Navigating the increasingly congested vitamin and supplement market can be tricky business. We ask the experts how to read between
the lines
In recent years, headlines haven’t always painted a pretty picture for the vitamins and supplements industry. One highly publicized study found that post-menopausal women who took a daily multivitamin did not decrease their risk of dying of cardiovascular disease and cancer, while another found that vitamin E supplements increased healthy men’s risk of prostate cancer by 17 percent. Yet with the global vitamin market projected to reach $3.3 billion by 2015, it appears that consumers are taking more than ever. So what’s the real story? WLT asked the experts.
The Multi-Vitamin Debate
On the surface, the premise seems simple: take a multivitamin and tackle most of your daily nutrient needs with one easy pill. Yet the jury is out on whether multi-vitamins are truly beneficial to the system. Dr. Pamela Smith, author of What You Need to Know About Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs, and More believes multivitamins are indeed essential to anyone’s daily health regimen, along with a probiotic pill and Omega-3 fatty acids, such as krill oil and fish oil. (She gives the caveat that all should be pharmaceutical grade to ensure quality.)
“Medical trials have shown that people do need multivitamins,” says Smith. “In today’s world, nutrition depletion can be caused by everything from medicine to stress, and [multivitamins] can replenish it in ways that food sometimes can’t.”
Yet Valencia-based naturopath Elena Michaels, PhD, says the effectiveness of general multivitamins pales in comparison to taking specific vitamins that can better target individual health needs. “A person who is really healthy, has no medical issues, is an ideal weight, works out all the time, and is always in a fabulous mood can take a general multi,” says Michaels. “Otherwise, you likely need things that are more important to bring your body back into balance.”
The A to Z of FD&Cs (and other Dangers)
Trying to understand a string of ingredients on a bottle can often be like trying to decipher a foreign language, but there are certain universal ingredients to watch out for, says Dr. Craig Koniver, a North Charleston, SC-based organic medicine physician. At the top of the list are artificial coloring (aka FD&C colors) and artificial sweeteners, as well as any “proprietary blends” that skimp on specificity. “I get leery when I see that [term] because good nutritional supplements will have no problem being transparent,” says Koniver.
Another litmus test is the simplicity of the ingredients, says Koniver. “If it’s a word you can’t understand or pronounce, it’s probably something you shouldn’t be taking. Vitamins or supplements of high quality won’t contain a lot of fillers.” Amount of ingredients counts, too—Koniver says there should be one to two ingredients maximum, other than the active ingredients.
All good advice, but what about more subtle risks? According to Michaels, even foods and nutrients universally considered healthy can present problems for those with undiagnosed autoimmune diseases. “It’s obvious that parabens, FD&C colors, and miscellaneous additives like sucrose are harmful, but there are things people think are healthy that could be hurting them,” she says, mentioning kelp, barley, wheatgrass, spirulina, iodine, grapeseed extract and green tea extracts. “If you have any kind of autoimmune system issue and you take [these], you could be jacking up your immune system. It’s not safe for everyone.” The reason for this is that if people with autoimmune disorders have an overactive immune system, they cause the immune system to actually “attack” the body, causing the disorder to worsen (mostly through inflammation).
Playing the Percentages
Consumers may also need to be vigilant about whether supplements and vitamins truly contain the amounts advertised. Koniver recalls a former prostate cancer patient who’d been advised to take vitamin D to help better his condition. “We checked his levels every three months and they were coming up nicely, then suddenly they dropped significantly,” he remembers. The cause? The patient had gotten a “great deal” online and unknowingly switched to a sub-par product that barely contained any vitamin D. “It was a fairly well-known company and it was surprising,” adds Koniver.
Perhaps not so surprising in the face of findings by watchdog organization ConsumerLab, which revealed in 2009, after a decade of research, that out of 1600 supplements tested, 25 percent were sub-potent (meaning the ingredient amounts on the label were less than claimed), contaminated or both. One potassium product tested had just 17 percent of the labeled amount.
To avoid such products, Koniver recommends obtaining vitamins and supplements through a trusted healthcare practitioner or at a reputable organic grocery store. Doing your homework can also pay off, says Koniver: “Most people will just go to the store and buy what’s on sale or whatever Dr. Oz recommended—I don’t know that that will get you very far. Doing Internet research should be able to help you clarify [a product’s] ingredients and philosophy.”
Bottom Line: To Take or Not to Take?
Some experts posit that vitamins and supplements are wholly unnecessary in the face of proper nutrition, a stance that The Fertile Ground author Dr. SK Thomas supports. Thomas, a Santa Cruz-based dentist and former college professor, follows an alkaline diet in which he derives nutrients like vitamin C from citrus fruits and juices, vitamin A from yellow foods, vitamin E from avocados and cold-pressed vegetable oils, and minerals from seaweed. He obtains his food from local organic farmers and actively eschews taking vitamins and supplements in favor of his raw food lifestyle.
“Fresh juice is very different from ascorbic acid tablets,” says Thomas. “When you know the body’s chemistry is alkaline, putting acid into the body doesn’t make any sense.”Opinions on the ideal level of alkalinity between 1 and 14 vary. A neutral pH would be 7, and general recommendations are between 7.35 and 7.45, or mildly alkaline, for optimal health.
In the face of so many conflicting studies and opinions, one thing remains clear: not every human’s needs are alike. “We’re a fast-paced society moving 100 mph looking for the silver bullet to cure all our problems, but there is no end-all, be-all,” says Koniver. “Humans are complex organisms, so there is no one vitamin or supplement that will do it for you.”
To find out what will, both Koniver and Michaels advocate working with a healthcare professional to pinpoint any deficiencies and devise a specific regimen. Says Michaels, “People have to take responsibility for their health and identify what their unique system needs.”
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