Why are vitamins necessary for our health?

By: Paul Wallace

Vitamins are organic substances that are necessary for normal
health and growth in both animals and humans. If a vitamin is
absent from the diet, or we don't properly absorb it, a specific
deficiency disease may develop.

Even worse, our entire body may start a decline that, over a
period of years, may develop into a very serious disease such
as, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc.

That there is a relationship between what we eat and specific
disease was first noted by the Englishman William Fletcher in
1905 while researching the causes of the disease beriberi. He
observed that the disease was prevented by eating unpolished
rather than polished rice. He concluded that the husk of rice
must have special nutrients, which we know today as vitamins.

Even before this discovery, fruits and vegetables were known to
prevent and cure many diseases. Even though what we now know as
"vitamins" were unknown, many of their benefits were well
recognized.

Even today English sailors are known as "Limeys" because, when
limes were added to their diets, they no longer suffered from
scurvy.

While vitamins prevent and cure some specific diseases, they
also are necessary for virtually every function within our
bodies.

Because of heavy advertising, we associate Vitamin C with
preventing/fighting colds. In truth, Vitamin C does not prevent
or fight a cold. It bolsters and strengthens our immune system
which attacks the cold germs.

Vitamin C performs many other important functions within the
body. A major function is synthesis of hydroxyproline, an
important component of collagen and, thereby, all connective
tissues.

Vitamin C is essential for growth of cartilage, bone and teeth,
and for wound healing. It contributes to the structure of bones,
muscles, and blood vessels.

Vitamin C helps support the immune system, aids amino acid
metabolism and iron absorption.

Another vitamin - B6 - does not have a reputation as grand as
Vitamin C yet it is as essential to good health. Vitamin B6
cannot claim dramatic and immediate "cures" for diseases like
scurvy, beriberi, or colds like other vitamins, but it is known
as the master vitamin in processing amino acids.

It is estimated that 50% of Americans are deficient in Vitamin
B6.

The same is true for virtually every vitamin. Without a proper
supply of vitamins, the body develops disease.

Some diseases, such as beriberi and scurvy, show up quickly and
dramatically.

Other diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, take years to
develop. They go undetected for many years until it may be too
late.

Because the body is a "closed system", vitamins, like every
other nutrient, must come from the food we consume. The
principal sources of vitamins are the fruits and vegetables we
consume.

In 1936 the US Government released a report that clearly and
emphatically stated that the soils used to grow our food
products are so depleted of minerals that: "We know that
vitamins are complex chemical substances which are indispensable
to nutrition, and that each of them is of importance for normal
function of some special structure in the body. Disorder and
disease result from any vitamin deficiency. It is not commonly
realized, however, that vitamins control the body's
appropriation of minerals, and in the absence of minerals they
have no function to perform. Lacking vitamins, the system can
make some use of minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are
useless."

Things have not improved in 70 years. In fact, they have gotten
much worse.

An entire industry has come into existence because of this fact.
Vitamins are consumed by 43% of Americans, yet we continue to
suffer and die from preventable diseases that were unknown 50
years ago.

Research scientists have long recommended that nutritional
supplements are absolutely essential to our health and
wellbeing. This is especially true when we consider our long
term health.

And now the American Medical Association, in a significant break
from its earlier position that vitamins only produce colored
urine, agrees that every American needs to take nutritional
supplements.

Not only are vitamins missing from the fruits and vegetables we
consume, but antioxidants, minerals, enzymes, amino acids,
essential fatty acids, and fiber are also missing.

Nutritional supplements that provide only one, or a limited
number of components, can provide a false feeling of wellbeing.

It is unrealistic to believe that the food we eat is lacking
only one element needed by our body.

When the body lacks one component it probably lacks many, even
most, simply because the source of the components is deficient.
Adding only one component to the diet not only ignores the fact
that the basic diet is deficient but gives a false sense of
security that we are correcting a health problem.









About the author:
Paul Wallace suffered continuing pain long after an accident
even though he was taking 64 pills a day. He now takes one
product a day and is much healthier and pain free, even though
he is 72 years young.

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