Tuesday, August 28, 2007

VItamins, Is It REALLY Safe To Be Consumed?

You know and have been told (by whom, I don't really care...) that vitamins are good for your health. Daily consumption of vitamins may increase your body immune, strengthen your muscle and bones, keep your eyes healthy, etc. Many people, maybe you too, have spent a lot of money buying various kinds of vitamins and health products, usually those which are well advertised in TV, radio or newspaper. They do such thing just for one simple reason: to keep their body healthy. Children too are given a lot of multivitamins by their parents, because they want their children to grow healthily.

Vitamins are also good for those whose diets are low on fruits and vegetables. They can act as the provider of nutrients that actually can be obtained from fruits and vegetables. For example, people who don't really like to eat orange can take the vitamin which contains Vitamin C that suits their daily need of Vitamin C.

Recently, some media in European countries claimed that vitamins may instead shorten your lifespan. This may be true, since you can't be 100% sure that a vitamin is safe. There are no uniform manufacturing rules for vitamins and supplements, thus a vitamin may not contain the nutrients written on the bottle. Also, the vitamin may have been contaminated with other substance that may be poisonous or, in a better word, bad for our health. They also claimed that the price of a vitamin doesn't guarantee the quality of it, since the expensive ones can still be contaminated by other substances such as lead. Well. I must say that this is true. If the more expensive is contaminated whereas the less expensive isn't, then it means that the cheaper one is better, right?

However, this doesn't mean that ALL vitamins are bad for health. What the paper claimed may not be true. There are vitamins that are cynically proved to be a good vitamin and it must have already passed the lab test. To be noted, the paper didn't write about the people who managed to overcome their diseases by taking various vitamins. There are also cases in which vitamins reduced the risk of death which the media didn't include in the published newspaper.

Therefore, I think it isn't recommendable to trust whatever the media says. I personally think that vitamins that are produced and sold for us are healthy to be consumed despite what the media said. I believe that during the process of production, scientists must have already tested it to determine whether it is safe for the public or not. So, don't worry about it anymore and feel free to consume your vitamins! (This doesn't mean that you can take more than the recommended dose, you know...)


Monday, August 13, 2007

Milk... Between High Cost and Healthy Life...



Milk is an essential part of our life. It has a lot of protein and minerals (and of course, fat...) that can make someone healthy. For children, milk is very important. It helps building strong bone and teeth, and in so doing, makes a person taller and stronger. It can also be used as an energy source beside food that we eat. Parents should give their children milk to drink if they want their children to be strong and healthy.

How if suddenly milk become very expensive? This happens now in the USA. The price of milk increases greatly, reaching $3.80 per gallon! This is a bad news, as most of the schools have healthy meal programs, which include milk inside. Also, it may affect the dairy products that contain milk, as the producers themselves will have to spend more money. If milk becomes more and more expensive, then how are the children going to have it? And, if they can’t have it, then what will happen to them in the future?

The most likely reason for this is that the supply of milk is running down, while the demands are increasing fast. Why is the supply running down? In Australia, it is because of the drought. Many cows die because they don’t drink enough water, or perhaps can’t stand the heat of Australia.

Still, people believe that it is better to spend more money to buy milk for their children rather than giving them soda. I do think the same, because I know that children must be given the best nutrition they can get during their young ages, so that they can grow up healthily and become a healthy adult later on.

For now, all we can do is just pay the price and give them milk everyday, as they also need to grow healthily. Bear in mind that you can buy the milk, but you can’t buy the health of your children. That’s why I think we should just pay the price and stop complaining. After all, children are much more important than our money, because they are the future leaders. They must be healthy and strong to lead in the future. There is no such thing as a weak and unhealthy leader, I guess. The least we can do is not to waste the milk we have in our home. We need to think those who can’t afford to give their children milk to drink. At least appreciate that. Remember, money can’t buy someone’s health, so please don’t waste the milk, or you might face a very serious trouble, I guess...