Consumers Prefer Nutrients From Food Rather Than Pills

Vitamins and minerals are critical to cell function in our bodies. The body’s ability to efficiently absorb nutrients is the reason why we are now living longer than our ancestors. There are multiple ways to get essential minerals and elements into our body, and while the most traditional method is by eating food, many people prefer to take dietary supplements.

The Rise Of Dietary Supplements

Dietary supplements are pills or powders not approved by the FDA that contain nutrients that people adopt to increase the sufficient quantities of vitamins and minerals that they need. Supplements include not only vitamins and minerals but also amino acids, fiber, protein, and fatty acids.

To date, there are more than 50,000 dietary supplements available in the United States. In fact, 55% of the adult population take one or more nutritional supplements per day; with the majority consuming the popular multivitamins.

The dietary supplement industry is a multibillion-dollar industry, and many people are caught in the hype of taking supplements for health reasons. However, the problem is that people take in supplements with the assumption that they can prevent or treat diseases. Most people forget to eat a healthy and balanced diet because they rely so much on supplements.

Supplements Are Not Magic

It’s crucial to realize that dietary supplements can never take the place of having a well-balanced diet.  As mentioned earlier, popping pills cannot make up for your bad eating habits. Supplements are not magic pills, and you might still not be getting the nutrients you need if you don’t focus your attention on eating real foods.

Supplements are not regulated. Anyone can buy as many supplements as they want to take. Unfortunately, intake of dietary supplements without your doctor’s signal can also cause more harm than good. For instance, researchers from the Iowa Women’s Health Study noted that women aged 55 years old and above have not gained significant benefits in taking calcium supplements. On the other hand, excessive intake of Vitamin E–a well-known antioxidant–can cause a higher risk of heart failure as well as premature death.

Eat Your Nutrients Instead

Because people are becoming aware that taking in supplements have more disadvantages than advantages, many have shifted to eating their nutrients instead. Nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains contain micronutrients that are necessary for the cells to function properly. Moreover, these plant-based foods also contain dietary fiber that has many benefits like improving heart health, maintaining stable blood pressure and blood sugar. Lastly, these foods also contain phytochemicals that are compounds that help protect the body against certain diseases.

If you are looking for a way to still add food based vitamins to your diet because you still see deficiencies, you should try NutriFusion’s whole fruit and vegetable based vitamin blends. With one teaspoon, you will be able to add 50% daily value of 12 different plant-based vitamins including Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, and B9.

While this new trend of eating your nutrients to stay healthy is becoming popular, some nutritionists believe that consumers should not only rely on food as their source of minerals; like the body does not quickly absorb some minerals. In fact, scientists are working to create ways for the body to quickly absorb vitamins and minerals as well as make sure that that the minerals have a longer shelf life.

Inspired by www.fooddive.com