Vitamins and minerals for everyone!
While I was at woolworths (a supermarket) yesterday, I decided to have a look through the medication/toiletries aisle, which I don't often do. I came across the health supplements section, which interested me more than it normally would, because I've been learning quite a bit about nutrients and diets this semester (with respect to the treatment/prevention of diseases).
Now just a little while ago, I would have gone "meh, supplements, they don't work!", but believe it or not, studying biomedical science in uni has actually given me some confidence in them! Of course I have been developing a healthy skepticism towards many bogus 'health products' too, but - there apparently are many trials/experiments that have shown that lots of these supplements actually treat and/or reduce the risk of major diseases !
The ingredient that won me over when I was contemplating the purchase yesterday was Selenium. Just two weeks ago in a Cardiovascular Science lecture, we learnt about something I've wanted to know for ages - antioxidants! I've heard TONS about them everywhere - "oh this tea is so great, it's full of antioxidants" or "eat lots of fruit! they're filled with antioxidants!", but I never knew what they actually were. Then I found out!
Oxidation basically refers to a class of chemical reactions in the body that often involves oxygen. In cells, sometimes little volatile thingies called reactive oxygen species (ROS) form, and if they accumulate, can cause lots of damage. This is where antioxidants come in! Fortunately, God made us all with our own antioxidant systems that naturally fight these ROS (the bad guys) in our cells. BUT, sometimes so much ROS is produced that our natural antioxidant system gets overwhelmed, and this results in much badness :( Heart failure, atherosclerosis (clogging up of our arteries), even parkinson's and alzheimer's disease are associated with too much ROS - aka oxidative stress. Bad news :(
And that's why it's important to have antioxidants in our diet! Of course it doesn't mean that if you overload on all antioxidants you'll never get these diseases (their cause is much more complex than this), but studies have shown that antioxidants actually do delay the onset of many diseases (like those concerning our heart, which 1 in 3 of us will eventually die from).
Anyway, Selenium is believed to play a role in supporting our natural antioxidant systems, and studies have shown that it actually does reduce risk and severity of heart failure (in rat models, but they're gonna start trials on humans). So selenium is good for you!!
And thus I bought the Men's Multi (~$12 for 2 months, not bad at all) and had my first tablet this morning, which I didn't expect to be so large. And you know what? I felt great all day! Of course you're thinking "no way it could have had an effect that quickly - it takes a while to be absorbed! It probably worked just cos you expected it to work." - and you'd be completely right!!! It's the placebo effect that made me feel so great today, which I found most amusing. Ahh...thank God for the placebo effect :)
So should all of you go get men's/women's multivitamins rightaway? Well...it's up to you really. It costs money (believe it or not), and if you're already having a balanced diet with your food pyramid and all that stuff, I don't think it's all that necessary. But if you're like me and are kiasu,
well you can't lose taking them! For all I know, my diet could be quite good, but by chance I may just be missing out on one or two essential minerals - it's good to know they're all in that tablet I'll be popping every morning! That's how I see it, at least.
Meanwhile I'll wait and see if I really do feel better in the next few weeks/months. I think my body will thank me for it in the future.
