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Nutritional Supplements
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Your body is composed entirely of molecules derived from food. To maintain health, we need a diversity of vitamins, minerals, cofactors, enzymes and many other substances that help nourish our body. In fact, there are fifty currently known essential nutrients.
With an adequate intake of micronutrients, most chronic diseases woud not exist. Good nutritional therapy therefore, is the medicine of the future.
We all need to eat as well as possible, paying particular attention to the quality and to the balance of foods in our diet. There are many beneficial nutrients and nutrient interactions in food which we have not yet even recognised. Therefore it is paramount to adhere to healthy eating guidelines.
Nutritional powders and pills must never replace a healthy diet. The general guidelines of a healthy,balanced diet are the Core Food Groups, Australian Dietary Guidelines and Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. These recommendations are based on scientific evidence therefore there is no substitute for this healthy way of eating.
Recent revision of Nutrient Reference Values including RDIs (Reccomended Dietary Intakes) indicate that these general guidelines for healthy eating are "the amounts of specific nutrients required on average on a daily basis for sustenance or avoidance of deficiency states" (NHMRC, 2005). This means we must be doing more to ensure we are receiving optimal intakes of nutrients and optimal health (such as antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and trace elements) that will prevent illness as we get older and reduce or eradicate symptoms of current illness. This means not only aiming for a diet including a healthy combination of nutrient dense, unprocessed foods, but it may also mean complementing the diet with additional nutrients to aim for higher intakes rather than average intakes.
To help address the issue that many Australians are not meeting RDI levels of nutrient requirements, some foods are now being fortified with added nutrients such as folate, iron, fibre, omega 3 fatty acids etc.
The problem is that NHMRC reports there are also limitations to whom the RDIs are applicable. For example people who smoke, vegetarians, athletes, cultural and racial groups, oral contraceptive pill users, those on medications or with a high alcohol intake, or those with a body weight outside the range of the average 19-30 year old. (NHMRC, 2005)
Important tips around nutritional supplements to bear in mind:
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There is no substitute for 'whole foods' (any unrefined and unprocessed foods), which contain hundreds of health-promoting substances, the importance of many of which we have yet to discover.
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Eat a varied diet, choosing from a wide range of different kinds of foods.
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Do not supplement your diet with individual nutrients without also taking a good all-round multivitamin and mineral supplement.
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Do not take a large amount of an individual B vitamin without also taking a B complex or a good multivitamin.
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Do not supplement your diet with a large amount of an isolated antioxidant nutrient (eg vitamin C, E or betacarotene) without also taking a good all round multivitamin or antioxidant formula.
Quite simply, yes. There are many factors which affect the nutritional quality of supplements:
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The raw ingredients that have been used eg.calcium acsorbate vs calcium citrate.
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The ratios of all vitamins and minerals in the formula
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The potency - does every tablet contain the precise amount of the ingredients listed on the label?
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The bioavailability (how easily the nutrients are absorbed). This depends on the quality of ingredients and the right blend.
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The antioxidant capacity - certain vitamins and nutrients act as powerful antioxidants which protect the cells from degeneration.
Do not choose any supplement that contains the retinol form of vitamin A as this can be toxic in high doses. Instead choose the beta-carotene form. Avoid a multi vitamin which aslo contains iron.
Dawnlife Dietetics promotes safe, sensible use of nutritional supplements and has searched the marketplace for all the brands available.
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