Yet More "Stupid" Questions

NancyLebovitz

This is a thread where people can ask questions that they would ordinarily feel embarrassed for not knowing the answer to. The previous "stupid" questions thread is at almost 500 questions in about a month, so I think it's time for a new one.

Also, I have a new "stupid" question.

But what if you could obtain the nutrients available in vegetables through other means?

Doesn't have the same effect. There was a study where they gave one group Vitamin C & one group ate oranges. The group that got the Vitamin C had no change in Antioxidant activity; only the orange-eating group saw the benefit. Probably there are some other factors involved that we just haven't figured out yet. Eventually maybe reductionism will solve this one, but it hasn't yet.

Here's an article about the study in case I remembered incorrectly: http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070416/full/news070416-15.html

1Ishaan13y

It would depend on what other means are. I'm guessing you're thinking along the lines of supplements and artificial meals? There's still stuff like ratio, absorption, bio-availability, and physical stuff (fiber, etc) to think about. It's not all about getting the nutrients. We don't really know all the nutrients. The line between "nutrient" and "medication" gets a bit blurred, right? Plant based anti-inflammatory compounds aren't nutrients in that they aren't part of your metabolic chemical reactions, nor will you die without them, but they are still good for you and can stave of disease. "Medication' isn't necessarily the right word, but i don't know if we have a word for that. I'm sure that something could be equal or superior, I'm just not sure whether or not anything we currently have is equal or superior.

0Richard_Kennaway13y

It would not change the fact that you can get those nutrients from vegetables.