Comments on: The ABCs of Vitamins

By: Bill Coughlin

Bill Coughlin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:45:34 +0000

What we feed our bodies feeds our eyes. Many of the vitamins and minerals in our bodies are found in much higher concentrations in our eyes, so a diet lacking in these vitamins and minerals can lead to vision problems as we grow older.

By: sami

sami — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:05:03 +0000

Anyone interestd should read Dr. Campbell’s, The China Study. He does an excellent on explaining why “reduction” of vitamins/minerals is not sufficient and why eating the whole plant based food is more beneficial. There is a huge kick now on acai berry and there are now a ton of supplements out there, what ever happened to just eating the fruit? The China Study is an awesome, eye opening book that should be mandatory reading for all kids in school.

By: Meg Wolff

Meg Wolff — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:17:11 +0000

Latham,
Thanks for a great article. I’m sharing this one on FB and twitter. Most of all with a good friend whose kids get a hard time at school from the teachers and cafeteria people.

By: Francisco

Francisco — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:45:07 +0000

The thing about the B12. Yes, animal sources is where you can get B12; however, that is not the only way. There are many vegan foods that are fortified with B12 like fortified soy milk and cereals. There are also B12 patches, B12 pills. B12 can be on plants but the problem is because we wash our foods from bacteria and some of that bacteria is B12. So if you’re vegan and wondering where to get your B12 sources, just eat foods that are fortified with it, sprinkle nutritional yeast, wear the B12 patches or just take a B12 vitamin pill. You’ll be living at large and being a healthy, green, sexy, goddess or god!

By: Gianna

Gianna — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:33:22 +0000

In general, I strongly agree with your recommendations to eat whole, healthful foods rather than rely on supplements to supply one’s vitamins, and I especially agree with doing this rather than continuing to eat the “typical” American diet and believing all will be well if you simply take a few vitamin pills every day. However, I’m not sure that you’re telling the whole story: Supplements can be essential to maintaining good health, particularly if you’ve tested as deficient in particular vitamins. For example, getting outside in the sun to get your vitamin D is great – except that in latitudes north of New York City, in the U.S., sunlight alone is not adequate from October until May to provide enough Vitamin D. Also, if one doesn’t have the means to buy organically or locally grown foods, simply eating whole foods may not suffice – over the past several decades, the way most of America farms has depleted the nutrients in the soil that lead to nutrient and vitamin rich foods, and thus, the produce that most of America eats is likely sorely lacking in necessary vitamins and nutrients. Sad, but apparently true.

By: lynda

lynda — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:13:57 +0000

Great information, thanks. I think it may be worth while to spend time talking about the B vitamins in more depth, in particular B12. Especially to a forum like this that caters to vegans, no plant foods can be relied upon as a significant source of B12. Animal foods are the where we will find B12, meat, dairy and eggs.

By: Kat Ruyle

Kat Ruyle — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:57:31 +0000

Wow! GREAT piece. It’s funny how people ‘think’ that simply taking vitamins and supplements along with their standard american diets constitutes health…um, no! Why not EAT an orange for the vitamin C? If they single that vitamin out of the orange, and then pill-form it, well, how do they know HOW that single vitamin within the orange works with the OTHER parts of the orange- how do they know that THAT’S not the magic, and not just the vitamin itself? I wish more people understood the value of eating ‘real’ foods rather than popping supplements, really. You got my brain going this morning! Thank you!
~Kat