Are Vitamins Causing More Harm Than Good?
Throughout most of my life I have been introduced and have taken many different kinds of vitamins and supplements. My father would always take them and I followed his every move and then some. In college my rowing coach in 1999 introduced our team to creatine and told us it was the latest and greatest natural supplement that will help us all get stronger and faster. We all had a huge can of creatine and it worked just like our coach said. I gained about 25lbs and thought most of it was muscle only to discover later that it was water weight and that creatine was actually causing dehydration in my muscles and giving me multiple cramps throughout my body while exercising. Besides the creatine intake I also took many different kinds of protein powder supplements and multi-vitamins. In contrast to what most people say the human body can only absorb so much protein intake per meal. Personally I felt tired and sick more when taking vitamins and supplements then when I did not take them. About 3 years ago I was introduced to Juice Plus and it has changed the way I look at fitness and nutrition working together. I use to think I could just work out more and more and than eat whatever I wanted to in massive amounts. In reality the more you work out, the more your body induces oxidative stress to the rest of the body just like exhaust from a car burning fuel. If you put ‘bad gas’ or ‘bad food,’ in this case into your body than you will be doing more damage inside your body. This repetitive action can lead to many different harmful diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and much more.
FACT: Did you know that beginning Aug.1st 2011 the NCAA has cracked down on vitamins and supplements. Read more here
Check out this site for more details on how to improve your diet and nutrition.
Many people in this world completely overestimate their protein needs. You don’t need as much protein as you think to build muscle. I’m not one to even say that I have my diet down to a perfect science either, but I’ve learned to limit my protein intake from what it was a year ago and notice no change in my muscular development (development meaning muscular gains not maintenance– i look leaner than ever bringing more vegetables into my diet and less protein; and I still get stronger each week). I use to throw down 80 grams of protein in a sitting not thinking twice about my organs, but I’ve since realized how dangerous it can be to your health. Your kidneys, liver, and intestines can only take so much. Your organs can only handle so much protein in one sitting. Whether or not the 30g of protein per sitting myth is true (the maximum amount of protein your body can digest in one sitting being 30 g), there is a maximum at which your body can utilize those nutrients. You just need to listen to your body and get frequent check ups and blood tests with your doctor to make sure your enzymes and blood counts are in check.
Click Here To Read About Another Amazing Article In Reader’s Digest About The Vitamin Scam
Study flags risk of daily vitamin use among older women
By Janice
Lloyd, USA TODAY
Older women who took a daily vitamin supplement — even just a multivitamin — had an increased risk of dying of cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to a study published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. The study highlights concerns about the long-term use of supplements and vitamins in people who do not have severe nutritional
deficiencies, the authors say. An accompanying editorial notes that findings “add to the growing evidence demonstrating that certain supplements can be harmful.” Previous studies have raised questions about the value of supplements and vitamins, but researchers and nutrition experts call these new findings “puzzling” and say more research is needed. About half of adults in the USA take multivitamins. Annual vitamin and supplement sales total more than $20 billion. “I think the main message is researchers are finding very little benefit from these substances,” says lead author Jaakko Murso, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. “Other studies have not shown the mortality risk our study shows, but those studies have not seen any positive effect either.” Researchers used data from the Iowa Women’s Health Study to examine the link between vitamin and mineral supplements and death rates among 38,772 women, average age 61.6. Women filled out questionnaires about supplement use in 1986, 1997 and 2004. “Out of 15 studied supplements, seven are associated with increased total mortality risk,” Murso says.
Among the findings:
•Use of multivitamins, vitamin B6, folic acid, iron,
magnesium, zinc and copper were associated with increased risk of death.
•The link between supplement intake and death risk was
strongest with iron.
•Calcium supplements were associated with reduced risk.
The study’s authors advise that vitamins “be used with a strong medically based cause,” not for prevention alone. Murso says the findings focus on the higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer and “other causes,” but the study didn’t examine how supplements and vitamins might affect health. “There is much more research needed to begin to understand that,” he says. “This study is very puzzling and calls for more research,” says Miriam Pappo, director of clinical nutrition at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. “I wouldn’t conclude from this that you stop taking a standard multivitamin. Very few people eat the required amount of fruits and vegetables a day. It’s best to get your daily needs from food, but few people do that.” A spokesman for the vitamin industry was skeptical. “The study may make for interesting scientific water cooler discussion, but certainly does not warrant sweeping, overstated concerns for elderly women,” said a statement from Duffy MacKay of the Council for Responsible Nutrition. Among the 38,772 women who started the study in 1986, 15,594 died within 19 years. Self-reported supplement use increased substantially from 1986 to 2004: 62.7% of women reported using at least one supplement daily in 1986, 75.1% in 1997 and 85.1% in 2004.
Here is a story from 3 years ago discussing the harmful effects of vitamins and lack of FDA studies done on supplements sold in the United States. I would rather take a fruit and vegetable food concentrate that has millions of dollars invested in over 20 scientific studies from many prestigious college universities behind the Juice Plus product.
Tags: Creatine, Fruits And Vegetables, indoor rowing, Indoor Rowing Class, Jack Nunn, juice plus, nutrition, Roworx, Vitamins
