Preventative health care the way to go

THE best way to beat the rising cost of health care, especially now with our economy in a recession, is to invest in your health to prevent illness.

A trend towards better health care as a preventive measure is reflected in South Africa’s burgeoning vitamins and supplements market, which grew at a compound annual rate of 13.5% from 2014 to 2016 – during a time when the country’s economy was limping along at a GDP growth rate of just 1-2%.

“This shows that South Africans are serious about their health,” says Bruce Dennison president of the Health Products Association of South Africa (HPASA), which champions quality standards in an industry that was worth R3.8 billion last year.

Andrea du Plessis, nutritional expert at Vital Health Foods, says that your first focus should be on your diet, to work out if you’re ingesting enough of any specific vitamin or mineral.

“Many South Africans follow diets that lack vitamin A, zinc and iron,” she says. “Vitamin A, which is found in carrots, sweet potatoes and beef liver, is crucial for maintaining eye health and vision, for healthy embryonic development, and for the maintenance of the immune system. Zinc and iron, which are needed for essential bodily functions, are deficient in the diets of many South Africans. Zinc plays a vital role in immune support, helping the body to fight infections and is found in foods such as oysters, mussels and pumpkin seeds. Iron is responsible for carrying oxygen to the body’s tissues and is found mostly in red meat and dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach.

“Stress, lack of sleep, drinking alcohol and smoking all contribute to the depletion of nutrients in the body. The use of any medicines, ranging from painkillers, to oral contraceptives, antidepressants, cholesterol and blood pressure medication, antiinflammatories and cold and flu medicines further deplete nutrients through reduced nutrient absorption and increased excretion,” Du Plessis adds.

If your diet is lacking in any vital nutrients, you may consider supplementing it with additional vitamins or minerals.

Please be aware that taking a supplement will not solve major health issues. You need to visit your local general practitioner if you suffer from any serious symptoms.