Supplements have continued to saturate health stores and pharmacies at an increasing pace. For almost every food type, there is a supplement, something that the layman might confuse as the real thing. Manufacturers and marketers seem to be portraying without much emphasis that the term ‘supplement’ does define the health product as something that is expected to be an appendage, and not the main thing.
What people seem to understand is that if they for instance can get folic acid by taking pills, why bother with cooking liver and green vegetables. Nonetheless, studies have shown that substances occur in different forms and work in the body through different mechanisms. For example, folic acid and folate are different forms of Vitamin B9. Folate occurs naturally in foods and is broken down in the small intestine whereas folic acid is the synthetic form that is made available as supplements and is broken down in the liver.
Due to a change in our feeding pattern over the years, there is a lack of required vitamins and minerals in our food. Hence, supplements indeed have a very important role to play in today’s dieting. Health professionals strongly recommend the need for supplements in certain classes of people. Classes of people who need to take supplements include:
Pregnant women (Vitamin D, Folic acid, etc.)
Women of childbearing age (Folic acid supplements)
Vegetarians (Vitamins B12 and D, iron, calcium and zinc)
People above 50 (Vitamin D supplements)
Older people (supplements for foods that they can no longer eat)
Convalescents (supplements required for boosting recovery)
Individuals allergic to certain foods (supplements to make up for avoided foods)
However, a healthy diet cannot be substituted. Foods contain other benefits that cannot be gotten by even taking supplements for all the classes of foods. In addition to fibre, phytochemicals and bacterial culture essential for processes in the human body, nutrients are naturally balanced in foods, making it easier for the body to assimilate and work on. Whilst you can have just calcium as the only element in pills of calcium supplement, calcium-rich foods contain in addition to it, other nutrients in a balanced way that helps calcium to be efficiently absorbed by the body, rather than by taking it alone via supplements.
It is important to note that when taking supplements, they should not be taken above recommended daily allowances (RDA). High doses of particular elements can affect the absorption of others and can have adverse effects on organs like the kidneys, liver and heart.
Supplements at their best can only supplement foods. In order to function properly, they should be taken with meals which serve as a base and buffer, .
