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Nutrition News: Supplements

Approximately 40 percent of Americans take supplements. An even higher percentage of athletes take them. Among the nation's top female runners, 91 percent reported taking supplements on a regular basis.
Advertisements have convinced many people that they need to supplement their diets. As some people claim, "I don't have time to eat right, so I take supplements to compensate for my poor eating habits."
Being constantly under stress, grabbing hit-or-miss meals, juggling work and school with workouts, and demanding intense physical efforts from their muscles, these active individuals have turned to a potential panacea--vitamin supplements: a super-sports pack with each meal, jumbo pills after every weight workout, vitamin C after every cough.
Pill pushers insistently claim that supplements are necessary to guard your health, compensate for processed foods, enhance your athletic abilities, and promote future "super health." However, the same ads and salespeople that entice you to take supplements neglect to mention that you still need to eat well, regardless of the number of pills you pop.
What are vitamins? Vitamins are metabolic catalysts that regulate biochemical reactions within your body. Your body cannot manufacture them, which is why you must obtain them through your diet. To date, 13 vitamins have been discovered, each with a specific function. For example, thiamin helps convert glucose into energy, vitamin D controls the way your body uses calcium, and vitamin A is part of an eye pigment that helps you see in dim light.
You need adequate vitamins to function optimally, but an excess offers no competitive edge. No scientific evidence to date proves that extra vitamins enhance performance. In fact, high doses of vitamins can endanger your health. Despite claims, supplements will not: enhance performance, increase strength or endurance, prevent injuries or illness, provide energy, or build muscles.
Granted, if you have a vitamin deficiency that is impairing your performance, a supplement can correct that problem. However, vitamin deficiencies are generally related to a larger medical problem that needs attention, such as anorexia, unhealthful weight reduction, poor eating habits, or malabsorption.
Parts of this article were taken from Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook: Eating to Fuel Your Active Lifestyle.

 Supplemental Information:
The American Dietetic Association, the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, has a number of articles available regarding dietary supplements. 
The National Institute of Health Office of Dietary Supplements supports research and disseminates research results in the area of dietary supplements. The ODS also provides advice to other Federal agencies regarding research results related to dietary supplements.
The Mayo Clinic hosts a site put together by the respected professionals at the Mayo Clinic providing information about a variety of herbal supplements

Using Herbal Supplements Wisely (Mayo Clinic)

 

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