Bring Health Home - Green Shopping Guide

Author: Shan Zhonglei / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-07-01
Features: The eighth chapter is dedicated to paying for health—do not overly (believe in) health supplements when selecting health products. Since the reform and opening up, with the gradual improvement of people's living standards, health concepts have also undergone certain transformations. Professor Li Youhui of the Food Hygiene Supervision and Inspection Institute of the Ministry of Health pointed out that health has gradually become a hot topic of concern, and nutritional health supplements have thus become increasingly popular among people. However, with a wide variety of health supplements flooding the market and related advertisements seizing various media, an unprecedented health supplement frenzy has emerged. For a time, health supplements seemed to have become an essential part of modern life. Children need to be smart, the elderly want to live long, men fear sexual decline, women need beauty and weight loss, and everyone worries about suddenly developing cancer or cardiovascular diseases.
Experts believe that some specific individuals, due to high stress or physical discomfort, must rely on health supplements to make up for deficiencies. For example, some pregnant women may lack appetite due to nausea and must depend on vitamins and other health supplements to provide sufficient nutrition for themselves and their fetuses. Similarly, elderly patients, children, and certain frail individuals also require health supplements as support, as they need more specific nutrients than the average person to maintain internal nutritional balance and recover health. However, some advertisements raise doubts: Are health supplements truly as miraculous as some manufacturers claim, or at least capable of providing enough nutrition to protect us from illness and live a healthy life?
What are health supplements?
Health supplements, also known as health foods, refer to foods that can regulate human physiological functions and have specific health benefits, suitable only for certain populations and not intended for medical treatment. The foundation of Chinese health supplements lies in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) (health preservation theory); their content includes tonic and therapeutic foods based on the principle of (medicinal and edible foods share the same origin), such as natural herbal topical products and non-pharmacological therapy tools; and their mechanism of action involves balancing Yin and Yang through the five flavors nourishing the five qi, or promoting blood circulation, harmonizing qi and blood, tonifying internal organs, and strengthening the body's foundation. They embody the highest principle of TCM, “” (treating disease before it manifests), represent the highest realm of medical practice, ， (using food to calm diseases, prioritizing dietary therapy), ， (understanding the cause and treating it with food), and ， (if dietary therapy fails, then prescribe medicine). This reflects humanity's awakening and (return to nature's health trend).
In recent years, health foods have become very popular abroad. Americans with minor ailments often prefer to buy health supplements made from traditional Chinese herbs instead of visiting hospitals for medicine. Regarding health supplements developed from traditional Chinese herbs, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) adopts a policy of merely requiring a "statement" to allow them to be sold on the market. The Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture has also proposed a health system based on health foods from a preventive medicine perspective. Therefore, Chinese health supplements must be rooted in the soil of traditional Chinese medicine, and the Chinese health industry must develop along its own unique path. Only in this way can we inherit the profound culture of traditional Chinese medicine, maintain our heritage, promote the essence of our nation, ensure authenticity, and preserve its vitality, making it an international asset and a shared health wealth for humanity.
Classification of health supplements
Generally, health supplements can be classified based on their composition and functions.
Nutritional health supplements
This category of health supplements contains one or more nutrients that the human body is prone to lacking, such as vitamins, amino acids, trace elements, or special nutrients. These nutritional health supplements can specifically replenish the nutrients the body lacks, replenish energy, restore normal physiological functions, and prevent or treat diseases caused by deficiencies in certain nutrients. For example: royal jelly products (freeze-dried royal jelly, oral liquid royal jelly), compound amino acid oral liquid, and Mega Calcium (L-tartaric acid calcium).
TCM-based health supplements
Guided by the principles of TCM theory, these health supplements are formulated by appropriately adding corresponding traditional Chinese medicines or their extracts based on their functions and application scope, such as health supplements for lowering blood lipids or enhancing heart muscle function. These health supplements have obvious physiological activity and provide good health preservation effects for the frail and middle-aged and elderly populations. They should generally be taken under the guidance of a doctor to ensure targeted health preservation, personalized and time-specific care, and to avoid unnecessary adverse reactions. Long-term use of such health supplements may sometimes lead to certain dependencies on the body.
Probiotic health supplements
Probiotic health supplements contain one or more beneficial bacteria that support the body. By supplementing beneficial bacteria in the body, they inhibit harmful bacteria, prevent infectious diseases, and degrade various toxins and waste products in the body. Beneficial bacteria can also synthesize vitamins and other nutrients, aiding in replenishing the body's nutrition and preventing various chronic and elderly diseases. These health supplements are relatively expensive and have strict requirements for the purity, quantity, and effective shelf life of live bacteria, as well as for storage conditions. If quality standards are not met, they may cause allergic reactions or other adverse effects. For example: Bifid Triple Viable Capsules, also known as (Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium longum in a properly combined live probiotic preparation).
Comprehensive health supplements
These health supplements integrate nutritional components, TCM active ingredients, and probiotic components. Due to their comprehensive composition, they have the function of comprehensively regulating the body's ecological balance and hold good development and application prospects. For example: Bifid Tianbao, a combination of three strains (Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, and Lactobacillus) and TCM herbs (goji berries, coix seed, sour jujube seeds, and licorice).
Other types of health supplements
Health supplements derived from active ingredients extracted from animals such as tortoises, turtles, snakes, ants, and insects are classified as other types. These health supplements are rich in nutrients and have unique active components, offering significant health benefits for specific populations. For example: Longliqi Pure Snake Powder, Taishang Oral Liquid (snake extract), Ant Powder Capsules, and Zhonghua Turtle Essence.
How effective are health supplements?
With so many types of health supplements and such a wide range of functions, how effective are they? Let's take brain health supplements as an example. Experts reveal that currently popular "brain health supplements" on the market can generally be categorized into the following types: unsaturated fatty acids (i.e., "deep-sea fish oil"), brain nutrition supplements (phosphatidylcholine, cephalin), enhancers of cerebral cortex excitability, and promoters of cerebral blood circulation. Some health supplements, such as various types of deep-sea fish oil, are the most fashionable brain health supplements today, rumored to enhance intelligence, prevent Alzheimer's disease, and even prolong life. In reality, the main component of all such products is unsaturated fatty acids. In fact, the vast majority of fish oil preparations contain unsaturated fatty acids, and they are not unique to deep-sea fish oil. Research has found that unsaturated fatty acids play a beneficial role in the development of brain cells and the growth of neural axons, primarily by promoting the brain development of children under two years old. As for whether unsaturated fatty acids can rapidly enhance the thinking ability of middle school students through oral administration, this is still open for further discussion. Moreover, the human body's absorption and utilization of unsaturated fatty acids is a relatively complex process, requiring interaction with sugar, protein, and vitamins. This is why many people feel that they see little effect after taking them. Excessive consumption of fish oil preparations may also lead to gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Various vitamins, trace elements, as well as phosphatidylcholine and cephalin, are essential nutrients for brain activity. As a result, brain health supplements primarily composed of composite nutrients have emerged. These products are mostly marketed as health foods. Although advertisements claim that these products are rich in such comprehensive nutrients, users have not experienced the (miraculous effects) advertised. What is the reason? In fact, these nutrients can be fully obtained through a balanced diet. As long as food structures are reasonably matched and scientific dietary habits are formed, the brain's nutritional needs can be met without relying on "external immigrants." Scientific research has proven that if a person consumes a variety of foods in their three daily meals, obtaining balanced nutrition, they fundamentally do not need to take health supplements. If our three meals strictly follow the guidelines of the food pyramid, we need not worry about nutritional deficiencies or the need for health supplements as support. According to the principles of the food pyramid, we should consume energy-rich staple foods such as rice, bread, noodles, and potatoes, followed by vegetables and fruits, then milk, protein, and meat, and finally salt and oil. Many people, due to lack of time for regular meals, resort to vitamin pills or nutritional tablets, as well as unknown juices and powders, mistakenly believing that these health supplements are sufficient to provide the body with the necessary nutrition. This is a very incorrect concept. As a nutritionist once said: "Regular meals cannot be replaced, and health supplements are merely supplements to meals." To maintain health, it is essential to make time to eat nutritious foods.
Nutritional experts from the Chinese Nutrition Society believe that nutritional drugs are only suitable for special populations. If healthy people consume them without discrimination and exceed the safe range of trace nutrients, they may instead threaten their health. Safe eating and appropriate exercise are the fundamental measures to ensure health. For example, excessive calcium supplementation beyond the solubility capacity of the blood may deposit in other tissues of the body. If it deposits in joints, it may cause joint pain; if it deposits in muscles, it may form hard nodules; if it deposits in the heart, it may cause conduction disorders, leading to arrhythmia. Excessive vitamin supplementation will damage the liver, and for pregnant women, it may cause congenital defects in infants. Therefore, when taking health supplements, we must clearly understand why we are taking them, what type of health supplement it is, when to take it, and for how long. P437-441