In recent years there has been a huge growth in the industry that supplies and sells dietary supplements. The range and quality of supplements available has improved as demand from consumers increases thanks to a growing body of research demonstrating beneficial effects to health from nutrients and herbs. The internet has undoubtedly helped in this regard as the research findings ultimately tend to trickle down to less specialised publications for mass consumption by the paying public. There is little doubt that the average Western diet is devoid of nearly all nutritional quality, but traditional whole foods contain a much higher levels of essential and non-essential nutrients. Disregarding low quality diets, the question arises as to whether whole foods can provide the nutritional needs for modern living, or is supplementation now not only beneficial, but ultimately essential.
Whole foods are foods that maintain their original structural and chemical composition and as such can be regarded as having minimal processing. Whole grains cereals for example maintain the same ratio of endosperm, bran and germ from the source plant material. Fruits and vegetables also fall into this category as would extra virgin olive oil, dairy products, fish, meat and eggs. Whole foods are important to optimal nutrition because they contain a range of nutrients that provide a spectrum of effects. These may include vitamins and minerals as well as flavonoids, carotenoids and other phytochemicals. Importantly, some of the beneficial nutrients within whole foods may not have yet been isolated and discovered. Red wine for example is a complex mixture of plant compounds and the exact beneficial compounds are not known. The impact of many flavonoids on human health has not been assessed.
Despite the obvious benefits of whole foods, it is becoming increasingly clear from research that there are a number of nutrients that cannot be supplied in adequate amounts from even high quality whole food diets. Vitamin D is a classic example of a food that in the absence of sunlight is not present in high enough concentrations in foods to supply the optimal amount currently suggested by studies. Another example is selenium, concentrations of which have fallen in foods due to soil depletion and the absence of the mineral from crops. There are also supplements like glucosamine sulphate, that while technically present in some foods in trace amounts, are really only available in high concentrations from supplements. While a healthy whole food diet such as the Mediterranean diet may supply upwards of 300 mg of vitamin C, plasma levels can be further increased with the supplementation of a single 1000mg tablet.
A high quality whole food diet clearly provides health advantages over the typical Western diet high in refined carbohydrates, energy, deodorised and hydrogenated oils, and nutrient poor overly processed foods. However, even a whole food diet may fall short of providing optimal amounts of some nutrients. Supplements are no replacement for high quality nutrition as provided by the traditional Mediterranean diet for example, and over reliance of dietary supplements can lead to imbalances in nutrient ratios. However, supplements, by their very definition are there to compliment normal dietary intakes to provide those nutrients missing through a variety of reasons. Individual nutrients have in some cases produced highly significant health benefits in isolation, but it is likely that when combined, the benefits become synergistic. A high quality whole food diet with selective dietary supplements therefore appears to provide the optimal nutritional strategy.
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