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4 Reasons to Skip Vitamin Pills, and Eat Real Food Instead

thedailygreen.com — Studies have shown that real foods high in vitamins do more for your health than their vitamin supplement counterparts.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 16, 2009

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  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -0/+32yes, as long as you don't poop
  • MrSparkle666, on 05/16/2009, -0/+21Vitamins will prevent you from getting diseases like scurvy, but they are in no way a replacement for real fruits and vegetables. What's the big surprise here? Do some people actually not know this?
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -4/+241. Vitamins C and E Won't Prevent Heart Attack
    2. Vitamin C and E Pills Don't Prevent Cancer
    3. Vitamins A, E and Beta Carotene Pills May Shorten Your Life
    4. Vitamin A, C and E Pills Don't Give You Super Powers
  • SirGrant, on 05/16/2009, -2/+22There are a lot of "mays" in that article.
  • 1smartguy, on 05/16/2009, -2/+16Perhaps there's some truth to that, but it's also true that diseases related to malnutrition were once commonplace in Europe and the United States. It wasn't until scientists isolated nutrients essential to health, and discovered which diseases were caused by a lack of which nutrients, that they found adding these nutrients to staple foods cured the diseases caused by lack of them in the diet. For example beriberi was once a relatively common disease caused by a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1) in the diet. Adding that nutrient to white flour made beriberi a rare disease. To this day, some of our staples are fortified or enriched, and this ended many diseases.
  • Finsternis, on 05/16/2009, -3/+17Yeah, because of course you have to be a "hippie" to want REAL food and not processed chemical-laden crap.

    I'm not a hippie. I have a white-collar job, a house, a nice income, and all kinds of other things a stereotypical "hippy" doesn't have. I bathe, I don't wear tie-dies, and so on. And I care A WHOLE LOT about the poison the agribussinesses are trying to feed us. So, yes - I eat organic, I buy local, and I grow some food at home. If you're deluded enough to think that eating healthy instead of eating big macs is only for "hippies", then you DESERVE to die early of some horrible disease. Go read some Michael Pollan and educate yourself, you clueless *****.

    Health: it's not just for hippies.
  • norman619, on 05/16/2009, -2/+15That's called the placebo effect.
  • baseballbear, on 05/16/2009, -3/+16PILLS HERE
  • edebolt, on 05/16/2009, -1/+13is cheeze whiz on doughnuts real food? I hope so anyway.
  • slowth, on 05/16/2009, -0/+11Especially considering the mean dose of Vitamins A, E, and beta carotene were many times the RDA. Of course the fat-soluble vitamins are toxic when taken in mega-doses. Why don't they list the RDAs in the journal article?

    "All antioxidant supplements were administered orally. The dose and regimen of the antioxidant supplements were: beta carotene 1.2 to 50.0 mg (mean, 17.8 mg) , vitamin A 1333 to 200 000 IU (mean, 20 219 IU), vitamin C 60 to 2000 mg (mean, 488 mg), vitamin E 10 to 5000 IU (mean, 569 IU), and selenium 20 to 200 µg (mean 99 µg) daily or on alternate days for 28 days to 12 years (mean 2.7 years)."

    Vitamin A: 200,000 IU? That's enough to cause liver failure.
  • norman619, on 05/16/2009, -5/+16Likes and dislikes are usually in the head not in your tongue. You dislike somethng based on the psychological associations you have attached to the taste most of the time.
  • TheMachine1, on 05/16/2009, -4/+13From the url "thedailygreen" I assume their real agenda is supporting some hippie lifestyle, organic foods, buy local, home grown, etc.
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -1/+10I would say its chemical rather than psychological (though maybe chemical is a subset of that). But its imo someone presumptuous to say that the tongue can't be a filter. Not everything has to be fully processed by the brain. The mouth is simply the first part of the digestive system and the earlier we can get rid of harmful substances the better it is for the body, so it would make sense that the tongue would have the ability to recognize at least some harmful substances.
  • ChanMan878, on 05/16/2009, -2/+10that's why they're called supplements. you're supposed to eat right and take the vitamins on the side, not as substitution for real food.
    also, not all vitamins are created equal. a lot has to do with whether they actually dissolve and get absorbed into your body, usually cheaper vitamins are ***** vitamins and vice versa (one a day brand sucks btw).
    if you are an athlete, have a good diet/training regimen and supplement with a good vitamin, they can only help.
  • syaorankun, on 05/16/2009, -0/+8But but but... my Gummy Vites!
  • adammharvey, on 05/16/2009, -0/+7ive been eating Flintstone Vitamins since i was 3, but now i have a tumor on my dick. No it is a Tuma
  • Mike17102, on 05/16/2009, -0/+7*****.

    "Back in the day" even ***** kings didnt eat as well as the most poor people in the US do. Your ignorance is astounding, and the very fact that you have lived this long is proof of just how idiot proof we have made the world.
  • po43292, on 05/16/2009, -1/+8I don't think those pills are vitamins.
  • Masquatto, on 05/16/2009, -0/+7Woah guys. Fruits and vegetables are healthier than artificial tablets? I NEVER would have guessed. Ever.

    Next they're gonna tell me that real exercise is better than diet pills or those things that shake your body while you sit still.
    CRAZY.
  • norman619, on 05/16/2009, -0/+6Whoever told you that was clever and cute lied to you.
  • askantik, on 05/16/2009, -1/+7Duh? The whole existence of vitamins (at least I've always thought) is because most people don't get all the vitamins and minerals they need from the food they eat partly because the prevalence of junk food, but also because of the wide array of food that would be needed to have every single DV of each vitamin/mineral met.

    And as far as "green," I don't think most places outside of equatorial regions are suited to grow (locally) an array of crops that meet all of your nutrient needs, but that's another argument altogether.
  • Junel, on 05/16/2009, -0/+6Real Food > Supplements? I think this is that new thing they are calling common sense? People forget that "supplements" are called supplements for a reason, to "supplement" your diet, which ideally should already be rich in vitamins...
  • TyrannousDotNet, on 05/16/2009, -2/+8Soylent Green is people!!!
  • MrInfallible, on 05/16/2009, -1/+7Grabbin Peels.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKu60YKqsvs&fea ...
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -0/+6err, i think you need to do a little research on farming. granted with government supplements we encourage poor farming practices (well actually I love pretty much all farmers regardless) but that by no means makes the soil barren.
  • jwolcott, on 05/16/2009, -0/+5They HAVE to say this because if they said Multi-Vitamins worked, everyone would start eating junk food and taking pills which would shorten everyone's lifespan because none of those vitamins fight clogged arteries.

    The truth is, of course eating a balanced diet is best, but it simply DOES NOT happen in America. So taking a Multi-Vitamin to supplement your diet is a good idea.
  • 1smartguy, on 05/16/2009, -0/+5The top 3 staples are corn, rice, and wheat. Even whole, none of these are complete foods, and subsistence on them will lead to disease, but of course you're correct that the germ and bran are removed to make white rice and wheat.

    One thing that a lot of folks may not know, is that starches are very quickly converted to glucose, and that glucose very quickly gets into your bloodstream. All three grains can cause a higher spike of blood glucose than white sugar or HFCS, because they're both only half glucose. Many diabetics quickly learn those facts.
  • inactive, on 05/16/2009, -0/+5Source on #3?
  • mauso, on 05/16/2009, -0/+5That study is fairly controversial. See the Related Letters for rebuttals.

    Additionally: http://tinyurl.com/oykv7l and http://tinyurl.com/rxukk7

    QUOTE:
    "However, the researchers specifically excluded 405 studies that reported no deaths during a trial period or follow-up.

    Did you get that?

    The researchers are studying effects on mortality but failed to include any studies that were death-free. They excluded six times as many potentially eligible studies because no one died during a trial period or follow-up."

    But I do agree with points 1, 3 and 4 posted by nepidae.
  • askantik, on 05/16/2009, -1/+6Not discounting what you said, but you said "raw avocado" as if there is some group of strange people somewhere that eats cooked avocado? o_O
  • threon, on 05/16/2009, -0/+5What kind of dead fish do they squeeze the oil from? Fish farm fish? Dolphin? What's the process? What kind of contaminants are in it? Mercury?
  • norman619, on 05/16/2009, -0/+5The best way to get your nutrients is from the food you eat not pills. If there is nothing wrong with you then eating a well balanced diet will provide you with everything your body needs to frunction properly.
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -1/+6Yep, the best way is to get all your nutrients from organic material (not specifically Organic (tm)) rather than supplements. However many people today, for one reason or another, do not get all the chemicals they need each day. That's where pills come in. I take a once a day, but still try to eat healthy.
  • gizmo12688, on 05/16/2009, -0/+5And my Flintstones.....
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -0/+4everyone wears a collar, its just whether you can see it or not
  • inactive, on 05/16/2009, -2/+6Journal of the American Medical Association, compadre http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/ ...
  • norman619, on 05/16/2009, -0/+4When you make a claim like this you need to provide a source or we will assume you are talking out of your arse.
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -0/+4haha good point. i just love avocado so much i had to include it, should have proofread it :)
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -2/+6grabbin some pills
  • bramblez, on 05/16/2009, -1/+5Although he has his flaws, please people, if you're interested, just read a Michael Pollan book. He points out that, nutrition, as a science, is like surgery in the middle ages. They're doing some interesting stuff, and they might cut out a stone now and then (ie scurvy cured by vitamin C) you'd certainly not want to trust them with your life. Real food is made up of countless organic compounds interacting with your countless organic compounds, in ways we haven't yet begun to name. To reduce food to 55 essential nutrients, and ignore everything we can't isolate and understand, is reductio ad absurdum.
    Michael Pollan's mantra:
    "Eat food, mostly plants, not too much"
    translation:
    "Eat (what your great grandmother would have recognized as) food, not too much (compared to you energy output, and only during traditionally culturally accepted "meals"), mostly (the leafy and structural parts of a variety of) plants (not including their reproductive organs that simply concentrate energy, like fruits, seeds, and nuts).
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -1/+5While true, "enriched" is imo a lie. Until I actually looked it up I thought enriched actually meant that they added more to the bread when in fact it was the exact opposite. Enriched is actually less healthly than non-enriched grain products. For sandwiches I don't care as much, but I still try to get wholegrain products in my diet.

    Its should be something like "reconstituted", basically its bread from concentrate.
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -1/+5You don't think that large companies fear change too?
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -0/+4uh, "back in the day" people would eat bread and other grown food that was full of poison, hallucinogenic spores and who knows what else. I'm all for eating healthy but don't for a second think that mass produced food "back in the day" was magic.
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -0/+4Uh... humans and their filthy ravenous machines... spewing out vile toxins... Did you know that the average fish today contains more mercury than a rectal thermometer? Would you eat a rectal thermometer!? Answer me, damn you! Well, I would. Ah, mercury. Sweetest of the transition metals.
  • nepidae, on 05/16/2009, -1/+4sorry i was just trying to be the foil to "healthy means you are a hippie".
  • scschwa, on 05/16/2009, -0/+3By Organic, are we speaking of things subject to decay and derived from carbon-based life forms?
  • diggadigga, on 05/16/2009, -2/+5all i need is vitamin a for ANAL
  • lanemik, on 05/16/2009, -1/+4[citation needed]
  • Sifor22, on 05/16/2009, -1/+4Cause' it tastes better....
  • mrsteveman1, on 05/16/2009, -2/+5My tongue is in my head, where's yours? :)
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