Why the need for supplementation? continue...

3. Sugar sets you up for low immunity and even PMT

Regular excessive intake of refined sugar and sugary confectionery such as sweets, cakes, chocolates and the like (in other words, anything other than raw, basic fructose or demerara sugar) could cause you to lose your magnesium (and other mineral) reserves. This often lies at the heart of PMT or painful periods. In addition, it has been found that the immune system can literally shut down for as long as six hours after eating a teaspoonful of refined sugar (The Immune System Cure, Prof. Patrick Bouic & Lorna R Vanderhaege). During this time you would of course be a sifting duck for any of the viruses cavorting around your body!

You know you eat sugar. Which means you need to supplement,

4. Life in general takes it out of you

It is not just a mailer of what we put (or do not put) into our bodies in terms of nutrition; it is also a mailer of what life takes out of our bodies. We are at the mercy of pollution, pesticides, fungicides, food additives and so many other harmful substances that we breathe in, eat and drink every day. Most of the chemicals used in our society have the ability to destroy the nutrients in our bodies. And if they don't do that, they have the potential to block the absorption of many very precious nutrients.

Which means that everybody living in today's world needs supplements.

5. Fad diets are devoid of nutrients

Drastic slimming diets (how many did you say you've been on?) or bad eating habits simply do not provide sufficient nutrients for the body. If, for the past 6 weeks, you have been eating less than 4 kinds of fruit, 6 cups of different vegetables, 3 varied types of protein, 6 varieties of starches and 3 teaspoons of unsaturated fat per day, you are probably nutritionally bankrupt.

You need a supplement.

6. Good weight loss relies on good nourishment.

By now you have heard it a zillion times: only a healthy body, functioning at optimum capacity, sheds fat effectively and manages to keep the fat off.

You will need a supplement now more than ever before.

Don't play guessing games with your nutrition

Many people tend to grab a book on nutrition, flip through the lists of nutrient deficiencies and say: "See, I have a zinc deficiency and that's why I'm sweating so much!"

Next thing you know they are taking handfuls of zinc tablets and hoping for a dry season.

This is risky, to say the least.

Ideally one should take a complete multi-vitamin and -mineral supplement such as Centrum. No nutrient acts completely independently of others. They all rely on each other in one or more ways to be fully functional.

Why the need for supplementation?

Many people would argue that a healthy, balanced and varied eating planshould be sufficient to provide you with all the nutrients you require.

I happen to be one of them. I firmly believe that you should receive all your nutrients from your daily foods. That is why my eating plans are brimful of Nature's bounty. I know for a fact that a well-nourished, healthy body will shed weight successfully and maintain that reduced weight and that optimum, balanced nutrition is the most important factor in this process.

But everything is not what it seems.

Our nutrients succumb to all kinds of robbers and thieves. For starters, there are the unavoidable hazards: factory, vehicle and water pollution and cigarette smoke; food processing and additives; poor food quality, Then the stress factor and its presumed antidotes enter the equation: sugary nibbles, medication and excess alcohol, Let's examine more closely the effects of these everyday hazards on our nutrient reserves.

1. Stress steals nutrition

Some researchers claim that a fit of anger (such as losing your temper and banging your head against the steering wheel of your car in a traffic jam) can 'steal' as much as 3 grams of vitamin C from your reserves.

Whether this claim is accurate or not, one thing is certain: stress robs you of your nutrients, It causes a skyrocketing of nutritional needs and vitamins C and B (particularly pantothenate) are withdrawn from the body at an alarming rate. Minerals are also withdrawn from your body under stress and should be replenished as they are withdrawn. But the average Ms Executive (whether taking care of a corporation or a household) who endures stress week in and week out, year after year, is not likely to consider eating bucketsful of fresh fruit and vegetables after each stressful incident! And if she does, where will she find the freshest and most wholesome foods, free from pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics and steroids?

In our modern society nobody can be assured of that any more. If you experience daily stress, you need a supplement.

2. Tobacco, drinks and drugs deplete nutrients

Using any form of drugs or alcohol invariably takes its toll on your nutritional reserves. For every healing or preventative benefit that allopathic (prescribed) drugs mayoffer, there is usually a trade-off as far as nutrients are concerned. Some medications (or alcohol) create a vitamin or mineral deficiency by either blocking their absorption, speeding up their excretion or otherwise interfering with the metabolism.

If you are on medication, smoke or drink alcohol regularly, you are likely to be in need of a supplement.

Don't turn your back on calcium continue…

You may even be at greater risk if you consider the other factors that contribute to osteoporosis:

• The decline in oestrogen. Up to half of women over the age of 45 have some degree of type 1 osteoporosis (bone loss is most profound during the first decade after menopause).
• Smoking. It suppresses the activity of the osteoblasts (the bone-building cells) and also causes changes in oestrogen metabolism in women, resulting in an earlier menopause.
• Being thin and/or fine-boned.
• Excessive use of alcohol. This reduces calcium absorption and damages liver and bone cells.
• Avery high intake of protein increases the amount of calcium lost by the body. Veganism. Avoiding all animal products means avoiding some of the richest sources of calcium.
• Lack of exercise. Physical inactivity or prolonged bed rest are associated with the loss of bone density. Astronauts experience noticeable bone loss when in space, due to the effects of weightlessness.
• Excessive, long-term use of salt, in addition to being bad for your health in general, leads to increased calcium loss from your bones.
• Pregnancy and lactation. If there is insufficient calcium in your diet while you are pregnant or breasffeeding, calcium will be drawn from your bones and teeth to provide for the growth of the baby.
• Little or no exposure to the sun. Housebound people, elderly folk and office workers often don't enjoy enough sunlight to assist their skins in the manufacture of vitamin D, which is needed for the absorption of calcium from the gastro-intestinal tract.
• Unbalanced diets. Not only quick-fix slimming diets are low in nutrients. Our average, modern-day diets often lead to an insufficient intake of nutrients. Although you might be taking in sufficient calcium-rich foods (like cheese!), you might be taking in too little of the other bone-fortifying nutrients such as vitamin D, magnesium (soy, dried beans, nuts), zinc (chicken heart and liver, beef liver, lamb), copper, manganese and boron, found in a large variety of other foods.
• Genetic inheritance accounts for 80% of the variance in peak bone mass. Blacks have a higher bone mass than whites and Asians, and men have a higher bone density than women. A strong family history is a risk factor for osteoporosis - daughters of women with osteoporosis have been shown to have lower-than-expected bone density.
• Certain health conditions such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Cushing's syndrome, amenorrhoea resulting from anorexia nervosa and/or excessive exercise, gastrectomy, immobilising diseases, male hypogonadism (low testosterone levels), chronic liver disease or malabsorption.
• Consumption of large amounts of black coffee over a long period of time.
• Hyperthyroidism and over-treatment with thyroxin.
• The prolonged use of drugs such as corticosteroids (cortisone).

What is the role of calcium in theJody?

Everyone knows that calcium is required for healthy bones and teeth, but most people believe that calcium is only important in childhood. Wrong! There is a need for calcium throughout one's life in order to build and maintain calcium levels in bone.

Calcium acts as a metabolic regulator. Changes in the level of calcium within the cell result in the switching on and off of the processes of muscle contraction and nerve excitation.

Calcium is also involved as a co-factor in many enzyme processes. It is needed in cell division, the immune system and is also required in order for blood to clot.

More recently there has been some evidence to suggest that calcium has a positive role to play in maintaining a healthy blood pressure.

Clearly, calcium is an essential nutrient and a major role player in our general wellbeing; good health being an essential prerequisite for shedding weight successfully and permanently.

Dietary sources of calcium

The major foods in the diet that contain calcium, include milk, cheese, yoghurt, white bread, white flour, and green vegetables. The absorption of calcium by the body is dependent on many factors, including the form of calcium in the food. The best sources of available calcium are dairy foods. Green vegetables and whole grain cereals contain phytates that bind calcium and prevent absorption.

A balanced diet is important for the provision of calcium and other bone fortifying nutrients throughout your life.

Where do you find dietary fibre?

By definition, only plant foods contain dietary fibre. Published values of fibre in foods vary greatly because of different analysis methods.

Wheat bran (commonly sold under the name of 'digestive bran') has the highest fibre content of all the items mentioned. Because of this, it should be regarded as a food supplement rather than as a food. (If you eat it as a food on its own - for example as a breakfast cereal - your fibre intake could in fact be too high!)

However, as shown above, an important result of the years of research into fibre is the realization that it can be used to lower the risk of some diseases and to treat them.

Can fibre help you lose weight?

Although there is as yet no firm evidence that fibre can be used to control weight problems, it can indirectly be of help if you're trying to cut down on kilojoule intake.

One of the effects of dietary fibre is that it 'dilutes' nutrients and therefore also the energy or kilojoule values of a food. In addition, foods which are rich in it need a good deal of chewing, which not only stimulates secretion of saliva but also means that it takes longer to eat them. In the stomach, insoluble fibre binds water and has a 'bulking' effect, while soluble fibre tends to form gels which slow down the emptying of the stomach contents into the small intestine. The result of these combined effects is that fibre-rich foods make you feel fuller for longer and less likely to head for the refrigerator half an hour after a meal! For this reason, and also to ensure that you get enough vitamins and minerals and won't suffer from constipation, any slimming diet should include ample fibre in the form of unrefined foods.

Effects of fibre in the small intestine

The small intestine is divided into the duodenum, jejenum and ileum and dietary fibre alters a number of functions throughout the area. Whereas refined foods are quickly digested and absorbed in the upper part or duodenum, fibre ensures that the food moves down into the jejenum and ileum, thus changing the site of digestion and absorption. The result is a slower and more prolonged or sustained absorption of several nutrients, which gives the body time to 'process' these nutrients.

In addition to water-binding and bulking effects, some fibre components have the ability to temporarily bind nutrients such as glucose and fats, as well as digestive enzymes, bile acids and possibly some toxic substances. This results in slower digestion of several nutrients and an increased excretion of bile acids - and perhaps also of poisonous substances.

Diet and Drug Interaction

The use of drugs or medication to maintain or restore health has increased tremendously during the past 20 years.

A 'drug' may be defined broadly as any chemical substance that is not one of the basic nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins) and which, when taken in, changes the body's structure or function. Incidentally, according to this definition, even ordinary table salt could be labelled a drug! For the purpose of this article, however, the term 'drug' will mean a non-food substance that is deliberately introduced into the body in order to produce some physiological or psychological effect. Of course drugs act in a variety of different ways, depending on their particular applications, which may be any of the following:

• relief of symptoms (such as headaches)
• prevention of illness (as in the case of vaccines used against diseases such as polio)
• control of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure
• treatment of certain diseases (for example, antibiotics which are used to treat tuberculosis).

How do drugs work?

What determines how a certain drug acts on a specific problem? Why does one have an effect on the blood vessels and another on the lungs? The answer to these questions has to do with the concept of 'receptor sites' - the idea that a drug has its effect only at specific spots within cells where the drug molecule 'fits'. (A molecule is the smallest unit of a chemical substance such as a drug.) These drug molecules do not act on the whole cell, but only at the receptor sites - and only on those cells with receptor sites that are compatible with the drug molecule. The diagram on the following is a representation of the way in which this compatibility works.

Prescription drugs - handle with care!

Whenever your doctor prescribes a medication, make sure that either he/she or your pharmacist gives you the following information:

• The name of the drug (many drugs go by different names)
• The reason you are taking it
• How the drug should be taken (before or after meals, with water, fruit juice or milk, etc)
• The dosage safety level of the drug (to prevent overdosing if you have to use the drug in an emergency)
• How often you should take the drug
• The length of time you should continue to take it
• Whether taking the drug requires any change in your diet or activities (For example, certain drugs may not be taken with alcohol and others may cause drowsiness or interfere with your coordination.)
• What side effects can you expect? (All drugs cause side effects,ranging from the trivial to the serious.)

The drug/diet link

After many years of research, health professionals have established that foods and nutrients do interact with drugs to a significant extent. In other words, medication can have an effect on a person's health and conversely, food can influence a drug's effectiveness. The risk that a drug might have an adverse nutritional effect or that drugs and food might be incompatible becomes particularly relevant when:

• the drug is an 'anti-nutrient' (in other words, it acts like a nutrient even though it is not one)
• a drug which has adverse nutritional effects is taken for a long time
• the patient is taking more than one drug at a time
• a patient's diet is either nutritionally inadequate or the patient is already malnourished
• drugs are used excessively (or there is abuse of prescription or over- the-counter drugs)
• food and/or drugs are not being properly absorbed due to disease
• the patient is not given special diet instructions when necessary
• physicians, pharmacists and dietitians are unaware of the risks involved.

The use of medication may influence nutrient intake, absorption, metabolism or excretion; in the same way, foods or their components may affect the absorption, metabolism and excretion of drugs. To paraphrase this, drugs and foods can interact by one of the following mechanisms:

• Drugs plus foods (nutrients) = changed drug effect
• Drugs plus foods (nutrients) = changed nutritional balance

How drugs affect nutrients

The ways in which drugs alter nutritional balance tend to be subtler and take longer to develop than the effects of food on medication. Drugs may have an influence on food intake due to changes in taste and appetite, they may decrease the absorption of nutrients, change their metabolism or cause them to be excreted in increased amounts (accompanied by diarrhoea and vomiting).

Drugs that affect food intake

Sensitivity to taste is one of the more delicate senses which can be affected fairly easily. Some drugs dull the tastebuds and make eating a less pleasurable experience - which, of course, may have the effect of making you eat less. Three drugs which decrease the sense of taste are clofibrate (a cholesterol-lowering agent), levodopa (an anti-Parkinson agent) and penicillamine (a chelating agent).

One or more of the four basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty and bitter) may be affected. For example, amphetamines decrease sensitivity to sweetness, while fluorouracil (a cytostatic agent) increases it. Diabetics who have to use insulin over prolonged periods find that they experience decreased sensitivity to both salty and sweet tastes. Other drugs - such as allopurinol (an anti-gout agent) - simply leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth.

Drugs that alter appetite

As the table below shows, some drugs directly stimulate the appetite, while others depress it. (Oral contraceptives, for example, tend to have the former effect.)

Drugs that decrease the absorption of nutrients

Drugs can affect the absorption of nutrients in several ways (including changes in the time the food spends in the digestive tract, in the acidity of the stomach, bile acid activity, enzyme systems, mucosal cells, or through binding to nutrients).

Firstly, the absorption of certain nutrients may be affected when the digestion of food is accelerated - a side effect of certain pills given for high blood pressure (ganglion blockers) - or when micro-organisms necessary for digestion are destroyed. In particular, drugs used to prevent indirectly the absorption of cholesterol from food into the body are often accompanied by reduced absorption of other nutrients (especially fat soluble vitamins). As another example, antacids are given to 'mop up' the excess acid in the stomach, but thiamin (vitamin B1) needs an acid medium lower down in the digestive tract to be absorbed, so antacids may impair its absorption.

Drugs that affect nutrient metabolism

Interference with nutrient metabolism can occur when a drug is similar in structure to a vitamin and therefore displaces a vitamin in a metabolic pathway. One example of this is the interaction between methotrexate (amethopterin), a cancer chemotherapeutic agent, and folic acid. Methotrexate kills cancer cells by displacing folic acid

and is therefore called a 'folic acid antagonist'. The problem is that the healthy cells are also prevented from using folic acid, which results in a type of anaemia.

The Pill and vitamin deficiency

The effect of oral contraceptives on nutritional deficiences has received wide attention in recent years. It has been shown that usage of 'the Pill' can decrease the absorption of vitamin B12, vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium and zinc. On the plus side,however, it increases iron and calcium absorption. Although the Pill does seem to affect absorption and metabolism of many nutrients, there is little scientific evidence that women using it require increased amounts of nutrients to prevent nutritional deficiencies, provided of course that they are healthy and are following a balanced diet. In these circumstances, nutrient levels do not fall to alarming levels.

Some researchers have however established that the depression suffered by certain women who use the contraceptive pill can be due to a deficiency in vitamin B6, which can be treated by supplementation with this vitamin. A number of theories have been proposed regarding the cause of the pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) and its link to the Pillone of these being that women who suffer from PMS also have low levels of vitamin B6. However, there is as yet not enough scientific evidence to justify fortification of the Pill with vitamin B6, or to suggest that doctors should treat the problem routinely with vitamin B6 supplementation.