WHY TAKE SUPPLEMENTS?
It is often said that we are what we eat. Diet is certainly a critical component in creating a healing environment for our bodies. But it is just one component. It is also invariably flawed. Good nutrition is not enough, and you could be hindering your own natural repair system by being deficient in just a few key ingredients. Here are some reasons to add nutriceuticals (medical food supplements) to your diet:
1) Very few of us eat a healthy diet every meal, every day. In fact, most of us have rather poor eating habits which allow toxic build-up in or deficient functioning of our cells. For example, it is well known in nutritional science that certain foods are “pro-inflammatory” and some are “anti-inflammatory.”
2) More and more of the food produced for our consumption, including fruits and vegetables, is grown in soil depleted of vital nutrients, especially trace minerals.
3) While there is an encouraging organic farming movement, more and more food is processed and refined such that it is unlikely to contain adequate nutrients. Furthermore, toxic chemicals and various additives are used in farming, producing food that, at worst, is unsafe, or is lacking in high-quality nutrition (“empty” calories).
4) Whether due to aging or to specific diseases (and virtually all chronic, complex illnesses) our ability to digest and absorb many nutrients is decreased. It then becomes obvious in these situations that we need to augment our diets with a well-designed supplement program. Especially important are digestive enzymes and nutriceuticals to detoxify our liver, brain, and almost every other cellular tissue.
5) The National Research Council’s RDA (recommended daily allowances) provide guidelines as to the level of a nutrient below which deficiency occurs. This is NOT the same as an optimal level to afford a chance at preventing, if not treating, a specific problem. For example, the RDA for Vitamin E (and there are many forms of Vitamin E) is 10 IUs, whereas numerous research studies have shown that 400-800 IUs is needed in reducing the risk of heart disease.
There are hundreds and hundreds of companies producing thousands and thousands of supplements. How is the general consumer to know which is a quality product, and at what price? It is a bewildering task. I have made it my clinical focus for the past 10 years to study these products. I can promise you that in hand-selecting each item in our inventory, I have satisfied myself that there is scientific substantiation of the worth of the product and that the vendors we work with are reputable. Beware of that company that touts a “miracle pill” as there is no such thing available (we are an entirely too complicated multi-system organism – that also happens to be enmeshed in an emotional system as well as a spiritual being – to believe that “a magic bullet” of food or nutrition can “fix” us). Although I strongly believe that the importance of nutriceuticals in many cases rivals, even surpasses, the importance of pharmaceuticals, it is still necessary to remind you that essentially all of our products in inventory the FDA has not evaluated, and therefore we can make no claims for their ability to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
In an upcoming article I will address how you may want to go about creating a nutriceutical support program for yourself, given your own unique set of circumstances (genotype and phenotype).
Best wishes for wellness on your health journey!
Dr. Purdy |
