Hardly a day goes by without someone in officialdom knocking the use of vitamins Below is a quote from an article in The New York Times last week. “I’m puzzled why the public in general ignores the results of well-done trials,” said Dr. Eric Klein, national study coordinator for the prostate cancer trial and chairman of the Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute. “The public’s belief in the benefits of vitamins and nutrients is not supported by the available scientific data.” Despite the efforts of doctors and health officials to discourage the use of supplements they remain popular. The main reason for this in my view is that people feel better taking them Scientific studies look at end points like death rates or “cure” of diseases Taking supplements will not stop you dying and will not likely by itself cure specific illness However our bodies cells need an assortment of essential vitamins and minerals to function optimally

If you can obtain this from diet that’s great Unfortunately, in today’s western world, much of the food that we consume is full of calories but fairly low in nutritional value The role of supplementation is to ensure the body gets the optimum amount of the vitamins and minerals that it needs. This amount is generally more than the recommended daily allowance which is the amount needed to prevent deficiency. Furthermore, the amount required may differ from time to time for a number of reasons including your level of activity or degree of stress. The use of supplements is a good example of where individuals need to be guided by their own bodies and own judgement and not be influenced by officialdom or “scientific data” that probably does not apply to them It would be great to hear of some of your experiences with supplements but please no sales pitches

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Vitamins