It turns out that Mom was right when she said to eat your vegetables, says an American researcher and economist.
Allen Dobson of the Lewin Group recently finished a study to find four dietary supplements that definitely help human health. He told a Saskatoon conference organized by Ag-West Bio Inc. that the health system could save money if more people ate the nutrients that appear to work.
He said it is ironic that in the United States, which is the richest country in the world, the typical diet doesn’t supply enough vitamins and minerals. And with the increasing rates of obesity, cancer and diabetes, people are looking to nutritional supplements as a quick fix to potential problems.
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
Dobson said the strongest case can be made for folic acid. Women intending to become pregnant should take in enough of this vitamin to prevent spina bifida and other neural tube defects in babies. Taking folic acid after a woman discovers she is pregnant is too late, Dobson said, because fetal nerve tissue is formed in the first month. Folate is found in green leafy vegetables, fruit such as bananas and oranges, beans and fortified breakfast cereals and flours.
Dobson calculated that proper levels of folic acid would prevent 600 cases of defective babies in the U.S. per year and save the health system $319 million US a year. The problem is that women aren’t aware of it.
“Take-up is the issue. This is huge and we’re just not doing it as a society.”
Another compelling case can be made for calcium and vitamin D found in milk and dairy products and their role in reducing bone loss among older women.
Dobson said broken hips can have long-term consequences. They can be pinned together but quality of life issues exist afterward for many patients.
As well, setting the bone and rehabilitation cost the American health system $38,000 per person. He said $13.2 billion can be saved over five years if hip fractures are prevented in the U.S. population.
Dobson also cited the case for lutein, an antioxidant found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale. It protects the eye from stress and light and appears to be the only way to prevent age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness in seniors.
Omega 3, which helps heart health, is another good nutrient. Dobson said the U.S. has been slower than Canada to acknowledge the importance of this fatty acid found in fish and flax.
Whether people eat these vitamins as part of their food or consume them as pill supplements, Dobson said the problem is convincing people it is worth doing.
“Even I just came to the omega 3 issue two years ago.”
Dobson said the lifestyle issue is more complex than diet. It also means exercise, fresh air and relieving stress.
In a related speech at the May 1-2 conference, Diane Finegood of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research said people need to relearn lessons about nutrition and portion sizes. The prevalence of fast food with buried unhealthy ingredients, such as excess fat and sugar, is another part of the problem.
She said diabetes is increasing and within 20 years it will likely be the No. 1 killer in North America, surpassing heart disease and cancer. She said the link between obesity and type 2 diabetes is the same as tobacco to lung cancer.
Finegood said people should be aware of how the food industry is dealing with peoples’ concerns about weight gain. It is introducing products perceived to be healthier and emphasizes physical inactivity rather than diet as the main cause of obesity.
As well, she said, the food industry blames the individual for choosing bad food, while at the same time arguing that government should not legislate nutrition but allow people personal freedom to choose food.
Finegood noted that peoples’ search for better health can create food trends and that functional food carries higher prices and greater margins, which encourages companies to enter this niche market.
However, if the best food is costly, that might create even more health disparities between the people who can afford it and those who can’t.
Finegood also said contradictory research about food can lead people astray, so there needs to be a reliable standard of evidence to ensure health claims are truthful and useful.
