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Let's talk supplements - Who takes them and why
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I found Midbrain's post on colloidal silver to be a bit disturbing. It is more evidence for me on why taking food supplements is generally not worthwhile. If you eat enough fruits, vegetables and fish, a supplement isn't going provide much benefit. On the other hand, if your diet isn't so great maybe they will help. I don't know. I remain skeptical of food supplements for the following reasons.
1. They are not regulated so they can lie about their benefits/effectiveness.
2. There is no guarantee they are safe. (since they aren't regulated)
3. There is no guarantee you're getting what you think you're getting.
4. There is limited proof that they have any benefits.
5. There is some proof that certain supplements are dangerous and interfere with prescription drugs.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of supplements. If they actually worked to increase my life expectancy, health or appearance I'd take them in a minute. It would be much nicer than having to slather gobs of lotion on my skin or eating Brussels sprouts.
What do you think? Do you take supplements? Love 'em, hate 'em? :neutral: -
My son takes high-epa fish oil for developmental disablilities. It had shown promising results in some studies so we decided to give it a shot since we really didn't want to put him on ritalin. He's also got very dry skin but hates lotion of any sort so he spent all winter with skin so dry it hurt. I realized last spring that not only has his ability to focus improved but his dry skin is much better. I'm curious to see how his skin does this winter.
And, no, he doesn't smell like fish.
I don't know if that's the type of supplement that you're talking about. -
I take a mulit-vitamin (when I remember) because I know that it's really hard for me to get the recommended daily amount from my diet. Even though I love fruits and vegetables, they are not always convenient for me to get. Three days a week I work in a shop by myself that has no refrigerator or microwave, making bringing food with me difficult. Lunch is usually a protein bar of some sort.
With dinner I am much better, but I tend to go through phases of different foods, rather than varying. For example, the past week and a half I've been in a carrot phase, meaning I eat plenty of carrots every day, but I'm not getting other nutrients I need because I'm not eating a bunch of different kinds of vegetables.
The multi-vitamin is my compromise. I take it in hopes that it helps me to make up for my diet deficiencies. And I don't take the crazy GNC ones that have something like 5000% of the RDA of vitamin A, I generally stick with something pretty basic. I don't need orange pee.
I also take Viactiv calcium chews because I'm on depo and need to be sure I'm getting enough calcium every day. Other than that, I'm pretty wary of supplements. Although, Purple, I have heard about a lot of nutrient-psychiatric interaction studies lately. I used to work in pedi-psychiatry and there were some parents that saw a lot of improvement with diet changes, especially for autism spectrum disorders. Our PDD kids also tended to have a lot of stomach issues that cleared up with diet changes.
Left Brain, if you'd like to see an interesting qualitative study of people's use of supplements, you should see this article:
Nichter, M. and Thompson, J. 2006. 'For my wellness, not just my illness: North Americans' use of dietary supplements', Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, 30(2): 175-222.
It goes over many different motivations people cite for using supplements, such as mitigating living in a "risk society," resisting illness, managing illness, and health and "natural" ideologies. It also briefly touches upon the issue of disease claims. So the FDA prohibits these companies from putting disease claims on the bottles, but this can lead consumers to make their own assumptions and adjust dosages as they see fit (not that I think they should be able to make such claims, but it's an interesting complication). There is a short part on how people determine the safety of such supplements. They also write about how people use them for "wellness," too. In other words, some people use supplements in an effort to achieve an "enhanced" state of health. -
I try and make a fruit smoothie daily for us and I use fresh fruit when available and and a little oj and a danactive yogurt drink (just for a little sweetness) Iput a little Vitamin E oil...mainly for my hair and nails and skin. We also drink V-8 and try try try to eat as many fresh veggies throughout the day. Lately, though I have been ridiculous in my eating habits. It's getting colder here and I am nesting and all I want to make are stews and mashed potatoes and bread.
I also try and take a cranberry supplement, when I don't have any Just Cranberry around the house.
My boss gives her children tons of multivitamins and vitamin C because they don't eat as well as they should. I try though when I am there! -
Hahahha.. This is really interesting because.....
My family almost never went to Western doctors while we lived in Taiwan. We always went to herbalist, traditional herbalist. Our herbalist eventually became my godfather because he helped my mom with her pregnancy, and well, with having me. I've also had really bad health since I was born, so everyday I was drinking a different herbal tea (the brown stuff with sticks and leafs) that was just disgusting. I only went to see a Western doctor ONCE in Taiwan, and that was because I had the chicken pox!!!! Otherwise, I went to see my godfather, stuck my tongue out at him (he told me to), at least once a week.
Then we moved here, and I still rarely went to see the doctor. But my parents befriended a lot of doctors (most Taiwanese people here in the early 90s were doctors for some reason), and one of them became a really good family friend. That specific doctor did research on dietary supplements and its benefits, and taught my parents about things like grape seed extract (we were SOOOOO eating that way before it got popular), as well as yam extract.
About 10 years passed, my dad's original business in Taiwan crashed (geoconstruction), and my parents decided to run a nutraceutical in Taiwan, selling the exact products that we've been taking for the past 10 years. They are also friends with the suppliers (also Taiwanese), so they supply us with the raw stuff and we package them. (As you can see, the Taiwanese circle, at least back in the early 90s, was very very small, and everyone knows everyone... so I really can't do anything bad because somehow, everyone knows my mom, and knows that I am her daughter. They can't identify which daughter I am, but they know.. they take 1 look at me and they know.. I swear I'm not being paranoid!! At a recent political protest, random people would just be like, "HEY YOUR XX'S DAUGHTER, WHERE'S YOUR MOM?!??" I turn around and go, "do I know you??" yea.. it's like that)
Anyhow...
Personally, I'm suppose to be taking the following items everyday:
1. 2 Daily multivitamins
2. 2 Grape seed extracts
3. 2 Bone food
4. 2 Eye food
5. 2 Chitosan after each meal
Being a college student for 4 years has seriously messed with my regular diet, and the fact that I still don't know how to cook (pasta, curry, and basic noodle soup), my health is still in a really really bad shape. Plus the fact that I don't take my daily supply of dietary supplements, my parents aren't very happy. I know they are good for me and will probably help my bones, my knee, my creaky elbow, my night vision, my random rashes, but it's so hard to swallow so many pills.
PS: Cate, get the cranberry supplement from Costco that's made by ShanStar. I played with that for my research last year, and basically I just used it to see how well it killed E. coli, and how it changes their protein expression. Couldn't get the protein assay to work, but I killed a LOT of E. coli with ShanStar. =P -
I had my first bone density bone scan this year and I have do have some bone loss that could lead to osteoporosis (NOOOOOOOO!) so now I am on the prescription med Fosomax.
However I have ALWAYS been advised to take calcium supplements by my docs because it is hard to get enough calcium through diet (or at least it has been for me). I take Calcium with Vitamin D because I was told that assists with the absorption of the Calcium.
I also remember being told by a doc years ago that taking the least complicated one-a-day vitamin was the best thing to do rather than going for vitamins with megadoses of stuff you don't need. -
Judy: I was diagnosed with osteopenia, the precursor to osteoporosis, a few years ago. My doctor started me on Actonel but after about 9 months, I had the worst acid reflux. I took myself off it and waited to tell my doctor until my next yearly physical, while increasing my intake of calcium sources and calcium supplements.(Chocolate Viactivs are pretty darn good!) I also am a walker so I increased the range I was going.
The good news is that at my last bone density scanning, I was just inside the normal range. My doctor switched me to Fosamax, saying she'd still like for me to take it but if it didn't work out for me, to just stop and she wasn't concerned if I was on no medication at all. So far, so good with it! (Four months on it so far)
I have way too many of the contributing factors that can lead to osteoporosis for me not to stay on it: My grandmother had it, I am lactose intolerance, I am very small framed (5'3, 105 pounds), and went through VERY EARLY menopause. (It was so early that I didn't even know I went through it. I now laugh at how I used to think someone was turning up the thermostat at night when I'd wake up in the middle of the night completely soaked! By the time my doctor ran the test to check for it, I was DONE. Not a bad way to go!)
Good luck with it all. Keep in mind that your doctor can switch you to a different drug if Fosamax doesn't work out but you may be just fine. Don't you just hate the 8 ounces of water to down it and then staying upright for 30 minutes first thing in the morning? I won't even get in the shower in that time period to shave my legs for fear I'd be bending over too long. It's the same for all of them, though. I hope they come up with something else soon. -
Thanks Gloria I'll check them out when I go there!
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I feel so sad for everyone that is lactose intolerant. If I could not eat cheese I think I'd cry all day:cry:
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I take iron supplements as recommended by my doctor when needed due to anemia. I also take vitamin B complex and make herbal tinctures for myself.
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i've recently been taking daily vitamin B and C pills .. though that's more for my mental health than physical health.
http://www.hypnotic-insomnia-cure.com/articles.php?item=Vitamins_Helpful_for_Depression
it's cheaper than xanax. -
I had been taking Total Effects Beautiful Skin and Wellness Pack.
It has individual packages with 4 pills: CoQ10, Vitamin E, Alpha Lipoic Acid with Green Tea, and a multivitamin.
Enough for a month supply.
I don't know if it had any effects. I was just desperate for something to help me with my skin and I saw this in the vitamin aisle and purchased it. I used it for a few months. I don't think it did anything for me...but I usually like to be optimistic because something has to work for my skin, right??? -
I take omega 3 fatty acids supplements, since I do not eat nearly as much fish as I should, and supplements do not have mercury
I also take a multi-vitamin, just half of the dose it says, as a complement t trying to eat as many fruit and vegetables as I can
I've always been of the idea that taking supplements, when done right and in combination with a good diet and healthy lifestyle, actually has benefits
because getting the optimal amount of certain vitamins and minerals is very hard by diet alone for a 2000 calories a day diet, in my own experience,
I get less sick since I take my multi, and my hair and skin look much better since I take the fish oil supplements
although it may be a correlation, since I probably started paying attention to my health more since I made those changes
the following study I think goes with my intuition that there are benefits of taking suplements
Block G, Jensen CD, Norkus EP, Dalvi TB, Wong LG, McManus JF, Hudes ML.
Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study.
Nutr J. 2007 Oct 24;6(1):3 -
ooohhh great find FB!!! It's a bit long and it'll take me a while to digest it...
overall though.. with dietary supplements, it's all up to a person's upbringing and habit.. look at me for example! I worked as a medical assistant, I worked as a lab assistant (in a lab that coincidentally found that 5 out of 10 "Hoodia" supplements did not contain any trace of Hoodia), yet I'm still pro-supplement/pro-herbs.. you can throw so many examples in my face, and i'll probably be able to find a way to argue against it..
just like how i'll argue that natural/botanical skincare isn't necessarily better! my sisters will argue with me that Burt's Bees products are superior, and i will find ways to argue against it.. all the time..
hahahha.. i'm a stubborn one, huh? -
I just read through the abstract of the article you sited and it was interesting. It certainly makes sense that supplements would have a positive impact on health. Unfortunately, the study didn't control for variables like what kind, how much, etc. so it doesn't advance our knowledge that much. Also, it could be that people who think about their health enough to take supplements also have other "healthy" behaviors like exercising. According to the study the data was only adjusted for "age, gender, income, education and body mass index". It could be the supplement people just exercise more. However, that's certainly something that could be examined.
Here is a recent meta-analysis of studies that suggest taking supplements may actually have a negative effect on mortality.
Of course, just a week later a group of scientists point out the flaw in the analysis.
I'm always skeptical of "meta analysis". Comparing data from studies with different methodologies seems a bit of a stretch to me.
I still don't know what to think. It makes logical sense that supplements would help but the clinical evidence is murky at best. For now, I'll just keep eating my fish, fruits, and veggies. -
Yes, it is always hard to know if the reason the people that take supplements seem to be healthier is just because they make healthier choices in general
However, biochemically speaking, for a diet of less than 2000 cal a day, meeting your daily needs of vitamins and minerals a day is challenging
and I have yet to meet a woman that eats the recommended 9 servings of fruits and veggies a day, plus fish at least twice a week
I make an effort and feel happy when I get to 5 servings,
once in a while I use a program to enter what I eat, and inevitably fall short on calcium, or vitamin E or something,
even when I am making the effort, so I consider a half dose of multi a complement to my effort
so how exactly where the daily needs estimated?
does any one know one of those rare individuals that manages to eat the nine servings of vegetables a day?
I would like to know they exist -
It's my new personal challenge to eat 9 servings of fruit and veggies a day! Starting Friday! We already eat fish twice a week with our sushi outings.
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I currently take a multivitamin and a skin, hair and nails vitamin. I'm considering adding a calcium supplement, a fish oil supplement, vitamin C, and/or vitamin E because I hear taking those vitamins/supplements can help reduce the symptoms of Raynaud's. There's other supplements that help, but they're either hard on the liver (bad, since my medicines I already take are likely trashing my liver) or interact otherwise with my meds.
Incidentally, if you take any prescription meds, or if the variety of supplements you take is wide enough, you should always be sure to check for interactions so that you don't accidentally injure or kill yourself. -
I was taking the Olay vitamins(the one pill type, not the multipill one, i got tired of those), but I got tired of taking them so I stopped. I literally can't stomach vitamins or many prescriptions thanks to my mother, and those were one of the few I could keep down, but I didn't really see what they were doing for me.
I did feel like I had drunk a cup of coffee about an hour after taking them, but that was all. I have vit. C, a Flaxseed, a sublingual B-complex and some Fiber Choice plus Calcium supplements, but right now they are just chilling out on my shelf. I guess I could at least be chewing one of the vit. C's to get rid of the jar, though.
My supplement kicks come and go in waves. :tongue: -
I just watched a report on omega 3 -apparently, there are also 6&9 which are not so good for you. Omego 3 turns into EPA which turns into (tell me if I'm wrong)DHEA which is good for brain cells. i eat a handfull of almonds and1 banana too for magnesium and potassium.
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I try to eat healthy (no processed foods, white flour, white rice, or sugar). With todays modern farming, the foods you buy usually don't have as many nutrients as with old fashion farming. I take multi vitamins, a B complex, calcium with D, Omega 3's and Q-10. I've been taking them for about 1 1/2 years. I feel better, and have more energy.
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