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Here's your quick guide to the latest you need to know about eating for health and supplementing when necessary.
By Diane Welland
Remember when you believed you covered the nutritional bases by giving your child a chewable Chocks vitamin to start the morning and taking a One-A-Day yourself? Never mind that breakfast was sugary cereal for him and white toast with butter and jelly for you. We've all grown up--and grown older--since then, and we're wiser too: Good nutrition, or the attempt, will never be so simple again. Scientists are continuing to discover the complexities of our bodies' needs for vitamins and minerals, and the marketplace has responded with thousands of supplement products.
Maybe you've moved beyond the sugary cereal and white toast breakfasts--or at least, we hope, you're trying--but what should you eat? Do you need to take vitamins and minerals? Which ones? Is a multi enough? And is it too late if you've already got chronic health issues? The answer to that last question is a resounding no. It's not too late, and the nutrition you get does matter--a great deal. Arthritis and related conditions as well as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are all affected, for better and for worse, by nutritional status. Nutrition and prevention go hand in hand, but almost all health problems--even after diagnosis--are improved with a sound diet and supplement plan.
So now is the time to take stock of your diet and identify where you might be lacking nutritionally. This guide can help. True, experts recommend meeting nutrient needs through food to get optimal benefits, but sometimes it's not possible to get everything you need in your diet. In that case, a multivitamin and mineral supplement may be your best, first-line option. You may need more, though. To make sure you're giving your body what it needs, read through the guide, evaluate your diet and then decide, along with your doctor, what dietary changes and supplement additions are right for you.
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