ti

KM:P.MM V:ZOKMM W M, :rV.

I

PHOTOS BY DANIEL LIPPI TT

t's not easy to be a
well-informed con-
sumer intent on keeping a healthy liv-
ing style. Even your vitamins can be
complicated.
Not to take vitamin supplements and simply
rely on a variety of healthy, nutritional foods is one
side of the issue. The question of which vitamin sup-
plements to take, depending on gender, age, and con-
dition such as being pregnant or having diabetes, is
another. Add to these the questions of whether or not
to favor manufactured or natural brands, tablet form
or capsules, regular or the time-release variety.
Vitamin supplements have been available for many
years. They are food substances that assist the basic
biochemical reactions with the body. The 13 known vi-
tamins are:
* Four fat-soluble vitamins — A, D, E and K — which
the body stores in fatty tissue and in the liver. These
reserves can build up over time in amounts large enough
to last for months. If the levels of vitamin A and D be-
come too high, they can actually damage tissue and lead
to disease.
* Nine water-soluble vitamins: C (ascorbic acid), B1
(thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyridoxine), B12, niacin,
folic acid, biotin and pantothenic acid. A person's body
can store enough of these vitamins to last for several
weeks, using what it needs and excreting any excess in
the urine.
Without any doubt, the greatest source for vitamins
is food. In the best world, most of us would get an ad-

equate sup-
ply of vitamins
from a 1,200- to 1,500-
calorie-per-day diet con-
sisting of a variety of
wholesome foods. The trick
to getting enough of the
needed vitamins is to con-
sume those foods that are
nutritional warehouses.
For years, dieticians and
health care specialists have
told us that fresh fruits and vegetables are
the ultimate natural vitamin sources. Unlike
supplements, fruits and vegetables offer more than
just the vitamins because they also contain fiber and
other compounds important to health.
The steady rise in the number of vegetarians in the
last 20 years certainly demonstrates this appeal.
Beverly Price, registered dietician in Farmington Hills,
sees two problems. "First," says Price, "the government
hasn't revised the recommended daily values (DV), once
known as the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) in
the last 15 years and studies show that what now is con-
sidered an optimal dose of vitamin C, for example, was
then considered a megadose to be avoided.

V .: , , WMVP41
< * WAMVMMEMUCICO2330.=M aaig2r1a ==

"Secondly, an individ-
ual would have to eat much
food and consume huge
numbers of calories to get all
the needed nutrients from food
because so much of the soil, in
which our food is grown, is deplet-
ed of its own nutrients that we don't get
the amount of vitamins we should.
"And finally, too few of us are able to eat
healthy foods often enough so that we do need
to supplement our diets."
Some people take a multiple vitamin or vi-
tamin supplements just in case — for health
insurance.
But, "taking vitamin supplements in place
of good nutrition doesn't work either," says
Price. "Neither does taking handfuls of vi-
tamin supplements, to stay youthful or to
cure a chronic illness, have a greater chance
of improving health than a nutritional diet. No
amount of pills can compensate for a deficient

diet."
Sheila Rissman of Farmington Hills has been taking
vitamins since she was a young woman. "I have felt for
some time that I wasn't getting the nutrients I need-
ed from what I was eating because of the chemicals and
additives used to grow and market the products," she
says. "I don't take a multivitamin because I want to be
sure I get the dosage I want of specific vitamins and
those changed as I got older.
"For example, in the last
few years I increased my
dosage of vitamin E to help
with hot flashes and I in-
creased my dosage of calci-
um to help prevent bone
loss."
According to Dr. Jeffrey
Fantich, a chiropractor spe-
cializing in applied kinesi-
ology, every person is
RUTHAN BRODSKY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
biochemically unique, which
means their nutritional pro-
gram should fit their indi-
'‘Z4 is
vidual needs.
"Patients under a great
deal of stress, physical or
emotional, may not be able
to replenish their store of vi-
tamin B fast enough," says
Fantich. "However, not
everyone responds to the
same multivitamin or vita-
min B supplement. Similar
appearing supplements
made by different compa-
nies may have different
sources of the vitamin, may
be processed differently, or
may have different co-fac-
tors in combination with the
nutrient that may affect its
absorption and effect on the
body."
He also points out that
many people hear about the
positive effects of a particu-
lar supplement for a partic-

Vitamins and supplements have
a place in your diet, but just
where is still open to debate.

Beverly Price: Striking a

mitten balance.

ALPHABET SOUP page 122