Pam Stone Blackmores Nutrimulti and Wholefoods Nutrients Interview

Pam Stone Blackmores Nutrimulti and Wholefoods Nutrients Interview

With a busy family life and hectic social calendar it can be easy to forget to eat well and a healthy, balanced diet can be difficult to maintain. The National Health Survey results for 2007/08 showed only 50% of Australians aged 15 years or older met the recommended daily intake of fruit and only 10% the recommended daily intake of vegetables.

Making sure that we replenish our bodies with sufficient nutrients, from fresh fruit and vegetables and wholefoods, is vitally important for general wellbeing. Wholefood nutrients, such as reishi mushrooms, white tea, spirulina and wheatgrass, provide a fantastic source of phytonutrients and these are often hard to find in our everyday diets.

Pam Stone, Director of Education at Blackmores says, "Getting an adequate intake of the nutrients found in wholefoods and fruit and vegetables are vital to maintaining good health. The benefits are many and include boosting immunity and protecting cells from free radical damage while providing an overall general sense of wellbeing."

A supplement such as new Blackmores NutriMulti + Wholefood Nutrients™ can be a great complement for a healthy diet and a simple way to help keep nutrition in balance. Containing some lesser known but highly valuable wholefood nutrients like White Tea, Reishi Mushrooms, Spirulina and Wheatgrass, it can help provide more complete nutritional support.

The wholefood nutrients in NutriMulti are thought to confer the following health benefits:
White Tea Leaves: White Tea is a rich source of antioxidants which have free radical scavenging properties. White Tea is thought to have a high proportion of antioxidants as it is less processed than other teas. The leaves are picked before they open fully when the buds are still covered in fine white hairs which lead to their appearance being white.
Reishi Mushrooms: Has been used in China for thousands of years and is held in high regard throughout Asia. Reishi is high in phytonutrients, including polysaccharides.
Spirulina:Are blue-green micro-algae that are a natural and rich source of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, protein and phytonutrients. Spirulina is a rich source of betacarotene which is a form of Vitamin A.
Wheat Grass: Is a 'green food' source of chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals, proteins and enzymes. Despite its name, wheat grass is gluten free and can be used by people with gluten intolerance.

"With our busy lives it can often be difficult to incorporate all the ingredients we need into our daily diet. A supplement like Blackmores' NutriMulti™+ Wholefood Nutrients is a fantastic way of helping your body get everything it needs," says Pam.

New Blackmores NutriMulti™+ Wholefood Nutrients is a dual layer tablet combining essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in one layer with an enriching boost of wholefood nutrients in the other layer for more complete nutritional support.

Blackmores NutriMulti™ + Wholefood Nutrients is available at pharmacy, grocery stores and health food stores, RRP $29.45 for a bottle of 50 tablets.

Interview with Pam Stone

Question: Why did Blackmores create the Blackmores NutriMulti + Wholefood Nutrients?

Pam Stone: Australians aren't meeting the recommended dietary intakes for fruit and vegetables. The Australian Bureau of Statistics , National Health Survey found that only 50% of Australians above 15 years met the recommended daily intake of fruit and only 10% the recommended daily intake of vegetables.

We all know that fruit and vegetables provide vitamins and minerals and fibre in the diet but there's a growing body of evidence of the additional health benefits provided by phyto-nutrients and their role in healthy ageing and prevention of chronic disease.

Blackmores wanted a multivitamin that would meet all the RDI's (recommended dietary intakes) for vitamins and minerals with an extra boost of antioxidants and phytonutrients usually found in fruit and vegetables as well as to introduce some interesting whole food nutrients which contain phytonutrients that are not commonly found in the normal diet.


Question: Why are Australians not meeting the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables?

Pam Stone: People these days lead busy lives and tend to eat out rather than prepare healthy food at home. In a commercial setting vegetables and fruit are not always used as they are perishable and harder to store in addition the food industry in an attempt to make foods more appealing taste wise, may remove the bitter, sour or astringent taste of natural food chemicals through selective breeding or de-bittering processes.


Question: What are the benefits associated with the nutrients found in White Tea, Reishi Mushrooms, Spirulina and Wheatgrass?

Pam Stone: White Tea Leaves - White Tea is a rich source of antioxidants which have free radical scavenging properties. It comes from the same plant as other teas but the leaves are picked earlier when still covered in fine white hairs which give white tea its characteristic white appearance. Being less processed than other teas, it is thought to have a higher proportion of antioxidants.

Reishi Mushrooms - Have been used in China for thousands of years and was reserved for royalty due to it's high price. It is still held in high regard throughout Asia. Reishi mushroom is high in phytonutrients, including polysaccharides.

Spirulina - Are blue-green micro-algae that are a natural and rich source of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, protein and phytonutrients. Spirulina is a rich source of beta-carotene which is a form of Vitamin A.

Wheat Grass - Is a 'green food' source of chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals, proteins and enzymes. Despite its name, wheat grass is gluten free and can be used by people with gluten intolerance.


Question: What is Spirulina?

Pam Stone: Spirulina is a blue-green algae which has been used as a source of nutrients since ancient times. It is found in the warm, alkaline waters of the world and is most often grown under controlled conditions and is subject to less contamination than naturally harvested algae.

Blackmores NutriMulti's premium source of organic spirulina provides a vast range of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, carotenoids, antioxidants, chlorophyll as well as phytonutrients that are not commonly found in the modern food chain.


Question: Is it possible to consume Reishi Mushrooms, without taking a supplement?
Pam Stone: Yes, you can actually buy reishi mushrooms as food from Chinese grocery stores and health food stores. They often come dehydrated and need to be boiled into a soup or stew to render them soft enough to eat. To get the medicinal benefits you would need to eat about 500 mg of dried mushrooms. (Be sure to do some research and buy a good quality brand).


Question: Wheat Grass shots can be unpleasant, do the Blackmores nutrient tablets providing the same benefits, without the taste?

Pam Stone: Blackmores NutriMulti won't have the same pungent taste as wheat grass shots and it will top you up with a daily dose of the same nutrients found in a wheat grass shot. However, shots of wheat grass are larger in quantity so depending on the size of the shot it may not be the identical dose.

Question: What are your tips to help people incorporate healthy nutrients into their daily diet?

Pam Stone: Nutrients are generally found in coloured foods, so incorporating a variety of fruits and vegetables of the seven different colour groups is an easy way to measure your intake. The seven colour groups are: red, orange-yellow, orange, red-purple, white-green, green and yellow-green
To complement a healthy diet, a supplement like Blackmores' NutriMulti™ + Wholefood Nutrients can offer an additional boost of vitamins and minerals for more complete nutritional support
Eat what is fresh and in season, Mother Nature knows what we need and when we need it. For example, oranges that are high in Vitamin C, a known immunity booster, are ripe and in season during winter when many of us are prone to colds and flu
Try and maintain at least five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit each day to maintain a healthy nutrient intake
The darker the colour, the richer the nutrients of the fruit or vegetable so opt for dark vegetables like spinach and beetroot to reap the most benefit. Colour, variety and freshness can be used as a guide to getting the whole food nutrients your body uses for health and wellbeing
Eating vegetables need not be boring, in the age of the celebrity chef cook books, there are plenty of delicious healthy recipes around, so have some fun!


Interview by Brooke Hunter


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