Food Supplements Yay or Nay ?

What are Food Supplements ?

The idea of food supplements come when we are not getting enough nutrition from our food as main source.
Their roles are to fill in the gaps not to replace the meals.
Food supplements can be vitamins, minerals delivered in the form of pills, tablets, capsules etc.

Who needs Food Supplements ?

As mentioned that everyone should aim for well balance diet from the food. However, there are certain groups or individual may need advise about supplements even when they eat a healthy balance diet eg. pregnant women, growing up children, individuals on specific medications, or those in older age who have weak immune systems.

However, in today's world, it's a fact that most people are not getting enough micro nutritions from the food, because of many factors that contribute into it.
Therefore, it's advisable to know each of individual ODI (Optimum Daily Intake) and fill in which macro-nutritions we are lacking with Food supplements.

What are the benefit of taking Food Supplement ?

There are long reports from research taken by Council for Responsible Nutrition, USA about Food supplements benefits. And these are just a summary

1. Nature's Protector against diseases

Nutrients do far more than protect the body against deficiency diseases. They also protect us from foreign invaders and help fight infection.
Inadequate nutrition will weaken one or more of the components of our defense system.

2. Nutrients and Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress is dramatic changes in the body cause a great deal of damage. And when accumulate over time, it has been associated with the signs of aging, degenerative diseases such as arthritis, and development of cancer.

3. Nutrients and Brain Power

Having a sharp, clear mind is a sign of overall optimum health at any age. Although our brain power seems to decline as time goes by, forgetfulness, confusion, dementia can strike at any age now.
Nutritional supplements can help maintain and restore our cognitive powers.

4. Nutrients and Weight Control

Even people who do not "diet" aren't getting all the nutrition they need from food, so if we are cutting calories, we're in double jeopardy.
When we cut calories, we need to have supplements to achieve healthy and optimum amounts of vitamins and minerals.

What are the Side Effect of taking Food Supplements ?

Only a certain amount of each nutrient is needed for our bodies to function and higher amounts may not necessarily better. At high dose, some substances may have adverse effect and become harmful.

Too much Vitamin C or Zinc could cause nausea, diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
Too much selenium could lead to hair loss, fatigue and mild nerve damage.

If we are taking food supplements, stick to one that's no more than recommended daily value.
If we are taking basic multivitamin supplements, there is no need to worry, because most of multivitamins supplements have a wide margin of safety, unless we abuse supplements by taking massive quantities for a prolonged period of time.