Supplements

We're often told to listen to our dietician or other HCP. This is good advice as it is the only accurate way to determine if the voice is coming from the mouth or anus.

It amuses, but at the same time saddens me to see the opinions spouted with very little thought by doctors (although not all doctors), "Nutritionists" and dieticians. One in particular concerns supplements.

A recent post on D.co.uk is a case in point:

"I am not a big supplement fan but Dr Jay needs to take them as overall his diet is deficient."
Says Ally5555.

How the hell does she know his diet is any more deficient than anybody else's?

There are known deficiencies of minerals and trace elements in foodstuff and therefore deficiencies in diets.

This is one reason not to follow the popular mantra "Eat only fresh local produce". The fact is, you don't know if the produce in your area is short of something important. Globalisation has meant that we have a range of produce produced in a variety of different soils throughout the world which ensures we have a better chance of avoiding missing out.


http://www.wellness-vitality.com/mineral-article.html

Just one example, Cretinism, caused by an iodine deficiency, has largely died out in the UK. This is in spite of serious deficiencies in some areas. It would possibly have been rampant in certain areas where it not for the widely sourced diet and iodised salt. Sometimes costly iodine enriched soil fertilisers are utilised, but do you know that is the case with a particular product?

http://www.derby.ac.uk/news/study-proves-iodine-levels-are-hard-to-swallow

There have been many reports of Selenium being in short supply in many areas and the same goes for other vital nutrients. The plain fact is, we don't know what we're eating and it's quite likely we'll never find out.

By the way, there have been reports of antibiotics being found in "organic" products, it apparently comes from the manure from livestock routinely fed antibiotics.

Even eating food sourced from different areas of the world cannot be guaranteed to be nutritionally complete. So anyone with any sense can see it is best to play safe and take a supplement containing as many nutrients as possible.

This only discussing what might be missing. What about pollutants that shouldn't be there? Consuming foods from multiple sources helps avoid a possible build up of nasties that may be concentrated in a particular area.
So, variety is the key, but taking a supplement is just common-sense insurance.

Any HCP who glibly says just eat a balanced diet is talking out of body parts situated a lot lower down than the face!

Ray