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Vitamins and mineral supplements

It is easy to find vitamins and mineral supplements that provide 100% of required daily intake. Do they really provide everything that our body needs? Can I just add empty calories, have two pills a day and be done?

I am not advocating this as a solution, but just trying to find out how this works. For example, can we just have 2 pounds of rice (for calories) a day with the required vitamins & minerals, or do we actually need normal food for the absorption to work?
 

Scipio

Well-known member
Location
San Diego
There is a lot more to a good diet than just calories and vitamins. A balanced diet of proper food also provides a lot of other things such as micronutrients, healthy fats, fiber, and especially protein. You need all this stuff to stay in good health. You could probably limp along for a long time on a diet of rice + vitamins & minerals, but your health would be slowly declining the whole time.
 
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kiny

Well-known member
can we just have 2 pounds of rice (for calories) a day with the required vitamins & minerals
You wouldn't get the needed proteins that way. Rice is an excellent source of energy that has kept half the world from starving, it just won't cover your protein needs.

needs

-carbohydrates (gets turned into blood glucose, fuel for cells)
-proteins (immune function, tissue repair, enzymes, hormonal)
-micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)

60% carbs, 25% protein, 15% fats would be a normal diet, around the world.

The idea that we need to consume fats is more complex. The body seems horrible at absorbing fats, the first thing that elemental diets did was replace the LCT with MCT, humans don't seem to be designed to easily absorb fats. The only thing ketogenic diets seem to do is result in rapid weight loss and malabsorption issues in people, it indicates that people on those diets are lacking in energy needs and are unable to get it from the fat sources they consume.
 
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kiny

Well-known member
Sometimes people get upset that doctors don't recommend or support certain diets, that they don't value diets for crohn's.

I think that is not entirely due to the doctors themselves, but the fact that some diets that people advocate for crohn's are extreme diets that are severely lacking in energy needs.

SCD is an example of a diet that is severely lacking in energy needs, you can not simply remove staple foods and carb sources without resulting in weight loss in patients.

What is a doctor to say when a patient with crohn's disease, patients who often already have malabsorption issues and weight loss, says they won't consume carbs anymore. No doctor will support that decision, rightfully so.

But doctors do support diets in crohn's disease that do provide the needed nutrients, doctors support EN, low FODMAP (especially for IBS), since these diets are not lacking in nutrients.
 
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I feel like it is important though to keep a healthy diet especially since like it was said above a lot of us suffer from malabsorption and many other problems when it comes to our digestive systems. I have been through many doctors and many different diets as well as different medications. I have suffered from many problems with my digestive system, with chronic diarrhea and constipation, malnutrition ( I have been fed by tube or IV for some time in the past) and whatever you can imagine bad happening happened. After the doctors got the inflammation under control I went to a nutritionist and they devised a diet for me. I have been talking supplements as well as keeping a strict regiment regarding food. I like the complex by Life Extension. I find that they are one of the best for me personally and I feel a lot better and more energized after them. I hope you guys are doing well in these challenging times. Stay safe and healthy
 
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sounds good in theory, but not possible.
all the same, we must try to get vitamins and minerals with nutrition. then it is best to find out in which deficient zone you live (for example, those who do not feed on sea fish every day, like the Japanese, usually have iodine deficiency)
there are minerals that can and should be taken every day, such as magnesium
there are preparations that we see on the products page of stores with active forms of minerals and vitamins in courses to support the body.
but the diet should always come first !!
 
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