Sunday, August 18, 2013

Do we need food supplements ?


The food supplements industry is coming up with new "essential" supplements every now and then. The underlying premise behind these food supplements (including Vitamins, Proteins, Omega 3 oil etc.) is that human body needs them and cannot produce them on its own. If body can convert mass into energy, essentailly the function of a nucleur reaction, it could also be coverting one type of element into another. Most of the world lived on just basic grains (wheat and rice) during most of the history. If food supplements were so important, and body could not produce it from grains, how could those people maintain healthy and strong bodies ?

Though generalization would be an overstatement, latest studies on multivitamins say that these are a waste of money (
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/16/vitamin-supplements-research/4042037/
)
and high doses of B12 can be dangerous (
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/PreventiveCare/17072
)

and so is Omega 3 (
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jonny-bowden/fish-oil-prostate-cancer_b_3601906.html
)

and now, the serious side effects of Protein foods, which people are eating heavily for the last 2 decades:
(
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Eating-too-much-meat-and-eggs-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking-claim-scientists/articleshow/31482815.cms
)