DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS: THE NATURAL WAY TO HEALTH?

dietary supplements

Dietary supplements are promoted as offering a “natural” way to achieve health, and over 50% of Americans are adding them to their carts, spending over $32 billion in 2012.  Are they getting their money’s worth?  Do these products provide protection from a diet that is less than perfect?  When we hear conflicting information, who should we believe – the FDA or the dietary supplement industry?

The dietary supplement industry has grown enormously over the past two or three decades, particularly since the enacting of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) which profoundly reduced FDA oversight.   Unlike drugs, which must be proven safe and effective before they can be sold, dietary supplements come to market without such assurances.  Instead, if the FDA has reason to suspect that a supplement is flawed, it is they who must prove that it is unsafe.  Since pre-approval is not required the FDA can act only once a product has reached the market, much like putting a stop light at a dangerous intersection only after a number of people have been seriously harmed.  

Dietary Supplements vs. Drugs

The dietary supplement industry has positioned itself as a more “natural” alternative for those who are concerned about health but prefer to avoid drugs, but despite the attractive pictures of fruits and vegetables on the label, making a dietary supplement requires processing.  The nutrients and other substances contained within have been extracted, purified, pulverized, and put into a form appropriate for ingestion.  This is natural?  It sure isn’t like eating an orange!  

Promoting vitamin supplements as “natural” implies that they must be safer to use for medical reasons than drugs, but this cannot always be assumed.  As an example,  niacin is a B vitamin which can lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, but only when taken in very large amounts.  The RDA for niacin is 14 milligrams, while the amount needed to have these effects is 1-3 grams (1000-3000 milligrams).  At this dose, the vitamin can no longer be considered natural (after all, where would one find this amount of niacin in a food?) and has the potential to cause liver and kidney problems.
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In fact, the amount of vitamins in many supplements would never be found in nature.   GNC’s Women’s Ultra Mega 50 Plus, for example, boasts that it provides 3333% of the requirement for thiamin, 2941% of the requirement for riboflavin, 833% of the requirement for B12, 400% of the recommended amount of vitamin D and 333% of Vitamin C.  There is nothing natural about this.

Bottom Line

Quite a few large international studies have found that people who take vitamin supplements are not healthier than those who don’t, and in some cases are less healthy.  However, those who eat foods high in antioxidants and other nutrients are healthier than those who don’t eat these foods.    Aprovocative piece in the New York Times titled “Don’t Take Your Vitamins” written by Paul Offit, MD, Chief of Infectious Diseases at the renowned Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, notes that taking large quantities of vitamins is unnatural and, many research studies show, potentially harmful (June 8, 2013).

Supplements cannot make up for a crummy diet.  Food is more than a vehicle for delivering a particular nutrient.  It’s a vehicle for delivering hundreds of healthful substances in a form that can be delicious. Fruit salad, anyone?

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