You Are What You Eat- Part 2

We've all been to the store and seen food packages loaded with health claims-- "high in fiber", "low in fat", "heart healthy." There is big money in these claims. Scientists are paid to research nutrition. When they make a "discovery" like, say, I don't know, that all fat isn't evil, and some, like omega 3 polyunsaturated fat, is good for you, food companies start churning out products that are "high in "omega 3s." And it doesn't matter what that food is. I have orange juice that Tropicana somehow got omega 3s into. The idea is that we can make any food-- even pop! -- good for us if we simply add certain nutrients to it. The problem, however, is that food is more than the sum of its parts.

Take beta-carotene for example. In carrots, beta-carotene is an incredibly healthful anti-oxidant. Thus, the logic was that if we could just put some beta-carotene in a pill and take it as a supplement, then we wouldn't have to do the dirty work of eating carrots or other beta-carotene rich food. But that logic was wrong. In fact not only did it not work, but taking B-C in supplement form could actually be bad for you. Why? Because for some unknown reason the body metabolizes B-C in a beneficial way when it comes from carrots or other foods, but not when it's taken alone. It could be something in the carrot, or it could be something even more complex like a combination of acids in the stomach and other things in the carrot.

Another great example is milk. When milk has fat removed from it, it loses its creamy milk texture, and in order to restore some of that texture, non-fat dry milk is added. However, non-fat dry milk contains oxidized cholesterol, which is actually worse for you than regular cholesterol. On top of that, milk contains fat-soluble vitamins which, needless to say, the body needs fat to properly digest. So removing the fat negates the purpose of drinking milk in the first place!