Do we really need dietary supplements?

By Howard R. Hernandez, MD

THERE have been several reports in scientific research and medical journals that have caused some skepticism about the benefits of taking supplements. These studies have made their way to popular press and have added to public uncertainty. Do you need to take dietary supplements? The answer depends on your age, general medical condition and lifestyle and eating habits.

Vitamin and mineral supplements

Let’s start by understanding the difference between vitamins and minerals. A vitamin is any of the organic compounds that the body needs in small amounts to grow and stay strong. A mineral is the inorganic equivalent that may be required for good health, proper metabolic functioning and disease prevention.

If you’re generally healthy and consume a great variety of foods, most likely you don’t need dietary supplements. A balanced diet will be enough to keep you trim, give you energy, and lower the risk of certain diseases. Remember taking too much of a vitamin or mineral may be harmful to one’s health. It would be hard to overdose on vitamins and minerals from the food you eat. You can easily take too much if you take supplements.

More often than not, even health enthusiasts sometimes fall short on their nutritional intake. Supplements make good sense in this respect. A vitamin or mineral in the right dosage may offer benefits that are both safe and effective.

People who may benefit from vitamin and mineral supplements include:

Pregnant or women trying to get pregnant

Breastfeeding women

Cigarette smokers

Alcoholics

Illegal drug users

The elderly

People on low-calorie diets or crash dieters

Women with heavy menstrual bleeding

People with allergies to particular foods

People with mal-absorption problems such as diarrhea, celiac disease or pancreatitis

Sports nutrition

Good nutrition is fundamental to optimal performance. The use of nutritional supplements in the realm of sports is quite prevalent. These supplements come in various forms but all aim to enhance athletic performance. Common sports nutrition supplements are sports and energy drinks, carbohydrate bars and gels, protein powders, drinks and bars, liquid meal supplements to name a few.

Sports supplements are substances that aim to enhance performance through effects on energy, alertness, or body composition. Several nutritional aids have been shown to be potentially beneficial for certain athletes because they are effective at influencing energy.

Caffeine is considered a performance-enhancing supplement due to being a central nervous system stimulant. It has been found to enhance endurance performance. In top-level sports competitions, there is a certain caffeine level limit in the urine permitted. Since caffeine is a diuretic, you must increase your oral fluid intake!

Creatine and bicarbonate supplements have been shown to be generally useful in short-term strenuous exercise. Creatine can increase muscle creatine phosphate levels and therefore may be useful to help athletes recover quickly between repeated episodes of high intensity exercise. Alkaline salts, such as sodium bicarbonate, can help to naturalize lactic acid from anaerobic metabolism and delay fatigue.

A variety of supplements claim to enhance performance by affecting body composition—either by increasing muscle mass and/or reducing body fat—such as protein and amino acid supplements, carnitine, chromium, hydroxymethylbutyrate(HMB), but have been generally shown to be ineffective.

Acute ingestion of these diet manipulations may be safe, although some like caffeine and bicarbonate can cause gastrointestinal disturbances. The safety of long-term use of these diet manipulations has not been established.

There are some diet and fitness assessments that are solely designed to find faults in your diet that can be corrected by taking supplements. Supplements in this way may be used for the wrong reasons, as it is more a self-serving means of making profit than convincing you to eat a healthy balanced diet!

As plain as it may sound, carbs are still the best energy enhancer, and is not likely to change in the future.

Pill or no pill?

I frequently get asked in practice or at the gym whether one can skip meals and just take a vitamin or mineral supplement instead. The answer is an outright no. As the name implies, supplements aren’t food substitutes. These pills are intended to supplement diet, and not replace all the benefits and nutrients of whole foods. They may complement your diet if you’re having trouble in getting enough nutrients from either restricted intakes (due to disease, lack of appetite) or those who have increased requirements (during exercise, pregnancy and some medical treatments).

It is always a good idea to talk to your doctor or an accredited practicing dietitian, as he or she knows your history and specific situation best. The MD or dietician will assess your needs, and should make you understand how to choose and use supplements.

My advice is to simply eat healthy foods and not the pill. Why can’t we savor the physical pleasure eating brings? Eating does possess a unique aesthetic value in the human experience—a sense of taste. Of course, I’d go healthy by choosing a balanced diet of fruits, veggies, lean meats, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. I’d be taking them in small and frequent feedings. There is just no supplement that can substitute for the real thing. I am going to eat and drink to that!

Additional information :

Do we really need dietary supplements?: from www.manilatimes.net