Why do nutrients need long-term supplementation?

The core reason is actually very simple - the human body cannot synthesize most essential nutrients independently, and the body's metabolic consumption is uninterrupted 24 hours a day. A single or periodic supplement cannot support long-term physiological needs.

I once met a man who ran a marathon. His daily diet was actually healthier than most people. He only had vegetables and meat every day and rarely ate takeout. The result of his physical examination was that he was deficient in vitamins D and B complex. He himself wondered why he was deficient. Later he realized that he applied 50 times the amount of sunscreen every time he trained, and his skin was not suitable for it at all. Vitamin D, plus the consumption of B group during each long-distance training is 2-3 times that of ordinary people. The intake from eating alone is just enough for basal metabolism. After two months of supplementation, the indicator just went up, and after three months of stopping, it fell back again. This is because consumption occurs every day, and it will not stop just because you have supplemented enough before.

Of course, the controversy about nutrient supplements has never stopped. Many people say that "you don't need to take extra supplements if you eat well." This statement is actually completely valid in theory - if you can really meet the standards of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents": one pound of vegetables and half a pound of fruits every day, cereals and potatoes account for one-third of the staple food, eat enough aquatic products and 300ml of milk twice a week, have a regular work and rest schedule and don't stay up late without any mental stress, then you really don't need to take additional supplements. But if you look down at the takeaway on your table and think about working until 2 o'clock for three consecutive days last week, you will know how difficult it is for ordinary people to achieve this ideal state. My friends who do dietary research said that they counted the dietary records of more than 200 office workers last year and found that less than 5% met the standard nutrient intake standards. Either they did not eat enough vegetables and lacked vitamins C and B, or they rarely basked in the sun and lacked vitamin D, or they ate fine rice and noodles all year round and lacked dietary fiber.

Some people also go to the other extreme and think that the more supplements the better, and they think that taking seven or eight kinds of supplements at once is not right. Especially fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K will be stored in the liver. Excessive supplementation will lead to the risk of poisoning. The prerequisite for supplementation is that you really have a gap, and it must follow your consumption for a long time. It is not a once and for all thing.

To put it bluntly, it's like watering the green plants at home. You can't say that you watered a big bucket this month and ignored it for the next three months. It transpires water and grows new leaves every day. Of course, it must be replenished regularly according to the weather and soil conditions. If you water too much, the roots will rot, and if you water too little, the leaves will dry out. This is the same as supplementing nutrients.

I used to suffer from oral ulcers all the time. When I remembered, I took B-complex pills and stopped when I felt better. I tried again and again for more than half a year. Later, I insisted on taking half a tablet of B-complex pills every day and two meals of brown rice a week. I haven’t had it again in the past six months. To put it bluntly, the supplements I took before could not keep up with the consumption and the pace.

In fact, there is no unified answer to whether or not to supplement for a long time and how much to supplement. The core thing is whether what you eat every day is enough for your daily consumption. Don’t idolize supplements, and don’t think that nutritional gaps can be filled in just three to five days.