Vitamins and minerals are necessary for your body to function properly, but do any of us really know exactly what is in our food or in the medications we take?
Vitamins help you absorb food into your system, help cell production and so many other processes they are too numerous to detail. But exactly how effective are those little pills we get in the drug stores, and what are the dangers they pose?
If you think you get the necessary nutrients you need simply from having a balanced diet you might just be right if it were the 1950s, but because of new occurrences from industry farming, like soil depletion, people who fail to buy completely organic food will pass up a lot of nutrients they need even if they have a well balanced diet.
Organic foods alone contain six times the nutrient density of normal super market foods, and unless you cultivate your own cows, chickens, fruits and vegetables, and follow carefully what you eat, it is hard to get exactly the right amount of nutrients out of your food.
Vitamins, like many foods, contain a number of substances we are not aware of when we purchase them. The Gummy Bear vitamins that are popular with both kids and adults contain lead. The lead these vitamins contain is below the legal amount, but it still brings up questions about what is in our daily supplements.
Lots of foods today don’t have nutrients that are readily absorbed by your body and vitamins can help bring up those levels; but your body might also find it hard to absorb them. Oberman’s lab has developed a way to test if vitamins dissolve in your stomach properly. Set a vitamin in a cup of warm vinegar, around 98 degrees Fahrenheit, for 15-20 minutes. Stir gently without making contact with the pill. If it dissolves the vitamin passes the test. If not then it is time to consider another type of pill.
Many people do not need multivitamin pills, which contain a massive amount of all of the vitamins and minerals. In order to get what you need out of your supplements ask your doctor about tests that measure the amount of nutrients found in your blood. Find out exactly what you need from doctors, and then find the supplements that complete your nutrient requirements.
Remember, it is better to have too much than not enough when it comes to the nutrients your body needs, but going too far overboard can also have negative effects. Too much vitamin A can cause bone weakening in children, so make sure you find out exactly what you need from a certified doctor for the best results.
If you don’t like taking pills, and want a more natural way of getting nutrients into your system, you might want to research different types of herbs. You can eat a number of herbs once a day just like vitamin supplements to get your necessary daily dose of vitamins into your diet.
Whatever you choose, herbs or vitamins, watching your diet is still the most effective way to control the nutrients you put in your body, so make sure you find out what you eat normally, and use the pills as complements to your diet, and not the main source of your nutrient intake.
