The Order is Clear: Food First Before Supplements

If your diet consists of all the necessary health nutrients, including antioxidants and phytochemicals that are known to fight diseases, your body may very well be doing just fine and may have no need for supplements. It is the natural nutritive substances from food, particularly fruits and vegetables, which provide the body with the right amount of nutrients. There is no danger that the body will get too much of any of the vitamins from eating fruits and vegetables (an excess intake of any of the vitamins, especially vitamins A and D, can be harmful to the body). The danger, on the other hand, can be real if you depend heavily on supplements to supply your body with vitamins and other nutrients.

Getting vitamins and nutrients from food on a plate rather than from a pill has been the consistent order of medical experts. Fruits and vegetables, for example, contain substances that help fight diseases. Such protective agents may not be present in supplements.

How do natural foods beat supplements in terms of providing the necessary nutrients to the body? Let's count the ways using specific examples:

1. The antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables are known to ward off free radicals that cause various illnesses, including dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

2. Supplements do not have the phytochemicals that natural foods contain which greatly help in reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer.

3. The body receives sufficient calcium from dairy products that are low in fat, and from leafy green vegetables - something that you are in danger of having an oversupply of by taking too much supplements.

4. If you smoke heavily or drink alcohol, you are not likely to run the risk of having lung cancer with all the carotenoids (most especially beta-carotene) that you get from carrots and other deep orange-colored fruits. But those who smoke and drink and then derive beta-carotene from supplements are at such high risk.

5. Apples, which are rich in flavonoids (a type of antioxidant), can help prevent certain types of cancer; supplements do not have this antioxidant to guarantee any protection from risk of cancer.

Supplements per se are not bad for the health. In fact, they can be a helpful addition to an already healthy diet. However, popping up a pill as your convenient source for the vitamins and other nutrients your body requires (because you keep on saying that you are always too busy and do not have the time) should not get in the way of your facing a healthy square meal. After all, supplements can never ever take the place of a healthful diet. [Read the Original Article]