Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages PL
Good thread, graciegirl. It doesn't matter whether the study is 3 years old or 10 years old; I like it. Over the years there have been many many articles pointing out the harm of vitamins that were once thought to be beneficial. There was one really big article in The Wall Street Journal. If I can find it I'll give more information on it later.
What impressed me the most was a health book (not sure which one) that stated vitamins are not the same as food. For example, vitamin C is not the same as an orange, tomato or broccoli. Although those foods contain vitamin C they also contain lots of other nutrients that are balanced by nature. And it was estimated that something like 25% of the nutrients in foods are still unknown. So, it's kind of silly, in my opinion, to put much faith in multiple vitamins. I have never taken any multiple vitamins and I'm perfectly healthy at 71. (No drugs either.)
I just read in the Alzheimer's book (100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer's) that older people should not be taking a multiple vitamin containing iron and copper. Those two items greatly increase your risk for Alzheimer's. (And, by the way, what does red meat contain? A lot of iron.)
Multi-vitamins are designed for people who don't like healthy foods and want to ease their conscience. They can go through the day eating junk and think, "I'm going to be okay because I took my multi-vitamins this morning."
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I agree with your last paragraph totally, but will add.....
Many near anorexic type folks who do not want to consume "calories" think that popping a vitamin will be sufficient. The vitamins' components are no way comparable to eating the whole food.
My pet peeve is seeing our own mature and elderly family members traveling with bags and bags of "supplements".......some could be overdosing on these alone. Subscribers to "Prevention Magazine", they try every new supplement out there........
I doubt if our bodies were meant to use vitamins solely as a food source.
Topic for another thread is that the "wheat" we eat today is not the wheat of old.......ditto for the meat. Our younger family members have educated us in the positive changes of buying organic whole foods, not by preaching, but by example.....and in what they've encouraged their own "little ones" to consume. Treats are saved for special occasions and nothing is totally restricted.....or that would make for a very boring existence.
We all can be proud of this younger generation of parents.
The children love their RAW veggies and gobble them up, or fresh fruit in abundance......