Why do we need nutritional supplements?
In order to tackle this question we might need first so answer why do we need to worry about nutrition.
Our founder, Dr. Myron Wentz said "we are living to short and dying to long". Medicine has made tremendous progress on helping us to fight infections but there are significant challenges related to chronic, degenerative disease that affects the quality of life from millions of people for a number of years and cause 66% of deaths.
Almost 70% of the Healthcare Dollars spent in the US are spent in the elderly growing from 10k per year when 65 to more than 20k when 85 or more. These are old figures, before inflation.
The thing is that these conditions are preventable through diet and lifestyle modifications. The following chart shows more detail on the causes:
A study done by the council of responsible nutrition evaluated how supplements can be used as interventions to reduce the risk related to these chronic conditions.
For example, the role of Calcium, Vitamin D and Magnesium supplementation can play a role in improving bone density and reduce the incidence rate of medical events related to osteoporsis in up to 18%.
The Standard American diet is not enough to provide all the different nutrients our bodies need. This translates on a number of defficiencies in the US population with Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, Magnesium and Zinc at the top of the list.
Nutrition research done by universities, government organizations and USANA Health Sciences has concluded that the recommended dietary amounts are just not enough. They were developed largely during World War II to prevent diseases like scurvy in soldiers and were necessary for survival but far from what we need for optimal health.
Take Vitamin C. The following chart shows the amount of vitamin C you will need beyond the RDA so your body works at optimal levels.
Optimal dose of Vitamin C is 1,000 milligrams rather than the 125 milligrams in the RDA.
The problem is how you get that vitamin C from diet alone. You would need 10 glasses or orange juice whcih is 230 grams of sugar and more than a thousand calories.
Now let's talk about vitamin E, where the RDA recommendation is 28.5 IU but the optimal one is 200 IU. You would need 1.5 pounds of almonds or 4,479 calories.
On Vitamin D, the RDA is between 400-800 IU but the optimal is vitamin D is 4,000 IU. More and more people don't get their sun we need or even when we are out, we block it with sunblock to avoid skin damage. You will need 34 glasses of milk to get to that level.
These are just three of the vitamins you need. Your body requires multiple nutrients to work at its best. USANA Cellsentials goes beyond the RDA and provides you with a great foundation. Then we have a line of optimizers to satisfy very specific nutritional needs you might have so you live to the fullest...
Don't die too long!!