Are you getting enough?
It seems like every day we are bombarded with messages about how getting your 5 a day is vastly important and how it can be detrimental to your health. But do any of us actually know why it is so detrimental not to get your recommended intake of fruit and vegetables?
Everyone has heard of Vitamin E and knows why it is so important to the body, how it is needed to protect the skin and that it can help slow down the aging process. But do many people know it can have other benefits to the body?
Recent research has shown that so called ‘bad’ cholesterol can cause blockages in coronary arteries which may lead to atherosclerosis and heart attacks. It has been suggested that Vitamin E can help delay or even prevent this by limiting the oxidation of the ‘bad’ cholesterol.
There is also believed to be some link between an increase in Vitamin E and a decrease in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. A high intake of Vitamin E is also found to reduce the possibility of developing cataracts.
With so much evidence to show that Vitamin E has so many beneficial qualities for us it is perhaps not surprising that doctors are trying to get us to increase our intake and that there are so many supplements out there.
What maybe surprising however is the fact that a recent study showed that the intake of Vitamin E by women aged between 19 and 50 averaged as less than 90% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). The same study showed that men within the same age group averaged out at closer to 100% RDA. When you consider that the RDA is the minimal requirement your body needs and any less means your body is in deficiency this is a scary thought.
There are often debates about whether we should be getting our intakes from the food we eat alone or whether it is okay to take supplements. But even the most hardened detractor of supplements will agree on this one we need as much as we can get.
You can take a look atthe healthy food storeHolland and Barrett today for all your health supplements.
