Nutritional Supplement Therapy

Nutritional supplement therapy is the use of nutritional or what others termed as food supplements, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes,to treat physical and psychological problems. Although taking nutritional supplements are of fairly recent origin, the theory that certain foods can cure diseases goes back to olden times.

Casimir Funk, a Polish biochemist, coined the term vitamin. For many years, the disease called beriberi had puzzled scientists. Beriberi was common among rice-eating population in the Orient, but the odd thing was that beriberi had not always been a problem. Funk discovered that beriberi only came into the picture after people eat polished rice, and he proved that a substance in rice polishings-the part that is discarded when rice is polished-would prevent the disease. He named this substance vitamin from the words vita meaning life and amine meaning a nitrogen compound.

Later during the age of discovery, scientists had discovered a whole host of other vitamins. Thirteen vitamins are considered essential. They are : carotene (vitamin A), thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid, pyridoxine (vitamin B6), biotin, folic acid, vitamin B12, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. All but two of these vitamins are synthesized by plants and will be present in a diet of vegetables, fruits, and unrefined carbohydrates. Vitamin D is actually a hormone that requires sunlight to be synthesized in the skin. Vitamin B12 is synthesized by microorganisms.

For therapeutic purposes, nutritional supplements are generally taken in doses exceeding the recommended daily allowances (RDA’s). But as some nutritional supplements can build up to toxic levels in the body if taken in excessive amounts, do not undertake to cure yourself of specific conditions without first checking with your healthcare practitioner. He or she can tell you whether the supplements you propose to take are likely to help and, more importantly, whether they might do you any harm.