In daily life, fruits should be an essential part of the daily diet, not something that is optional. For the general population, vitamin supplements can never, and should not, replace the daily fruits and vegetables needed.
For people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) within the normal range, body composition or other health indicators such as blood cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and bone density may be abnormal.
Myth 1: Being neither overweight nor underweight means no exercise is needed.
To determine if one is overweight or underweight, an estimation should be made based on the Body Mass Index (BMI) or the difference between one's current weight and their standard weight for their height.
For people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) within the normal range, body composition or other health indicators such as blood cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and bone density may be abnormal.
Abnormal body composition means an improper proportion of body fat. Some women may look quite slender, but when their body composition is measured, their body fat percentage is still too high. A high body fat percentage includes two aspects: a high absolute amount of fat, and a low muscle component, leading to a relatively high fat content. Slender women are mostly in the latter category. This situation is mainly caused by insufficient exercise and, as people age, a gradual reduction in muscle fibers after middle age.
For individuals with a normal BMI, exercise can alter body composition and the muscle-to-fat ratio, and improve the body's overall functions.
Myth 2: Fruits are snacks and can be eaten or not eaten.
Don't think that fruits are only a tool for weight loss; others can choose to eat them or not.
Fruits contain minerals that are essential for the human body and cannot be synthesized by the body itself. They have strong antioxidant effects, contain vitamins that prevent cell aging, and include soluble fiber like pectin, which can significantly lower blood cholesterol concentration, making them very beneficial for human health. However, the proportion of Chinese people, especially men, who regularly eat fruit is very low.
Myth 3: Eating fruit regularly can reduce the risk of cancer.
An analysis of data from a 10-year follow-up study of one million Americans in the 1980s found that among people who did not eat or rarely ate fruit, the lung cancer mortality rate was 1.75 times higher than that of people who regularly ate fruit. What component in fruit is responsible for this effect? Is it vitamins? Can taking commercially available vitamin supplements have the same effect? A further analysis of the relationship between lung cancer mortality and the use of vitamin supplements found that regular vitamin intake did not provide a similar protective effect.
Experts in nutritional immunology explain that vitamins in natural plants do not work in isolation; they work in concert with other vitamins and nutrients. Because chemically synthesized vitamins are separated from other vitamins and nutrients, and the proportion of the components in the formulation is not exactly the same as in nature, they cannot produce the same effects as natural vitamins.