Take Your Vitamins Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Take Your Vitamins - Essay Example The foods called â€Å"functional foods,† or more scientifically nutraceuticals, offer greater benefits than the same standard foods do not. A really important element of the â€Å"functional foods† is that most people are probably not aware is that they are not directly regulated, at this time, by the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration. This means that no one, outside the company’s manufacturing the products, are really guaranteeing the absolute safety, purity, or quality of these products. (Manore and Thompson 189) Because the nutraceuticals are not drugs, and are not really capable of being dangerous, then there is no concern about where and to what they are added. To be perfectly honest, is not safety that is in question, but, whether, or not, they are in fact beneficial. Adding vitamins and minerals to granola bars, breakfast cereals, and dairy products is well and fine, ideally designed to encourage people to purchase those products. But is that really a cunning way to get people to â€Å"take their vitamins† or a clever way to get consumers to spend more on a product that benefits are potentially questionable at best. Also, as is the hypothetical case of Judy, she considers buying the soda with the vitamins added figuring that it must be better for her. (Manore and Thompson 189) But just because the given product has newly added ingredients does not mean that the food overall is healthier for you. If your favorite fast food restaurant added all the needed daily necessity of all the vitamins and minerals to their tastiest and greasiest french fries, would you start eating those fries everyday because they are healthier?