:
- In general, supplements sold through a health care professionals are topquality. They tend to be a little more expensive than the supplementsyou find at your local drug store because the ingredients that go intothem tend to be of a higher quality.
- High quality vitamins have chelated minerals. This makes a huge differencein how well the minerals are absorbed by your body. If you have any questionsabout specific supplements that you are taking, be sure to ask your chiropractor.
- Most high quality vitamin formulations require that you take more thanone capsule or tablet per day. This is simply because high quality ingredients,such as chelated minerals, take up more space than their cheaper counterparts.
The Bottom Line
Taking supplements as part of your overall daily health regimen is a simpleand inexpensive way to ensure that your body has everything it needs tobe healthy. When combined with regular chiropractic care, taking a highquality multivitamin will help to slow the aging process and decrease yourrisk of a number of degenerative diseases. Be sure to talk to your chiropractorto determine which multivitamin formula best fits your individual needs.
