My supplements
My daughter did a college nutrition course a couple of years ago and was told, as I was twenty-four years earlier, that if you have a healthy well-balanced diet you don’t need extra vitamins and minerals.
We work hard to keep our food as fresh as possible and as organic as possible (the nutrition professor also told our daughter that it doesn’t matter whether your food is organic or not but we disagree; who needs extra pesticide in their bodies?). We also take supplemental vitamins and minerals. If what we are taught about the nutritional value of food in school is true, why do we bother?
Here is some data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) showing the difference in nutritional value of some fruits and vegetables since 1975 that might explain why I choose to take supplements:
- Apples: Vitamin A is down 41%
- Sweet peppers: Vitamin C is down 31%
- Watercress: Iron is down 88%
- Broccoli: Calcium and vitamin A are down 50%
- Cauliflower: Vitamin C is down 45%; vitamin B1 is down 48%, and vitamin B2 is down 47%
- Collard greens: Magnesium is down 85%
Do I really need my supplements? Yes, I believe I do.
Thanks to Tom Grimshaw for sharing the stats from the USDA in his weekly newsletter.
