RE: Re: Essential Nutrients: Food or Supplements?

[Guest guest]

Not just to be contrary but a one month miss of RDA is not

IMO immediate cause for alarm. RDAs are conservative and

crude milestones.

I do agree that it is better to target getting our nutrients

from food as the OP points out. I suspect our former diet was

very variable and many nutrients are stored by our body to

carry us through times of scarcity.

The point I took from the original post is that bare

supplements are not fully equivalent to those same nutrients

in the context of whole foods. The entire concept of

supplementation is suspect despite the many documented

successes with enriched foods. Different nutrients act

differently so we still have much to learn. This doesn't

mean that all supplements are worthless, just that we must

be careful not to assume that we have covered all bases

simply by using them.

JR

[ ] Re: Essential Nutrients: Food or Supplements?

Hi folks:

" Emphasis " is probably an important word in that piece.

As regards the use of supplements .............. I think we can

probably all also agree that, if one checks for a full month the

nutrient content of what one eats, and determines that on a

calorically restricted diet one is not getting the full RDA amounts

of a couple of nutrients, then it is better to supplement those

nutrients up to the RDA than it is to ignore the deficiencies.

Certainly better still, resolve those deficiencies by adjusting food

intake if possible.

Rodney.

--- In , " Jeff Novick " <jnovick@p...>

wrote:

>

> Vol. 294 No. 3, July 20, 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS

> Essential Nutrients: Food or Supplements?

>

> Where Should the Emphasis Be?

>

> Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc; M. , MD

>

>

> JAMA. 2005;294:351-358.

>

> The consumption of adequate levels and proper balance of essential

> nutrients is critical for maintaining health. The identification,

> isolation, and purification of nutrients in the early 20th century

> raised the possibility that optimal health outcomes could be

realized

> through nutrient supplementation. Recent attempts using this

approach

> for cardiovascular disease and lung cancer have been disappointing,

as

> demonstrated with vitamin E and beta carotene. Moreover, previously

> unrecognized risks caused by nutrient toxicity and nutrient

interactions

> have surfaced during intervention studies. The most promising data

in

> the area of nutrition and positive health outcomes relate to dietary

> patterns, not nutrient supplements. These data suggest that other

> factors in food or the relative presence of some foods and the

absence

> of other foods are more important than the level of individual

nutrients

> consumed. Finally, unknown are the implications on public health

> behavior of shifting the emphasis away from food toward nutrient

> supplements. Notwithstanding the justification for targeting

> recommendations for nutrient supplements to certain segments of the

> population (eg, the elderly), there are insufficient data to

justify an

> alteration in public health policy from one that emphasizes food and

> diet to one that emphasizes nutrient supplements.

>

>

> Author Affiliations: Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research

Center on

> Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Mass.

[Guest guest]

Not just to be contrary but a one month miss of RDA is not

IMO immediate cause for alarm. RDAs are conservative and

crude milestones.

I do agree that it is better to target getting our nutrients

from food as the OP points out. I suspect our former diet was

very variable and many nutrients are stored by our body to

carry us through times of scarcity.

The point I took from the original post is that bare

supplements are not fully equivalent to those same nutrients

in the context of whole foods. The entire concept of

supplementation is suspect despite the many documented

successes with enriched foods. Different nutrients act

differently so we still have much to learn. This doesn't

mean that all supplements are worthless, just that we must

be careful not to assume that we have covered all bases

simply by using them.

JR

[ ] Re: Essential Nutrients: Food or Supplements?

Hi folks:

" Emphasis " is probably an important word in that piece.

As regards the use of supplements .............. I think we can

probably all also agree that, if one checks for a full month the

nutrient content of what one eats, and determines that on a

calorically restricted diet one is not getting the full RDA amounts

of a couple of nutrients, then it is better to supplement those

nutrients up to the RDA than it is to ignore the deficiencies.

Certainly better still, resolve those deficiencies by adjusting food

intake if possible.

Rodney.

--- In , " Jeff Novick " <jnovick@p...>

wrote:

>

> Vol. 294 No. 3, July 20, 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS

> Essential Nutrients: Food or Supplements?

>

> Where Should the Emphasis Be?

>

> Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc; M. , MD

>

>

> JAMA. 2005;294:351-358.

>

> The consumption of adequate levels and proper balance of essential

> nutrients is critical for maintaining health. The identification,

> isolation, and purification of nutrients in the early 20th century

> raised the possibility that optimal health outcomes could be

realized

> through nutrient supplementation. Recent attempts using this

approach

> for cardiovascular disease and lung cancer have been disappointing,

as

> demonstrated with vitamin E and beta carotene. Moreover, previously

> unrecognized risks caused by nutrient toxicity and nutrient

interactions

> have surfaced during intervention studies. The most promising data

in

> the area of nutrition and positive health outcomes relate to dietary

> patterns, not nutrient supplements. These data suggest that other

> factors in food or the relative presence of some foods and the

absence

> of other foods are more important than the level of individual

nutrients

> consumed. Finally, unknown are the implications on public health

> behavior of shifting the emphasis away from food toward nutrient

> supplements. Notwithstanding the justification for targeting

> recommendations for nutrient supplements to certain segments of the

> population (eg, the elderly), there are insufficient data to

justify an

> alteration in public health policy from one that emphasizes food and

> diet to one that emphasizes nutrient supplements.

>

>

> Author Affiliations: Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research

Center on

> Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Mass.