Perhaps the greatest problem facing our scientists and doctors embroiled in the “are supplemental vitamins necessary” controversy is one of definition. Health is defined, by practicality, as the absence of disease. This has allowed us to set up standards of treatment that have revolutionized the health sciences. It has given us a clear-cut standard to measure against. This is extremely important if you happen to be a doctor. Unfortunately, it is not a wellness standard.
In our society the health sciences should be called the disease sciences, because they are primarily involved with the diagnosis and treatment of disease. As crisis care goes, we have the finest delivery system in the world. Here’s the rub. We also have a less-than-well society. The majority of adult Americans do not really feel well most of the time, but do not feel unwell enough to consult a doctor.
Are we really well if we are not diseased? We have only just begun to attempt to establish a standard of measurement for wellness. When we accept, for definition, that health is the presence of wellness, we have a start. Now we are no longer asking, “How much of this vitamin is necessary to keep from having this disease?” We begin to ask, “How much of this vitamin will result in optimum metabolic function, resulting in optimum health and well-being?”
About ten years ago, Dr. Edward Schneider and colleagues authored an article in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled Recommended Dietary Allowances And The Health Of The Elderly. In this article the authors suggested that for the elderly, with the special problems of an aging metabolism, the recommended dietary allowances (RDA’s), were woefully inadequate.
Since then, other researchers have addressed this issue in numerous scientific journals, arriving at the same conclusion. Science is beginning to get the idea that as we age we need more supplementation if we are to experience optimum health. The only conclusion a prudent observer can arrive at is simple, “OK, so I need vitamins!”
What Vitamin And Mineral Supplements Should I Take?
The Basic Self Help Program is designed to help you answer that question by providing a basic supplemental program that you can plug into. As you age, you need ever-greater amounts of the essential micronutrients because, as you age, you utilize these substances less efficiently. This is reflected on the chart.
The Basic Self Help Program provides adequate supplemental nutrition for those with average health. However, we are all so different, that it can be helpful to discuss your unique differences, which are a reflection of your individual needs, with an expert in this area.
This is where Preventics is unique. I answer your questions on the free Health Help Hotline. To discover the right supplemental program for your own biochemical individual needs, call during those hours.
