Seven Misunderstandings of Vitamin Supplements

In daily life, when eating working meals, are you accustomed to "wolf down" and "blowing the clouds" with lightning speed; when colleagues have dinner together, do you often admire the hot pot restaurant because you like the lively atmosphere; When you get home, do you make it convenient? The pickled and smoked food will become a common meal? If you want some more wine and small cigarettes, it will be even more comfortable... Stop it, please stop it! Because be careful, these bad eating habits will cause esophageal cancer to "target" you early.

Myth 1: The more vitamins you eat, the more conducive to your health.

In fact, this view is wrong. Vitamins are an important source of human nutrition and are closely related to human health, but they cannot be taken in unlimited quantities. Water-soluble vitamins such as vitamins C and B can be excreted in urine, but before being excreted, they have to pass through the human body. Taking too much can be detrimental to health. Fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E, K, etc. easily precipitate in adipose tissue and liver, and excessive intake can cause poisoning.

Myth 2: Vegetarians consume more vitamins.

This view is one-sided. It must be admitted that most vitamins are found in vegetables and fruits, but medical investigations have found that vegetarians who only rely on eating plant foods to obtain nutrients are prone to vitamin D and vitamin B12 deficiencies. Vitamin D and vitamin B12 are found in meat products and egg and dairy products, so drink more milk and eat some egg foods to ensure comprehensive vitamin intake.

Myth 3: Large amounts of vitamin A are good for your eyes.

Vitamin A is a good medicine for preventing and treating night blindness. In recent years, research believes that it is also effective in preventing repeated "symptoms" in children. However, if you take it in large quantities for a long time, you will cause poisoning such as dry or falling off hair, dry and itchy skin, loss of appetite, weight loss, pain in your limbs, anemia, exophthalmos, severe headache, nausea and vomiting. It is particularly worth mentioning that vitamin A can smoothly pass through the placental barrier, so the dose of vitamin A supplementation for expectant mothers should not be too large. A large amount of vitamin A is not only detrimental to the mother, but also affects the growth and development of the fetus.

Myth 4: It is good for children to eat more vitamin E.

In the past, it was generally believed that the toxicity of vitamin E was extremely low, and even if it was taken in large quantities for a long time, its adverse reactions did not need to be considered. In fact, it has been found that excessive intake of vitamin E can increase the production of peroxides in tissues and cause or aggravate the deficiency of other vitamins. A large amount of vitamin E can cause short-term gastrointestinal discomfort. Large intake of vitamin E in infants can often significantly increase the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis. Allergy can also cause urticaria, itching, contact dermatitis, etc.

Myth 5: Eating more vitamin D can strengthen bones and replenish calcium.

In fact, this understanding is extremely wrong. The human body's tolerance to vitamin D is not the same, and children's daily intake is not easy to exceed 400 IU. Excessive calcium can lead to increased absorption of calcium, excessive calcium, and calcium can be deposited in soft tissues (including heart, blood vessels, lungs, and renal tubules). Mild poisoning is loss of appetite, thirst, nausea, vomiting, irritability, constipation, or alternating constipation and diarrhea. Excessive intake of vitamin D during pregnancy and early infancy can cause babies to have low birth weights. In severe cases, mental retardation and bone sclerosis are also present. Therefore, vitamin D intake is best carried out under the guidance of a doctor, otherwise it may easily lead to serious consequences such as poisoning.

In fact, if you bask in the sun more every day, your skin can synthesize vitamin D by itself. Instead of blindly supplementing it, it is better to go out of the room more often, bask in the sun, and do outdoor sports to keep fit.

Myth 6: Obese people do not lack vitamins.

Many parents think that it is a good thing for children to be fat. However, they don't know that obesity does not mean health. We should see that obesity has given dangerous signals to children's health.

Except for a few causes such as endocrine disorders, childhood obesity is mostly caused by malnutrition. Excess energy is converted into fat and stored instead of being used for energy consumption and metabolism.

Because they prefer high-fat foods such as fat meat and eat less vegetables and coarse grains, most obese children actually suffer from vitamin deficiency. Obese children can experience fatigue, palpitations, shortness of breath, poor endurance, and are prone to diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension, coronary heart disease, poor breathing and infection. Therefore, obese people have unbalanced nutrition and should eat more fruits and vegetables to achieve a balanced diet.

Myth 7: Taking vitamin C every day can prevent heart disease.

This view is also wrong. Doctors recommend that taking about 80 mg of vitamin C a day can meet your body's needs. If taken in excess, it may cause diarrhea, bleeding gums, and even accelerate the formation of kidney stones and cause diseases of the heart's circulatory system.

A large amount of vitamin C can reduce the amount of copper in the blood and reduce the number of blood cells; pregnant women supplement too much, and the fetus is prone to scurvy after birth. Internship Editor: Gan Yi