Are Vitamins All They’re Cracked Up to Be?

Most people don’t really understand the purpose that vitamins and minerals serve in keeping us healthy and fit. Especially young people who could care less how much vitamin C they need in order to get scurvy like pirates at sea used to centuries ago. And many people figure that as long as you take a multivitamin every morning, then you’re covered in the vitamin department. Add to that copious amounts of the "enriched food" common in a multitude of products available at the supermarkets today, and there’s no need to worry about getting your full daily dose of every vitamin in the book.

However, the real reason we have all of that "enriched food" in the first place is that most food in American grocery stores has been so processed to death that it needs to be enriched to provide any food value whatsoever - and even after enriching it, often there are still no useful nutrients. The only people who don’t need additional vitamins are people who eat wild animals that have not been genetically altered or fed chemicals, who eat fresh organic vegetables grown in nutrient-rich soil and that have not been genetically engineered or sprayed with chemicals, who live and work outside in fresh air that is not polluted, sleep more than eight hours each night, drink lots of pure water without chemicals or fluoride, and get plenty of exercise each day.

If you are not one of those people, and chances are you aren’t, then you need vitamins. More than 92% of all Americans have at least one vitamin deficiency. A deficiency doesn’t mean you are getting less than the amount of a vitamin you need for optimal health; it means you are getting less than the minimum amount you need in order to prevent being deficient.

A recent survey by the United States Department of Agriculture showed that 38% of Americans don’t have enough vitamin C in their diet; 40% do not intake enough iron; 70% do not get enough vitamin E, and nearly 75% don’t get sufficient zinc. A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition revealed that 6% of study participants were seriously vitamin C deficient, and 30% of the remainder were borderline low. In the journal Pediatrics, a report detailed the surprising fact that malnutrition can exist in conjunction with obesity, even though most people don’t think of an obese person as being malnourished. Overweight and undernourished children exhibiting cognitive impairments were found to be afflicted with scurvy, rickets, or severe vitamin D deficiencies, all of which caused brain damage.

Most of the foods Americans eat no longer contain the nutrient levels they should contain in order for us to maintain optimal health. Our crops are grown in nutrient-depleted soil, and plants are genetically engineered to resist pests and disease, so they no longer have the nutrients they would need to survive on their own. So they have severely reduced phytonutrients, and we are exposed to the toxic chemicals used to grow them. Animals are packed into tight living quarters instead of roaming unfettered and eating the wild grasses they used to eat. Some animals have had to adapt their systems to eat foods other than their natural diets, and they have to take antibiotics or other medicines to compensate.

In addition to eating non-nutrient-rich foods, we are exposed daily to hazardous chemicals that are toxic to our systems; we live stressful, hurried lives; no one gets enough sleep or exercise; and our lives are constantly packed with emotion and anxiety, so our bodies require even more nutrients than they ordinarily would - so not getting enough is even worse of a problem.

The USDA has developed a set of "standard" levels of vitamins that are needed to be in optimal health, but these are just minimum guidelines and they are probably not high enough for most people. In today’s society, everyone should take at least a basic multivitamin supplement. In addition, a calcium and magnesium supplement can help strengthen bones; fish oil is useful for lowering cholesterol and maintaining brain health; and vitamins B and D supplements should be added even if they are already contained in the multivitamin.

A vast body of research has proven that vitamin supplements are beneficial and even necessary in today’s world. Doctors have found that by correcting deficiencies in vitamins and nutrients, patients feel better, they notice improvements in their mood, memory, and focus, they have more energy, and often they even lose weight and feel sharper mentally. Even serious ailments such as autism, Parkinson’s disease, ADHD, bipolar disease, and dementia may improve drastically or even go away entirely once a patient’s system is getting the right nutrients.

Most standard metabolic blood panels don’t test for every vitamin, so when you go for your physical be sure to ask your doctor to specifically request tests for vitamins B and D in addition to the other tests. And even if your results come out "normal," keep in mind that taking at least a multivitamin each day could be your ticket to optimal health for the rest of your life.