Does it Have to be Vitamins Vs. Veggies?

[Guest guest]

Does It Have To Be Vitamins Vs Veggies?

Commentary by Jack Challem

 

We too often tolerate a sanctimonious and mean-spirited streak in our society.

People are punished socially for little more than being human - for being poor,

ethnic, teenage and pregnant, or for a hundred other reasons. The higher moral

ground, we've been told, would be to accept people with compassion and, when

needed, to help improve the quality of their lives.

 

 

Strange as it might seem, a similar drama unfolds in the field of nutrition.

 

 

It is abundantly clear that vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables greatly reduce

the risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

Accordingly, dietitians urge people to eat more of these nutritious foods.

 

 

But ask a dietitian about vitamin supplements and the response will likely be as

reproving as a mean-spirited minister: you should get all the vitamins and

minerals you need by eating a well-balanced diet.

 

 

It's sound advice, of course. We all should eat well-balanced diets. But it

doesn't reflect the reality of the 1990s.

 

 

The way we live and work frequently subverts the most sincere and ambitious

plans to eat right. Home-cooked meals give way to convenient fast foods and

abbreviated breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Junk foods, carefully designed to

titillate our taste buds, surround us with unnatural temptations. Some of our

good intentions are even sidetracked by " bitter-taste " genes that make sweet

apples taste like bad medicine. In the end, it's probably harder to give up bad

eating habits than tobacco.

 

 

Nobly, the U. S. Department of Agriculture recommends that people eat 3-5

servings of fruits and vegetables daily, and the National Cancer Institute

recommends 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily to lower the risk of

cancer.

 

 

But unless you're a devout vegetarian, eating all these servings of healthful

fruits and vegetables is easier said than done.

 

 

Eight years ago, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, reported

that only 9 percent of Americans ate 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables on a

given day, and 45 percent failed to consume any at all. The same researchers

recently reported that fruit and vegetable consumption has not improved and in

some ways has gotten worse.

 

 

Even the most optimistic appraisal of eating habits shows Americans falling far

short of dietary recommendations for fruits and vegetables. A 1995 NCI survey

found that 32 percent of Americans ate 4 daily servings of fruits and

vegetables.

 

 

The eating habits of children aren't any better. A small survey of students from

schools on Long Island and Brooklyn, N.Y., found that 20 percent consumed no

fruits or vegetables with the exception of french fries.

 

 

So the question becomes: is it fair to punish people for their nutritional sins?

 

 

It doesn't seem right.

 

 

Certainly, we should encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables. But we

have to recognize that many - perhaps most - people simply won't any time soon.

 

 

Should we therefore deny them the health benefits of vitamin supplements - a

sacrament, of sorts, to partially redeem their health?

 

 

It would seem unfair to do so.

 

 

The research overwhelmingly shows that high intake of vitamins, minerals, and

other micronutrients is associated with good health, and that low intake of

these nutrients is related to poor health and chronic disease.

 

 

We know, thanks to cell and molecular biologists, that these nutrients are the

basic building blocks that keep our body's cells functioning normally and

protect our genes from disease-inducing damage.

 

 

We know, as well, that vitamin E and folic acid reduce the risk of heart

disease, vitamin C and zinc relieve cold symptoms, and beta-carotene and related

carotenoids lower the risk of many types of cancer.

 

 

Supplements cannot replace everything that's in fruits and vegetables. But

they're far better than nothing at all. And there's no sense in self-righteously

denying them to people of poor nutritional fiber.

 

 

Furthermore, vitamin supplements offer benefits that indirectly touch every one

of us. One recent study, which looked at just three conditions, estimated that

vitamin supplements could reduce hospitalization and health-care costs by $20

billion. That's $20 billion of your money and mine.

 

 

It's time we took the higher nutritional ground and encouraged people to both

eat wisely and supplement sensibly. It's the rational and compassionate thing to

do, and it's in everyone's best interest.

 

 

 

This article originally appeared in The Nutrition Reporterª newsletter. The

information provided by Jack Challem and The Nutrition Reporterª newsletter is

strictly educational and not intended as medical advice. For diagnosis and

treatment, consult your physician.

 

http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/vitamins_vs_veggies.html

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

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DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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