Learn why supplements are important even for people who eat a healthy diet
If you know you don’t eat right, taking a multi-vitamin probably sounds like a no-brainer. After all, a multi-vitamin is going to give you appropriate doses of the most important vitamins and minerals that you need to be taking in on a daily basis for optimum health.
But what if you are careful to eat a healthy diet? Should you still take a multi-vitamin?
The answer is a resounding yes. Here’s why:
Your Diet is Probably Lacking: Even if you think you eat a healthy diet, chances are it doesn’t include all the nutrients you need on a daily basis in their proper proportions. Crafting a diet that would achieve this would require a lot of tedious planning. Think of a multi-vitamin as a sort of insurance policy that will give you the vitamins and minerals you need no matter what you may have ended up eating on any given day.
Food is Less Nutritious than You Think: Reading nutrition facts labels or looking up nutritional information on the foods you eat can help you stick to a healthy diet. However, it’s important to understand that published nutritional information isn’t necessarily 100 percent accurate. In many cases, the food you eat may actually contain smaller amounts of vitamins and nutrients than the label says. Soil depletion (and soil differences in general) is a major contributor to this problem. Fruits, vegetables, and grains get their nutrients from the soil where they were grown. Over time, fields that have been heavily used can be depleted of nutrients, resulting in less nutritious produce. Since different soils deplete at different rates, this means that spinach from two different farms may have different nutritional values, and both of them are likely to be different from published values, which are not updated regularly. Another problem is that the FDA allows a significant margin of error in nutrition facts labels. Information can be off by as much as 20 percent and still be in compliance.
Age Changes Your Nutritional Needs: Age can affect nutrition in a variety of ways. Research has shown that older people need more of certain important nutrients like calcium and B vitamins. However, your system simply becomes less efficient at extracting and absorbing nutrients from food as you age. This means you would need to eat more food in order to get the same nutrition. This is impractical, both because it would increase your calorie consumption and because many people naturally want to eat less as they age due to issues like less sensitive taste buds, poor oral heath, and reduced physical activity. Medications can also affect appetite and nutrient absorption.
How to Choose a Multi-Vitamin
When it comes to choosing a multi-vitamin, it’s important to buy from a trusted source. At Renew Youth, we can offer you a quality multi-vitamin that will provide the foundation you need for a healthy heart, bones, and metabolism. All of our supplements are third-party tested for potency and purity so you know what’s on the label is what you get. Visit our online store to learn more.