Your vitamin supplements may be worthless

Dr. David Katz reported some not-so-encouraging news about vitamin supplements. He said it might be more beneficial to eat a well-balanced diet rich in vitamins and minerals.

The article reporting the doctor's statements stopped short of mentioning the role of phytochemicals in nutrient assimilation, but I have already dealt with that on in an article titled, "How Antiaging Antioxidants Help Add Life to Our Years" on my website.

There are several useless "short-cut paths" that people take to try to regain health. They are practically useless. These include:

• Hoping that by exercising you can turn your fat tissue into muscle tissue. No, you can build muscle while "burning" the fat. By exercising, your body uses the extra energy stored as fat, and while sensing that you need more muscle for you activity, actually builds more muscle tissue from the protein building blocks in the diet. Here's another mis-conception...
  
• Eating parts (or organs) of animals in hopes of acquiring strength, virility, or some attribute. Has anyone eaten the brain of a pig or cattle and increased their IQ? Neither will calcium pills deposit more bone tissue unless the body senses a need for it.
  

In most cases our tissues deteriorate because of lack of use. "Don't use it, you lose it," they say. So let's get active. Exercise, eat right, and the body will self repair and maintain.

The doctor is right. It's not more vitamin supplements that we need, it's better eating habits. The story "Some Vitamins Can Do More Harm Than Good" about Dr. Katz's statements is on ABC.com