Supplements Should Be Supplemental!

by Michael Castleman

I take a multivitamin-mineral supplement and an antioxidant formula every day. I think supplements are a prudent, cheap form of nutritional "health insurance." There's good research to show that a daily multivitamin-mineral formula boosts immune function, which helps prevent all manner of illness.[1] And there's plenty of research to show that supplements can be used to prevent or treat many diseases, for example, vitamin E helps prevent heart disease.[2] Vitamin C helps prevent cataracts.[3] Calcium and vitamin D help prevent osteoporosis.[4] The list goes on and on. But several times a day, I take something even more important than supplements--food.

There's a good reason why vitamins are called "supplements." They should SUPPLEMENT a good diet, not substitute for it. Many vitamin aficionados think that if they down enough pills, they're nutritionally covered. This is a big mistake. Before you head for the supplement aisle, park your shopping cart in the produce section, and load it with fruits and vegetables. Then eat them. Supplements can contribute to health, but compared with supplements, nutritious foods are much more important to a healthy diet.

The Power of Fruits and Vegetables

Perhaps you recall the pillars of nutrition advice of the 1950s, 60s--the Four Basic Food Groups: meat, dairy, cereals, and fruits and vegetables. Eat something from each group every day, the experts said, and you've got a balanced diet. But during the past 30 years, scientific understanding of nutrition--and of the diseases linked to poor nutrition--has exploded, and the experts have repudiated the Basic Four as obsolete, in fact, in the long run, harmful.

Meat and dairy foods certainly contain some nutrients. But they also contain a great deal of fat, the major bad guy in the American diet. A high-fat diet has been persuasively linked to heart disease, cancer, and stroke which together currently account for 60 percent of U.S. deaths.[5] In addition, meat and diary foods are not as nutrient-rich as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans. Specifically, only plant foods contain the antioxidant nutrients, among them: the vitamin A family of nutrients (the carotenoids), vitamin C, vitamin E, and the minerals selenium and zinc. A great deal of scientific evidence shows that antioxidant nutrients help prevent the cell damage at the root of heart disease, cancer and stroke.[6]

The power of fruits and vegetables was shown most dramatically in a classic study by Gladys Block, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the University of California, at Berkeley, School of Public Health. She analyzed 156 studies that correlated diet and risk of every major cancer: breast, lung, ovarian, cervical, colorectal, bladder, prostate, pancreas, mouth, and throat. In every study, as fruit and vegetable consumption increased, cancer risk decreased. In 82 percent of the studies, the results were statistically significant, and in the others, there was a clear trend in the direction of fruits and vegetables reducing cancer risk.[7] "That's about as convincing as epidemiological evidence ever gets," Dr. Block explains.

Plant foods also help prevent heart disease and stroke, according to Harvard researchers. They analyzed data from the ongoing Nurses' Health Study, which has tracked the health and lifestyles of more than 50,000 female nurses for many years. Compared with the nurses who ate the fewest plant foods, those who ate the most had 23 percent less risk of heart disease,[8] and 31 percent less risk of stroke.[9] In the stroke study, each daily serving of fruit or vegetable--an apple, a carrot, a bowl of minestrone soup--meant 6 percent less risk.

Since a plant-based diet helps prevent cancer, heart disease, and stroke, the nation's three top killers, you'd expect this diet to help extend life. That's exactly what researchers at Queens College in New York found in a study that followed the diets and health of 42,000 women for almost six years. Compared with those whose diets contained the fewest fruits and vegetables, those who ate the most plant foods experienced 31 percent fewer deaths.[10]

How Balanced Is YOUR Diet?

To determine if you eat a balanced diet under current government guidelines, just answer this one question: Do you eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day? Five a day is the MINIMUM public health authorities recommend.[11] Who recommends at least five-a-day? The biggest booster is the National Cancer Institute. The American Heart Association is another big supporter. And the vast majority of leading nutritionists agree: The most healthful diet is one based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans, along with fish, and with a minimum of meat and whole-milk dairy products.

It's not difficult to consume five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Try something like this: Have two servings of fruit at breakfast, say orange juice and a cup of raisins or a banana in cereal. Then have a salad or vegetable with lunch and dinner. And snack on fruits and vegetables. That may sound easy, but the sad fact is that only about one-quarter of Americans eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.[12] In other words, most Americans don't eat a balanced diet.

Supplements DO NOT SUBSTITUTE for the poor diet most Americans eat. Consider vitamin A. Supplements usually contain beta-carotene, the most abundant of the vitamin A family of nutrients, the carotenoids. Now, beta-carotene is an important nutrient. But it's only one of an estimated 600 carotenoids.[13] You can pop vitamins till you choke and not get a microgram of the 599 other carotenoids, all of which contribute to good health. Over the past few years, several studies have shown that one carotenoid, lycopene, helps protect against prostate cancer.[14] (Find it in tomato items.[15]) Others show that lutein and zeaxanthin help protect against vision-impairing macular degeneration.[16] (Eat dark green leafy vegetables, for example, spinach and chard.[17])

As these nutrients have garnered publicity, supplement companies have rushed to make them available in pill form. But that still leaves more than 590 other carotenoids available only from plant foods. The fact is that every carotenoid--indeed, every nutrient--is important to good health. Even the most "complete" supplement formula contains only a small fraction of them.

Plant foods also contain something else you can't get from vitamin supplements--fiber. Fiber, the cells walls of plant foods, is not technically a nutrient because it does not enter the bloodstream. But fiber is absolutely crucial to good digestion. It helps keep the intestines functioning properly, and adds bulk to stool. Lack of fiber is a leading cause of constipation, a major American health problem.

I make it my business to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Tips For a Healthy Diet

If you'd like to evolve your diet in a healthier direction, here are a few simple tips: