Biologically active food supplements in our life

  • 2010-02-24
  • By Irina Pantelejeva, Darja Kuznecova

PILLS, AND MORE PILLS: Supplements are an important part of any diet.

RIGA

Nutrition and health

Doctors always say that if your food isn’t healthy, then you are at risk for different diseases. Nutritionists assert that for men, food should contain more than 600 various substances. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford this.
In this case biologically active food supplements (BAFS) are concentrates of the natural substances, which are allocated from animal (including sea), mineral, vegetative fibers.

Food supplements, sometimes called vitamin supplements, are one of the most popular dietary supplements people consume these days. Many of us worry that we do not get enough vitamins from our diet, and then go for the pills.
Organic food supplements contain essential nutrients to maintain good health. They can regulate body metabolism, enhance mental clarity, improve the immune system, act as antioxidants to salvage free radicals and energy levels, reduce stress response and prevent vitamin deficiency diseases.

There are three BAFS categories:

•    Sodium - biologically active food supplements are applied to correct a chemical compound of food. It’s an additional source nutrient: fiber, amino acids, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, mineral substances.
•    Parapharmaceutics - substances which contain the basic extracts and the vegetable formulas (phytopreparations). They can be applied to preventive maintenance, auxiliary therapy and maintenance of functional activity of body systems.
•    Probiotics - live effective bacteria which restores natural micro flora of the body.

Biologically active food supplements are used for the following purposes:
   
•    For fast deficiency completion of biologically active substances which do not arrive in sufficient quantities. Their level can be lowered and can cause immunity system weakness. Often our body needs more amino acids, poly-nonsaturated fat acids, vitamins, macro cells and micro cells, food fibres, etc.
•    For resistibility increase of an organism. Using BAFS we can decrease damage of environment factors. For these purposes are generated phytogenesis products on the basis of ginseng ginger, pink rodiola and etc.
•    For preventive maintenance of infringement of metabolism processes. BAFS can be used also as chronic disease prophylactics.
•    For restoration of immunity system.
•    For deducting of toxins and radionuclides from organism

Two main principles of good and rational nourishment
The first principle is: You need to keep balance between food energetically asset and spent energy to physical and other exercises. It means that you need to follow what you eat, when you eat, and is it enough for your good condition. In many cases people overeat all the time. They also use junk food and alcohol. It can damage some functions of the organism and cause chronic diseases and pathologies. Many of us are overweight and have stress all the time. Pathologies of the organism are fixed in 60% of women and 50% of men. This is one of the main reasons for an increase of heart disease. Overeating can cause diabetes, stroke, hypertonic diseases, oncology and other atrocious diseases.

The second principle is: You should balance the good chemical complement of food.
In general, vitamins are abundant in fresh foods, such as fresh meat, legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. People who consume a healthy and balanced diet with a wide variety of fresh foods should have an adequate vitamin supply. However, in reality, many people do not consume a proper balanced diet. Improper food storage, food preparation and cooking practice can destroy some vitamins in food. Every day our organism needs well balanced chemical formula with different substances. It helps to regenerate our cells. The organism can function properly if it has certain amount of fibers, amino acids, micro elements, which arrive from food. Remember you should eat well-balanced and various foods to deliver those more than 600 various substances to the organism. If this principle goal is achieved we feel healthy and can fight disease, stresses and brain storms.

Whether we need vitamin supplements or not depends on our lifestyle. If we live a healthy life, with minimum exposure to radiation, toxic chemicals, pollution and eat a balanced diet of wide variety of fresh organic food, we may not require food supplements after all. However we are far from it. A good lifestyle is just a goal, that we try to reach.
        
Myths about BAFS
Every day we should choose between the prophylactics of overweight, controlling quantity of food or delivering necessary elements for organism proper function. Specialists in diets have solved this problem – biologically active food supplements.
There were no widespread food supplements in the middle of the 20th century. Today biologically active food supplements are very popular among people. In various countries BAFS are used by half the population. We will make some clarifications about the most popular and widespread BAFS myths.

Myth 1 You can eat whatever you want, because a biologically active food supplement will deliver all the necessary elements to your organism.
Actually you can use BAFS and bring all necessary elements to your organism, but only if you don’t eat junk food all the time. Biologically active food supplements will take effect only in addition to normal food. So don’t forget about well balanced food.

Myth 2 All BAFS are made on the basis of natural components. All of us want to believe that biologically active food supplements are generated only from natural ingredients. In practice only some of them are really made from natural ingredients. Others have synthetic basis and structurally are similar to natural. So you can not cause damage to the organism by using BAFS. It is not recommended to use BAFS without need.

Myth 3 It is better to use multivitamin BAFS complexes. It would be great if one pill could solve all our health problems and deliver amino acids, microelements and other useful elements to organism. In fact multivitamin complexes are less effective. Acting together the main necessary elements lose its good features. Everybody has their own deficit microelements, which need to be refreshed.
It is recommended to ask advice from a doctor before using BAFS; because only specialists can know what elements should be refreshed.

The effectiveness of using BAFS is a very relative question. Many specialists think very sceptically about BAFS, but some of them make conferences to prove its effectiveness. Remember that biologically active food supplements can not be a treatment for all diseases. It’s only an additive to our food.

Article compiled with material from http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/