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Why do I need Nutritional Supplements?
Answer:
For over 50 years we've been led to believe that RDA levels are adequate. Adequate for what? Adequate to prevent clinically obvious nutritional deficiencies like scurvy, beriberi, rickets, and pellagra?
According to the Food and Nutrition Board (under the umbrella of the National Institutes of Health), "The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is the average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the requirement of nearly all apparently healthy individuals in a particular life stage and gender group." The Food and Nutrition Board further defines "requirement" as "the lowest continuing intake level of a nutrient that, for a specified indicator of adequacy, will maintain a defined level of nutriture in an individual." Basically, the RDA is (by their own definition) the lowest level of nutrient intakes that will prevent deficiencies in apparently healthy individuals. And while RDA levels may have helped us to avoid acute deficiency diseases, they do not address the issues of optimal nutrition.
The RDAs have certainly played an important role in public health. Most assuredly, they provide amounts that will prevent you from getting scurvy, pellagra, rickets or beriberi. However, in the general population, these vitamin-related diseases are of little concern. Products based solely on RDA amounts are fine for their intended purpose (i.e. providing minimal amounts of important vitamins and minerals), but the RDA of vitamins and minerals is not always enough to help prevent certain degenerative disease or to provide protection from oxidative damage. In other words, there is more to the benefits of nutritional supplementation than preventing rare deficiencies. Therefore, the RDA should be considered the "minimum wage" of nutrition.
USANA's products are formulated with more nutritional research in mind, and with little relevance to the RDA's. We are concerned with vast majority of people who are "apparently" healthy. How long is a person "apparently" healthy before they have a heart attack? Or break a hip due to osteoporosis? These health concerns and other degenerative diseases develop over a lifetime, often to unsuspecting individuals. Minimal nutrient intakes and the RDAs are simply not always adequate or even designed to address many of these common health challenges.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) much of the illness, disability, and death associated with chronic disease is avoidable through known prevention measures. Furthermore, a recent study examining the potential economic benefits of vitamin supplementation concluded that there are substantiated cost reductions associated with the use of vitamin supplements, based on preventative nutrition. Bottom line- there can be substantial cost reductions associated with vitamin supplements based on preventative nutrition.
If you are eating healthy, do you still need to take supplements? A healthy diet is a necessary foundation for any program of optimal nutrition, and there is no substitute for eating well. In this context, USANA's nutritional supplements are designed to compliment a healthy diet not replace it. Our supplements are designed to provide the advanced levels of the essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are difficult to obtain from diet alone; levels that we all need, everyday, to promote good health lifelong. More importantly, we are not the only ones who are convinced of the health benefits of nutritional supplements. Last June, the Journal of the American Medical Association published two articles by health researchers at Harvard University. Their articles were entitled "Vitamins for Chronic Disease Prevention in Adults". Through their research, these authors concluded that the "suboptimal intake of some vitamins, above levels causing classic vitamin deficiency, is a risk factor for chronic diseases and common in the general population, especially the elderly. Suboptimal folic acid levels, along with suboptimal levels of vitamins B6 and B12, are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, neural tube defects, and colon and breast cancer; low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteopenia and fractures; and low levels of the antioxidant vitamins (vitamins A, E and C) may increase risk for several chronic diseases. The scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of nutritional supplements is solid and growing daily. And more health care professionals than ever before are now siding with the conclusions drawn from these two review articles published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The science of nutrition and nutritional supplementation is advancing at a rapid pace. For over a decade, USANA Health Sciences has been a leader in providing high quality nutritional supplements containing advanced levels of vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients associated with long-term health. There has never been a better time put the science of nutrition to work in promoting your health. And there has never been a better time to be associated with USANA.
REFERENCES OF INTEREST
Bendich A, Mallick R, Leader S. Potential health economic benefits of vitamin supplementation. West J Med 1997 May; 166(5):306-12. This study used published relative risk estimates for birth defects, premature birth, and coronary heart disease associated with vitamin intake to project potential annual cost reductions in U.S. hospitalization charges. Epidemiological and intervention studies with relative risk estimates were identified via MEDLINE. Preventable fraction estimates were derived from data on the percentage of at-risk Americans with daily vitamin intake levels lower than those associated with disease risk reduction. Hospitalization rates were obtained from the 1992 National Hospital Discharge Survey. Charge data from the 1993 California Hospital Discharge Survey were adjusted to 1995 national charges using the medical component of the Consumer Price Index. Based on published risk reductions, annual hospital charges for birth defects, low-birth-weight premature births, and coronary heart disease could be reduced by about 40, 60, and 38%, respectively. For the conditions studied, nearly $20 billion in hospital charges were potentially avoidable with daily use of folic acid and zinc-containing multivitamins by all women of childbearing age and daily vitamin E supplementation by those over 50.
Fairfield KM, Fletcher RH. Vitamins for chronic disease prevention in adults: scientific review. JAMA 2002; 287:3116-3126. CONTEXT: Although vitamin deficiency is encountered infrequently in developed countries, inadequate intake of several vitamins is associated with chronic disease. OBJECTIVE: To review the clinically important vitamins with regard to their biological effects, food sources, deficiency syndromes, potential for toxicity, and relationship to chronic disease. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION: We searched MEDLINE for English-language articles about vitamins in relation to chronic diseases and their references published from 1966 through January 11, 2002. DATA EXTRACTION: We reviewed articles jointly for the most clinically important information, emphasizing randomized trials where available. DATA SYNTHESIS: Our review of 9 vitamins showed that elderly people, vegans, alcohol-dependent individuals, and patients with malabsorption are at higher risk of inadequate intake or absorption of several vitamins. Excessive doses of vitamin A during early pregnancy and fat-soluble vitamins taken anytime may result in adverse outcomes. Inadequate folate status is associated with neural tube defect and some cancers. Folate and vitamins B(6) and B(12) are required for homocysteine metabolism and are associated with coronary heart disease risk. Vitamin E and lycopene may decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Vitamin D is associated with decreased occurrence of fractures when taken with calcium. CONCLUSIONS: Some groups of patients are at higher risk for vitamin deficiency and suboptimal vitamin status. Many physicians may be unaware of common food sources of vitamins or unsure which vitamins they should recommend for their patients. Vitamin excess is possible with supplementation, particularly for fat-soluble vitamins. Inadequate intake of several vitamins has been linked to chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis
Fletcher RH, Fairfield KM. Vitamins for chronic disease prevention in adults: clinical applications. JAMA 2002; 287:3127-3129. Vitamin deficiency syndromes such as scurvy and beriberi are uncommon in Western societies. However, suboptimal intake of some vitamins, above levels causing classic vitamin deficiency, is a risk factor for chronic diseases and common in the general population, especially the elderly. Suboptimal folic acid levels, along with suboptimal levels of vitamins B(6) and B(12), are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, neural tube defects, and colon and breast cancer; low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteopenia and fractures; and low levels of the antioxidant vitamins (vitamins A, E, and C) may increase risk for several chronic diseases. Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements. The evidence base for tailoring the contents of multivitamins to specific characteristics of patients such as age, sex, and physical activity and for testing vitamin levels to guide specific supplementation practices is limited. Physicians should make specific efforts to learn about their patients' use of vitamins to ensure that they are taking vitamins they should, such as folate supplementation for women in the childbearing years, and avoiding dangerous practices such as high doses of vitamin A during pregnancy or massive doses of fat-soluble vitamins at any age.
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