5 replies to this topic

[iforgotmyname]

Hi again,

I've been reading scientists views on Supplements' effectiveness versus the effectiveness of getting what you need from food.

Most take the side of the age old belief that food is better, saying supplements do not reproduce the effects of food, even though they contain the same compound, they argue it isn't used or something else is missing (food).

Others take the side that food, while in the past was the winner, is becoming a loser, as transportation, mass production, contamination, etc is damaging and stripping food of their beneficial properties.

In my opinion, scientists need to take a carrot and inject large amounts of whatever a carrot naturally has into it, and sell it as a super carrot. This is simplified of course, but wouldn't it restore the speculated "lost material" in the food, while maintaining it in the food's fibers or whatever makes it absorbed/used by the body?

The oversimplified plan:

Grow carrots.
Ship them to each cities' "Grocery Building"
The "Grocery Building" takes the supplements and some genius figures out a way to combine it into the natural carrot.
The carrot becomes loaded with what it naturally contains in high doses.
The carrot is carried across the street and sold as a virtual "fresh" carrot.
The carrot is eaten.

What are your beliefs on this subject?

[macanizer]

Some doctor on the radio was saying that people who take vitamins think that they can live on fast-food 7 days a week. He was recommending that if you have a healthy diet you shouldn't have to take vitamins - I disagree. I think most people who take vitamins are conscious about the food they eat and stay active. "Anima sana in corpore sano"

[mike250]

I think supplements + food is the way to go. I would tend to agree that today's food quality isn't all that great and its difficult to find good clean sources. Doctors always point to food as the main thing but we all know that its naive to think you can get all the essentials from food alone.

[Athanasios]

What are your beliefs on this subject?

This seems to go along with your 'newbie idea' thread as well.

Phytonutrients seem to work very well in supplement form. They seem to be relatively new in the supplement arena, in comparison with a multi. Since they are powerful, and do sometimes fairly specific things, they are viewed as if they were drugs instead of general nutrition. I do think a more of a merging of the two is long overdue.

Some newer multis like Ortho-core, by AOR, seem to take this into account. They also seem to take into account more the network synergy among antioxidants. These multivitamins generally are split up into multiple capsule so you can spread them throughout the day, they can hold more stuff, and so you can take lower dosages. Many here who have a good diet choose to take a lower dose of these multivitamins, because they figure that they get quite a bit of what they need from diet.

You have to eat sometime. Might as well make it something healthy for you. A good diet has some pretty good data to back its worth. [thumb]

[Shepard]

The oversimplified plan:

Grow carrots.
Ship them to each cities' "Grocery Building"
The "Grocery Building" takes the supplements and some genius figures out a way to combine it into the natural carrot.
The carrot becomes loaded with what it naturally contains in high doses.
The carrot is carried across the street and sold as a virtual "fresh" carrot.
The carrot is eaten.

What are your beliefs on this subject?

Carrots don't taste good. The whole plan is ruined.

Sorry. It depends on your goal. For example, general antioxidant protection. Until we get acid rain and Swamp Thing roaming the streets, I'll probably lean toward eating the foods long before taking the supplements on top of a lackluster diet. If you want something like resveratrol or whatever other magical ingredient we found in food this week, it's probably time to look to supplementation.

[kurdishfella]

 supplements absorb better than food because it is concentrated amount.