Today, I read a few articles by Raj Bapna. In one of his articles about health, he mentions, two times noble prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling's book "How to Live Longer and Feel Better" and its content about the daily intake of vitamins and minerals.
| Vitamins | Minerals |
| Vitamin C 1-18 g Vitamin E 800 IU Vitamin A 20,000-44,167 IU Vitamin K none Vitamin D 800 IU Thiamine, B1 50-100 mg Riboflavin, B2 50-100 mg Niacinamide, B3 300-600 mg Pyridoxine, B6 50-100 mg Cobalamin, B12 0.1-0.2 mg Folacin 400-800 mg Pantothenic acid 100-200 mg | Calcium 100 mg Iron 18 mg Iodine 0.15 mg Copper 1 mg Magnesium 25 mg Manganese 3 mg Zinc 15 mg Molybdenum 0.015 mg Chromium 0.015 mg Selenium 0.015 mg |
I don't know which all are the factors Dr. Pauling considered when he was preparing this list. I believe all these depends on the various environmental conditions and the physical capabilities of a person. If I and my thinner friend Abhishek take these stuffs in accurate amounts, I don't think we both will be equally benefited by it.
An alternate solution can be deciding a set of rules (probably using a software) which can take all the important variables required to calculate the amount of intake of vitamins and minerals per day to give an approximate result and then let them approach the accuracy through routine experiments, consultations and wide research. By doing so, they will not only remove the inconsistency among various individuals but can also get deeper into the matters related to health.
Let me tell you, even after considering all these issues there will be few things which you cant consider - heredity. As I have seen and experienced over the years, it plays a decisive role in deciding the health and overall structure of one's body. I can give you a very good example in me. I deny neither the fact that I am overweight nor that I am pretty energetic, fit, healthy and free from diseases. They do seem to be contrasting in nature, they definitely are. The explanation is where the heredity comes into the picture. Its not that I havn't tried dieting or exercising or running in the morning or playing. I have tried all of them, more or less consistently for a period of time. I have seen the changes too, but then they were not worth it. My entire family is like that - extremely energetic, somewhat in the fitter side, not having the regular diseases (irregular diseases are definitely there, but not to a large extent), healthy look but slightly overweight. So am I. That, in no way, should mean that we are not among fit and healthy people.
Luckily, today I went through one more article, this time published in Times Of India. Just check here. According to the research, the persons who has a BMI of 25-30 at the age of 40 has the more possibility of living longer. Well, I am not a great fan of the researches carried out like this (considering a bunch of people and coming to a conclusion), but astonished by the fact that this time it may be correct! As the article has rightly pointed out in the end, that shouldn't mean that one can put on a lots of weight (somewhere around that 26 mark, where I belong to [;)]) just to live a year longer. Anyway, "the link between physique and life expectancy is not clearly understood" (again rightly pointed out by the article). So, we shouldn't be too wary of the overweight factor till one stop feelling fit and healthy himself/herself.
I do agree that being overweight means having comparatively more physical trouble than an average person in real life, especially in the old age. But then, in no way it should mean that overweight people should be discarded when any day-to-day thing is considered. They may seem to be doing something lazily but it may be just an illusion. Personally, I have been in situations where me, being overweight, did matter to others where it didn't matter to me. Thats the only difference it really makes.
P.S. - This blogs doesn't intend to encourage those having overweight to increase it further. It doesn't even demeans them who are in the better side of it. This blog just aims to clear the conception in few people who think that the over-weight people have some serious health problems or they have come from some suoernatural world. It is also aimed at those persons who has a wrong notion that over-weight means over-eating. Beyond that, If I have written anything which hurts the sentiments of anyone, I would like to say that I was just sharing my views. And then, comments are always welcome...
