Dietary Supplements: Why Take Them (If You Already Eat Healthy)?

A frequently heard reaction to the use of nutritional supplements is: 'if you eat healthy and varied, you will get enough vitamins'. That sounds logical, but is it really the case? In daily practice this can sometimes be disappointing. We will tell you how that works in this blog.

There are several reasons why taking extra nutrients from supplements can sometimes help your body. For example, if you spend a lot of time indoors in the office and therefore 'see' little sun, extra vitamin D from a jar can be a solution. And despite all your good intentions and efforts, you can sometimes feel lethargic. A multi or B12 product can then provide support. But there are countless other reasons why a supplement to your daily diet can be useful.

Exhausted soils

Due to agricultural monoculture, intensive agriculture and the excessive use of fertilizers, our food no longer contains the same rich amount of nutrients. This also applies to many types of fruit and vegetables. Soil depletion is a major problem that has received increasing attention in recent years. The growth of organic farming has made an unstoppable advance. Organically grown crops usually contain more essential building materials because more attention has been paid to crop rotation. Despite all the political ambitions to do something about this, organic products are unfortunately often a lot more expensive. If you don't put an organic, healthy meal on the table every night, a supplement can help.

Fruit from the other side of the world

The supermarket offer comes from all over the world and that is a great luxury. Due to the long delivery time, fruit and vegetables are picked weeks and sometimes months in advance. That way they have not had the optimal growth time to build up all the vitamins and minerals. Commercial harvest, long shipping processes, ample food storage and handling thus significantly reduce the nutrient content of fruits and vegetables. That is why it is smart to choose seasonal vegetables and fruit from the area. Do you still want that mango from Ecuador or those blueberries from Kenya? Combine them with a supplement and you can be sure that you are getting your portion of vitamins.

A healthy lifestyle starts with you!

Contaminated food

We really do not want to deter you from food in general, after all: you cannot live on nutritional supplements alone. Yet the reality is that pesticides, herbicides and chemicals are increasingly common in our 'modern' food. In small quantities and therefore not immediately harmful, sometimes not at all. But some substances accumulate in the body. The long-term effects are still being investigated; a long and intensive scientific process. To this is added contamination from possible chemicals from drinking water or environmental pollution such as microplastics and air pollution. We also call the substances that you ingest in this way 'free radicals'. These are called so because they more or less attack your healthy body cells. This is why it is useful to take (extra) antioxidants. Antioxidants are naturally abundant in our food, but to provide sufficient counterbalance to those free radicals, additional antioxidants can be useful.

Dutch food: (too) overcooked!

Fortunately, in 2021 it is already a lot better than in grandmother's time, but Dutch cuisine is still known for often overcooking food. As a result, many vegetables lose a large part of their nutritional values. There are several cooking techniques to limit the loss of nutrients. For example, you can often cook vegetables in a layer of water instead of completely submerged. And you can then use the cooking water for the preparation of, for example, the sauce, so that the vitamins contained in the water are retained.

A supplement for every stage of life

As you get older, your ability to get nutrients from food diminishes slightly. Growing children and teenagers need a lot of nutrients, but even after childhood you need vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and fit. Consider, for example, calcium for your bones. During your life, your body not only changes in fitness or height, but the body's own production of certain substances also varies. Dietary supplements can be found for every stage of life with nutrients that meet the specific needs of the body. Think of multivitamins, but also the special (herbal) formulas for, for example, menopausal women.

Vitamin C: king of vitamins

Today's world demands a lot from us. In a society where success seems to be 'a choice', the pressure to perform has increased. Thanks to social media we are constantly 'on' and we have a lot to keep up with: social obligations, family, school, work, informal care. That, of course, eats up your reserves. It is wise to supplement this in time. Vitamin C plays a major role in this. Vitamin C is perhaps the king of vitamins, because it is important for many bodily functions. Our body cannot create vitamin C itself and is completely dependent on a healthy and varied diet for its supply. Supplements can be a useful addition.

A healthy lifestyle starts with you

As mentioned, nutritional supplements are not a substitute for good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. We may discover such a 'miracle pill' in the distant future. For now, we are still preparing our food ourselves. The Disc of Five, countless cookbooks, YouTube videos and cooking apps: enough tools that help you to cook tasty and nutritious cooking. Dietary supplements are a useful supplement, not a substitute. A healthy lifestyle starts with yourself, but a little help certainly doesn't hurt!