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Excerpt from The Benefits and
Risks of Vitamins and Minerals: What You
Need to Know, SHR February 2003
Your diet: Building a solid foundation
Should vitamins and minerals be served up on
your plate or shaken out of a supplement bottle?
Currently, most experts believe that a combination
of the two - that is, a varied, healthy diet
backed up by a daily multivitamin - is best.
But why do most people need both?
Undoubtedly, it's important to start with a
healthy diet. A raft of large studies have consistently
shown that whole grains, legumes, fish, fruits,
vegetables, and vegetable oils have the potential
to protect your body against heart disease and
cancer. Some essential nutrients are packed into
every food group, and certain foods - such as
flour, cereal, and salt - are fortified with
specific nutrients as well. It's also true that
even the best supplements cannot encompass all
the biologically active compounds teeming in
a well-stocked pantry. A simple apple or piece
of broccoli could have plenty of nutrients beyond
the obvious vitamins and minerals that might
interact to improve your health.
Another advantage of a healthy diet is that
it's hard to get too much of most vitamins and
minerals through foods. When people take several
vitamin and mineral supplements, it's easier
to ingest potentially harmful amounts of some
nutrients.
Still, diet can't provide everything, which
is why a daily multivitamin is important. It's
difficult to get enough of certain nutrients
such as folic acid and B12 from food. And even
when vitamins and minerals are abundant in foods,
your body can't always absorb and use them. The bioavailability of
particular nutrients depends on how foods are
handled and cooked, what else on the menu might
block or enhance their absorption, and how efficiently
your body digests foods. In fact, your body absorbs
some synthetic vitamins and minerals more readily
than the same nutrients that appear naturally
in food. All of these variables make a healthy
diet and a daily multivitamin the right
choice for nearly everyone.
Federal
recommendations on eating and exercise
Looking for more guidance on developing
a healthy diet? Recommendations from
the Institute of Medicine suggest that
adults should get 45%-65% of their calories
from carbohydrates, 20%-35% from fat,
and 10%-35% from protein. According to
the Institute, this plan allows adults
to best meet their daily energy and nutritional
needs while cutting their risks for chronic
disease. The ranges allow for food preferences.
They also aim to help people steer clear
of diets with potentially worrisome health
implications, such as those too high
or low in certain fats, proteins, or
carbohydrates. The Institute of Medicine
also advises that you:
Limit added sugars. Added sugars,
which are found in soft drinks, candy,
baked goods, and other sweets, should
not represent more than a quarter of
your daily calories. It's important to
note, though, that some experts fret
that an upper limit of 25% of daily calories
is still far too high.
Choose healthy fats. Let your
major sources of dietary fat be monounsaturated
and polyunsaturated fats, which help
lower heart disease risk. Consume as
little saturated fat, cholesterol, and
trans fats (found in partially hydrogenated
vegetable oils that are often used in
spreads, baked goods, and fast foods)
as possible. Not all experts agree with
this, either. Meir Stampfer, M.D., professor
of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard
School of Public Health, agrees that
trans fats should certainly be avoided,
but feels worrying about a few eggs a
week or trying to stamp out all saturated
fat sources is misguided.
Don't forget fiber. Eat plenty
of foods that contain dietary fiber (the
edible, indigestible parts of plant foods)
and fiber sources proven to have similar
health benefits. Fiber from grains helps
lower the risk of heart disease. Your
fiber goal depends on your age and sex,
as follows:
Men, 50 or younger: 38 grams
Men over 50: 30 grams
Women, 50 or younger: 25 grams
Women over 50: 21 grams.
Balance energy intake and output. The
energy you take in should equal the energy
you use. That means if you are sedentary
and 5 feet 1 inch, you need far fewer
calories to remain at your current weight
than an active person who is 6 feet tall.
Be aware, though, that fewer calories
generally means fewer helpful nutrients.
If your diet is truly low-cal, it would
be wise to take a multivitamin supplement
and talk with a nutritionist to make
sure you're getting all the nutrients
you need.
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Eating well
Undoubtedly, you know the value of a healthy
diet. But with all the conflicting advice doled
out by the media and lauded in the latest nutrition
books, it can be difficult to know just what
a "healthy diet" is.
While the USDA food pyramid was once considered
the pinnacle of nutrition advice, current research
suggests that it's flawed. For example, its emphasis
on limiting all fats and its stress on
carbohydrates - such as bread, rice, and other
grains - are based on questionable science. After
weighing data gathered from thousands of men
and women enrolled in well-designed, long-term
studies, Harvard nutrition expert Walter Willett,
M.D., developed a healthy eating pyramid. Armed
with this information, you can plan a well-balanced
diet rich in vitamins and minerals.
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Getting
the most from your diet
Whether you're a gourmet chef or a novice in
the kitchen, you can learn to squeeze the most
nutritional benefit from your diet. How you choose
and prepare foods can make a big difference.
Start by selecting a varied, multicolor diet.
Not only is it pleasing to the eye and palate,
it also serves up thousands of compounds that
may benefit your body. Along with essential micronutrients
come other potential stars, such as antioxidants
and carotenoids that can lose their potency when
distilled for supplements.
Minerals in food tend to be robust no matter
how you handle them, with one exception: You
lose some available minerals if you use liquid
for cooking and then discard it. Vitamins, though,
are more likely to lose part of their punch before
they reach the table. Most vulnerable to heat,
light, and air are the water-soluble vitamins
- that is, vitamin C and the B vitamins. For
example:
- Oxygen destroys vitamin C.
- Ultraviolet light and fluorescent light damage
riboflavin.
- When food is kept hot for more than two hours,
it loses more than 10% of any available folic
acid, vitamin C, and vitamin B6.
- Cooling, storing, and reheating foods can
leach away more than 30% of folic acid and
vitamin C.
Of course, foods such as meat, fish, and poultry
must be cooked well in order to destroy dangerous
organisms. And cooking can have other benefits,
too. Cooking tomatoes, for example, breaks down
cell walls, freeing lycopene and making it available
to the body.
To get the most from the foods you eat, follow
the tips listed in the box "Protect and serve:
Tips for maximizing the nutritional value of
your food."
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