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Hospital admissions for lack of vitamins soaring in England, NHS figures show
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
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The issues with multivitamins are well documented.
Binding agents to make the pills easier to manufacture, make them harder to digest
Protective shells so they last longer, means you can't digest them as well
Sugar mixtures to make them more appealing, such as gummies, can prevent you from digesting vitamins correctly
Over the counter pills only help somewhat, my grandmother had calcium pills to help with her weaking bones, but in the end had to have surgery as the pills she was on didn't digest and just accumulated in her stomach. Especially as you get older your digestive tract weakens.
I don't know what the solution is, perhaps having multivitamin drinks? But while we have "news stories" that are mostly scare stores, and no leadership with solutions, it's going to be hard.
The solution is a varied diet.
We need to be eating random things, not the same protein, carbs, and veggies that we know we like and buy on routine.
How much of the fruit and vegetable aisle do you actually purchase from? I think many of us get in a routine of buying the same things over and over because we know what we like or we're on autopilot from work burnout. But, for example, if instead of buying apples each week, we buy a different random fruit. Or, if the budget can stretch it, buy apples and a random fruit. Then our nutritional variety has just increased.
I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here because I myself like to buy the same things over and over. I like chicken, I like apples, I like the same granola I always get. But during each shop, I try to add at least something random that I don't normally get. A vegetable I don't normally cook with or tofu instead of chicken, whatever. We need variety.
There's also the talk of nutritional content reducing in supermarket goods as they're produced for profit. So growth speed and shelf appearance are prioritised, a way to combat that is to start growing some of your own. Obviously, this is highly dependent upon living situations, but even some herbs in a windowsill will help. Personally, I think vegetable gardeners are some of the most punk people out there, sustaining themselves, entertaining themselves, and learning new skills all for the price of a bag of dirt and some seeds. Be punk!
https://youtube.com/@growveg
That's pretty advanced level stuff. A lot of the issues in the article would be addressed by people working to cut down UPFs and eating more fruit and veg. I can't say I eat a wide variety of food but I've turned my health around in the last few years.
dunno if this is true in the UK but here in sweden it's not like we have much variety to pick from, we have maybe 10 kinds of vegetables of which 5 are actually reasonably priced.. nuts? yeah sure i'll just go buy some gold nuggets as well.
Thanks frazorth and Zombie for your full replies, I should have guessed that what was common to both your answers would be the idea of manufacturers prioritising profit through saleable appearance and ease of production rather than nutritional benefit. The world we have made for ourselves seems to have profit and unchecked greed at the root of every problem.
With such high hospital admissions it surely would be more economic if not basic good governance for the government itself to add key vitamins to the food supply in a digestible form in the way fluoride is added to tap water. I suppose there would be complaints of ulterior motives, maybe something added to calm the population. And to be fair the thought of pacification might pass through a politician's mind from time to time - with some historic attempts.