Would You Give Your Family Supplements?

There are three things in life we cannot escape:  

Death, Taxes..................................................... and the Direct Salesman! 

(Cymbals clang... "Thank you, Thank you! Yes, I love cheese...")

Honestly, if you're not an MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) distributor, you would have at least been approached by a stranger, friend or a relative who is one. Every company would claim that theirs is the miracle product, helps you lose weight, can cure all sorts of illnesses, beautify you from inside out, prevent dread diseases and etc etc etc. Some of the direct salespeople that have approached me and my family are from brands like Amway, Melilea, Cosway, Herbalife, Forever Living, Transfer Factor, Usana... to name a few. 

Although we have tried some, my husband is a stubborn skeptic while I sit on the fence on this matter. We have always maintained that as long as we eat a healthful and balanced diet, we should be doing alright. Right?

So I asked some friends of ours over dinner last night. They are mature parents with three kids. Straight away they gave a resounding "YES! Health supplements work!" The husband said that due to his less-than-healthy lifestyle when he was much younger, he should be stricken with some form of illnesses by now. But unlike some of his friends who are either sickly, unhealthy-looking, balding due to a lifestyle of excess, he claims that he is in good health (well, he is certainly healthy looking). He believes that if he were to stop taking these supplements, all illnesses would surface. His wife opined that our natural food is no better nowadays what with all the growth hormones injected into meat, pesticide-laced vegetables, chemical-ridden imported foods..etc. Plus, depending on how meticulous we are, vegetables also tend to lose their goodness during the course of preparation and cooking. Also, people tend to eat out a lot more due to work and convenience.  

Hmmm.....

Then, an article I came across got me wondering if we should perhaps balance our food intake with supplements after all. Check out Bizzarre Effects on Teens.

According to Dr Alice Prethima, she is seeing many cases of abnormalities in male and female teens due to the food chain and diet e.g. girls with too much hair where it shouldn't be and boys growing breasts (pic), a condition called gynecomastia. She further elaborated that we're eating too much meat and meat contain growth hormones previously injected into the animals. 

Besides that, bad oestrogens enter our bodies from:
a) Plastic materials e.g. fizzy bottled drinks
b) Polysterene containers when we pack food
c) Plastic bags/wrappers which are used to wrap food e.g. roti canai, curry, laksa...etc
d) Pesticides, insecticides and other bad oestrogenic substances in the environment.

It is a scary thought isn't it? That the food we take could potentially cause our sons to have breasts and daughters to be hairy.

Perhaps supplements aren't such a bad idea after all? Unless you're a farmer or you grow your own vegetables, it seems 'natural' foods nowadays aren't so natural: Meat with hormones, vegetables with pesticide, fish with mercury, dairy products with melamine...etc. I worry for our children!

What do you reckon?

More on:
Why Supplements are Good for You. 
Are Vitamins and Mineral Supplements Good for You? 
Safety of Herbal Supplements