How to drink vitamins so as not to harm your health

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

At almost any doctor's appointment, you will be prescribed vitamin preparations. However, the use of tableted vitamins and minerals is a controversial issue. Let's try to figure out a little about how not to harm ourselves with cute colored pills.

Vitamins add not only years to your life, but life to your years!

Patrick Holford, author of books on healthy eating

On the one hand, it is believed that a lack of vitamins and minerals can not only lead to vitamin deficiency, but also cause a number of diseases - from colds to cancer. On the other hand, studies are regularly published that show that vitamins are not a panacea. Even the popular belief that vitamin C is effective against colds is controversial.

At the same time, it is difficult to close our eyes to the fact that corporations benefit from the popularization of vitamin preparations. And what is left for an ordinary person when a specialist in a white coat writes something illegible on a ticket, assuring that this will help improve his well-being?

True, you can hear a lot of positive reviews about taking such drugs, even from your friends. The easiest way is to try it. But it is worth considering something, so at least not to harm yourself.

1. Assess if you are at risk

If you are lucky enough to get enough sleep every day, eat a variety of only the freshest and highest quality products, it is enough to be in the fresh air and the sun, you shine with happiness and health, then chase everyone like me who recommends you to change something in your life. …

But it is more likely that you are not one of those. Most people today are still not able to pay enough attention to their diet.

Perhaps you want to lose weight. No matter how much you tell you about a balanced diet, you will avoid fat and bread if you fit into smaller jeans. During the session, students or those who travel to work to the other end of the city for two hours in one direction are generally not up to the quality of the products: they intercepted something on the go - and order. But the load on the body during such a life is enormous.

2. Determine What You Are Really Missing

If you decide on your own to determine what vitamins and minerals you lack, you will have to study the issue in detail. The widespread belief that vitamin A is needed for good vision, ascorbic acid will save you from colds, and calcium will ensure the strength of bones and teeth, very superficially.

You can sort out the question in one of two ways:

1. To study the symptoms of a lack of vitamins and minerals in the body. This will give you a more accurate picture of your condition.
2. To pass the analysis - this way is easier and faster.

3. Analyze your diet

You should not simultaneously lean on foods rich in essential substances and take medications. For example, 100 grams of hard cheese already contains half the daily requirement of calcium. Beef liver covers the recommended daily dosage of vitamin A with 30 grams. 200 grams of broccoli contains 2-3 times the daily requirement of vitamin C. But to get the daily requirement of vitamin B6, you will have to eat about 200 grams of walnuts (more than 1,300 kcal) or 400 g of millet (more than 1,500 kcal) or chicken (more than 800 kcal).

4. Understand a little biochemistry

It should be borne in mind that vitamins are fat-soluble and water-soluble. The former are A, D, E and K, the latter are the rest. It is also important to understand that micronutrients are absorbed from salts. As a rule, the method of administration indicated in the instructions for the drug (on an empty stomach, during or after meals, with water) ensures effective absorption. In the case of food, this works when you add sour cream to the carrots: without fat, vitamin A will pass you by.

To assimilate some trace elements, vitamins are needed: for calcium - D, for iron - C, for magnesium - B6, and so on. Therefore, if you eat a lot of cottage cheese, but calcium is still not enough for you, you may not have enough vitamin D.

However, it is important to consider that, for example, vitamins A, D, E, B₁₂ can accumulate in the body. This means that you cannot overdo it with them. At the same time, high dosages of substances that do not accumulate in the body are not so dangerous. Therefore, do not be alarmed if the drug contains 200-300% of the recommended rate. Some manufacturers in this way compensate for the poor absorption of substances.

But you need to be careful with micronutrients. Excessive use of one of them can lead to a decrease in the absorption of the other. For example, calcium reduces the absorption of magnesium and iron, and zinc reduces the absorption of calcium.

5. Don't skimp on your health

At some point, a "kind" person published a list of cheap analogues of popular drugs on the Internet. This list became mega-popular among the masses, and consumers decided that now "evil" corporations could not fool them. But don't jump to conclusions.

There is a much deeper level in chemistry than the trade name of a substance. If the same word is indicated in the composition of the drug, this does not mean that the substances are identical. The method of production, raw materials, purity matters - these data are not on the package.

In the case of preparations containing the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals, price can play a decisive role. You've probably heard that some vitamins and minerals are not absorbed when taken at the same time. The manufacturers solved this problem by creating tablets in which the components are arranged in layers (try cutting the tablet). This naturally complicates the production process and increases the cost of the final product. It is not a fact that the price of a cheap analogue has not been reduced due to the simplification of production.

Output

You may well try adding a couple of drugs to your diet if you feel that you are missing something, and evaluate the effect yourself. However, you should not treat them like sweets, as was customary in the Soviet Union with yellow balls or ascorbic acid.