Vitamins and nutrients, such as minerals, can be a great tool in the prevention of degenerative diseases and various disease states. The systematic usage of additional nutrients in a longer period of time can give great effects, but their uncontrolled usage is not recommended.
Advantages of extra vitamins and nutrients
Big advantage of buying additional vitamins and nutrients is that they are available not only in pharmacies, but also health food stores without a prescription, and that anyone can use them without the fear of side effects. Today we have a different and new understanding in the role of nutrients. Many years ago we thought that vitamins prevent rickets, scurvy, and sterility. Today we know that vitamins are used to prevent the destruction of free radicals in cells and tissues, in order to inhibit the occurrence of malformations in newborns and to improve results for the athletes. The athlete’s diet with needed vitamins and nutrients proved that it contributes to their results, so we can actually say that the greatest advances in the study of the role of vitamins and other supplements were associated with the sport.
Vitamins and nutrients dilemma
The dilemma still remains open, whether the vitamins and nutrients should be made for mass production, intended for the general population, or should there be products made to target different groups such as infants, children, pregnant women, convalescents, athletes. Nevertheless, we say that man has invented an umbrella to protect himself from rain. In order to protect health, he discovered vitamins and nutrients. When someone could make an exact estimate of how many human lives were saved from the disease in the last century, thanks to vitamins and nutrients, we could get very interesting information about how a man is slowly but surely progressing. If we consider only the vitamin A, which in some parts of the world literally saved hundreds of thousands of people from blindness, then it could be just enough illustrations.
Food enriched with vitamins
In the past, people poked their nails in the apples in order to get extra iron. Today we know that acidic foods enhance the absorption of iron. Parents gave their kids fish oil, which has an unpleasant odor. Today we give them capsules with no hassle. The purpose was to provide children with valuable vitamins D and A, and other needed vitamins. Salt was the first food that has been enriched (with iodine) in order to prevent goiter (1924). It is now a routine procedure with many vitamins. Vitamin D is added to milk in 1933 in order to prevent bone disease – rickets. Vitamin B1 (thiamine) was the lifeline for all those who are in the Far East have paid a high cost of introducing new technology in the processing of rice. The disease named Beriberi was then the real tragedy. Flour and flour products were first enriched by vitamin B1 just before the World War II. The aim was to ensure the health of the troops went on a European battlefield. These are just some examples to emphasize the great significance of vitamins and nutrients in everyday diet.
