Vitamins: Natural Medicine By Betty Weider
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 Q: Do we really need vitamins? Traditionalists claim we get all the nutrition we need from basic foods.
A: This might be so if we were living in a natural environment. But food processing certainly diminishes necessary nutrients in our food, and pollutants put an unnatural stress on our bodies.
Government sanctioned RDAs were designed to ensure that our population in general would get nutrition enough to avoid serious nutritional deficiencies. The RDAs are minimum requirements. But it may be that such requirements are inadequate for the bodybuilder who places exceptional demands on the body and also for the nonbodybuilder who would like his or her health to be more than just adequate.
The great vitamin debate goes on. Some people who take vitamin supplements believe the medical establishment is better at fixing things that break down than keeping them in good working order in the first place, that preventive medicine still has a long way to go. They say that doctors are trained to treat problems that can best be attacked directly. Surely medical treatment helps save and preserve life. But so does nutritional therapy, claim the nutritionists, although it does so in a roundabout way. Specific health problems are benefited by nutrition that first benefits the entire organism.
Six out of 10 of the leading causes of premature death in this country are related to poor diet. There is sufficient evidence that vitamins make your bodybuilding training easier. If the so-called authoritative sources offer dim hope for vitamin supplementation, then it's up to you to determine what you put into your body to help in areas where you suspect you might be weak.
Vitamins make our food work in us. We need proteins, carbohydrates and fats, but we also need the proper balance of micronutrients, the vitamins and minerals that catalyze and chaperon the body's molecular interactions.
How to avoid nutritional deficiency? First of all, eat a proper balance of basic foods: lean meats, fish, dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. Take into consideration the drains on your body from coffee and alcohol (B vitamins), smoking (Vitamin C), air pollution (vitamins A, C and E), stress (vitamins B and C), birth control pills (B vitamins), and strenuous exercise, which demands more than the minimum requirements of nutrients. How much to take still remains up to you. It depends on your lifestyle.
One of the world's leading vitamin authorities, Roger J. Williams, PhD, DSc, in his book Physicians' Handbook of Nutritional Science, suggests a reasonably safe coverage in general, with amounts greater than the RDAs, and in addition to what you eat, in the accompanying table.
Source: Muscle & Fitness Magazine
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