Should you take a nutritional supplement?

People turn to nutritional supplements for some perfectly good reasons, including a need to compensate for an inadequate diet, or a desire for a "natural" cure. But supplements lack many of the safeguards afforded to prescription or over-the-counter drugs, and even some potentially helpful supplements can pose risks. Philip J. Gregory, Pharm.D., editor of the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, the leading medical reference on natural remedies, explains how to find supplements that may help you—and how to protect yourself from those that almost certainly won't.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A SUPPLEMENT REALLY WORKS?

If someone is claiming that he has uncovered a secret that no one else in the world knows but him, that's a clue he's probably trying to promote junk. There are no such secrets. A lot of products also claim to be "clinically tested." In reality, that can mean that someone took the product and told the company, "It worked for me." Skip any product that doesn't have actual, published, peer-reviewed clinical trials to support its claims. A lot of quacky products end up targeting conditions that people have a hard time with and where the medical options aren't great - irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, migraines, weight loss. By the way, there is no such thing as a truly safe, effective weight-loss supplement, including hoodia. And if anybody makes a claim that a supplement is "nontoxic" and better than a drug, that's based purely on opinion. There are few trials out there that compare a natural product to a prescription drug.

BUT WON'T CERTAIN SUPPLEMENTS KEEP ME HEALTHY?

People take supplements with good intentions - they want to be actively involved in their health, and taking a pill is a lot easier than eating a healthy diet or getting a lot of exercise. The law allows manufacturers to say their product "supports heart health" or "supports prostate health," which is so general people interpret it to mean that it can prevent a specific disease. But in most cases we have almost no data on how well supplements prevent disease. The studies are hard and expensive to do.

ARE THERE ANY SUPPLEMENTS YOU ACTUALLY RECOMMEND?

Yes, a psyllium or fiber supplement. High fiber in the diet can reduce cholesterol absorption, and if you can't or won't get it from food, a supplement is also acceptable. Fish oil is worthwhile for people with high triglycerides or heart disease, or who don't like fish. Saw palmetto can reduce prostate symptoms. Calcium and vitamin D are helpful for preventing osteoporosis. I still think multivitamins are appropriate for people who don't like veggies. I'm one of those. It's the only supplement I take.

 

Comments

[ARTHUR MIRKIN]

Kindly discuss amount of supplement to use. e.g. Saw Palmetto-if there is a small amount used, it isn't worth using. I know. So now I have an MD's 'script I'm using for prostate problem.
This goes with any supplement.
Thanks for trying, you're on the right track.

There are so many "crooked" folks with the "right" remedies in natural supplements it's criminal

[Bruce Hamilton]

Sorry, but someone who "[doesn't] like veggies" has no credibility on nutritional matters. A high-vegetable diet is the foundation of health.

For authoritative nutritional information I suggest Dr. Joel Fuhrman at http://drfuhrman.com/ and his blog at http://www.diseaseproof.com/.

--Bruce

[Jumpstart Energy]

Supplements are named supplements for just this reason...they are not substitutes, they are supplements.

Do they work? Depends on the ingredients and dosage. Different supplements work for different people.

[Criss Ittermann / Your Green Club]

I think that supplements are good when you are trying to mind your weight, or when your body may not be adequately absorbing nutrients from food (such as insisting on using cream-based dressings on your salad). They're not replacements for real food, but our soil is depleted and our lifestyles are not those of our ancestors, we deal daily with types of constant stress and toxins that our predecessors did not deal with, and I'm of the belief that a little nutritional help goes a long way to give our bodies raw materials to work with.

I'm on a (non-drug-based) diet plan, it includes a wide range of nutritional support, and it feels good. I won't reach my goal for many months, but the idea is that I'm learning how to eat better, while my body is adjusting to my weight loss over time. In the meantime, my body is getting all the nutrition it needs. It beats the fasting diets, for certain, and when I was on a much lower carb diet I felt yucky.

[MARIELENA PADILLA]

I take a Calcium/vitamin D supplement for osteopenia. But I have heard that you should avoid caffeine when taking calcium. How true is that?

[grady koger]

Is olive oil a good skin healer as a replacement for the expensive Bio-Oil?