Do supplements enhance our health or just our urine?
(Photo: Dawn Turner)
The supplement industry has had it's share of ups and downs lately. Despite a Herculean effort on the part of vitamin manufacturers to produce science that clearly shows gulping supplements improves health, they just haven't been able to do it.
Earlier this week I posted my nutrition philosophy, and discussed my view of supplement use there. This week, CNN posted a nice piece wherein Dr. Andrew Weil, the great Walter Willett, and others listed the supplements they take and why.
The big winners:
- A multivitamin
- Vitamin D
- CoQ10
- Magnesium
Close contenders:
- Omega-3s
- antioxidants
I thought the experts included were measured and moderate in their philosophies. No mega-vitamin pumping here.
Vitamin D has gotten more attention lately, thanks to the work of Bess Dawson Hughes and others. I tend to get outside quite a bit most seasons, and direct sunlight is a great source of vitamin D. A few weeks ago I tracked my food intake for a couple days on Meals Matter. They have a tracking tool that gives a fairly complete profile if you spend the time to enter your diet - and it's free. I'm happy to say my diet was in overall great shape (yeah) with the exception of vitamin D. I only hit about 25% of the requirement, and in my age bracket, well, that's something to think about. So I've been thinking about looking for a multivitamin with a little more D.
Curious to hear what other take and why.
For another take: Stay healthy with vitamins experts take
Comments
If supplements do not work, then why does food? If they both are taken orally, would not the body treat supplements as food?
I have a stent and don't take the plavix&aspirin,plus vytoren that was prescribed for me. I have been drug free for over 3 years now. I take A multivitamin,with extra D,and E,fish oil,turine,co-q-10,resveratrol,probiotics,natto,and condroiten sulfate. If I run out of any of these I don't feel as well as if I take them all. My blood work shows improvement every year but it is slow. My angina was very infrequent until the stent and than I had it every day. That's why I went alternative. Sometimes I take EDTA as it removes heavy metals and is a good blood thinner. I feel great as I walk or ride my bike almost every day. I still have trouble running without angina pain but over all I feel great.
Denny, good for you for choosing lifestyle and exploring just what works for you. I know many folks who've made lifestyle changes with amazing results. Diet and exercise work, but I know it takes effort to be well. I wonder, though, have you tried to find a physician who works with you on your approach? With your situation, having someone who supports you choices but can provide the monitoring and medical input too would probably enhance your longterm situation. There are more MDs with a complimentary mindset out there, and I'd say it's worth the effort to find one.
L, I think that's the $60K question. It may be that both food and the human body are complex mixed systems with longterm relationships, and we haven't been able to produce isolated nutrients artificially that work as well in the organic system of the body. Another thought is that maybe a particular nutrient in a particular supplement does work as well as that nutrient in a food, but when we isolate nutrients in supplements we get both more isolated effects and more side effects - so it might act more like a drug than a nutrient. So, in my opinion, good clean food filled with nutrients (fruits and veggies) are the best choice for those interested in the healthiest diet. Supplements remain, in my opinion, a hedging of a bet for healthy people - they might make a difference, they might not. Supplements I think can make a difference when taken for specific reasons for specific conditions - look at Denny's story, for example.
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