What the Supplement Companies Don't Tell You
Are vitamin supplements really all that they're cracked up to be? Ben Pratt tells you how to get the right intake of vitamins into your body.
The supplement industry was estimated in a report in the Guardian newspaper in February of 2009 to be worth £13.5 billion worldwide. Meanwhile it was revealed the previous year by the Foods Standards Agency that 1 in 3 people in the UK take vitamin and mineral supplements of some description. A study that reviewed dietary and health habits in over 160,000 women over an 8 year period noted that 40% took a regular multivitamin supplement. It was reported that there was no difference in cancer rates between those who took the vitamins and those who didn't. So with such a significant amount of time, money and energy put into the production and use of dietary supplements we have got to ask ourselves are they cracked up to be all they promise?
It makes sense to first lay down what we know or have discovered through science about the micronutrients. The discovery of unknown factors that benefitted health was in the early 1900's. A Polish scientist called Kazimierz Funk is the first known to use the word 'vitamine' which meant vital amines (amines are nitrogenous compounds that Funk thought was in all vitamin like compounds). Since that time at various points discoveries have been made regarding more and more chemical compounds that play an important role in sustaining life.
The system used to estimate the daily guidelines are called the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA). These guidelines were first formulated in 1941 and then revised several times. Today they have been included within the latest reference values called the Dietary Reference Intakes.
Early studies on fat soluble vitamin A by Dr Weston A Price indicated that we are consuming 10 times less of this vital nutrient in the Western diet today than in traditional populations. There are 17 known varieties of vitamin B. Vitamin C never exists as pure ascorbic acid in nature but is combined with other compounds such as rutin, a plant flavinoid. Alcohol, common medications like aspirin and oral contraceptives seem to reduce vitamin C levels in the body. There are several isomers of vitamin D that is considered to be such an important compound that the Vitamin D council stated it is in a category of its own and should not be considered along with other vitamins. There are 4 types of vitamin E found in nature along with alpha tocopherol considered the most active. Vitamin K is an important compound necessary for blood clotting and bone formation; however in more recent years we have begun to understand more about vitamin K2 and its important role in health. Other compounds like the bioflavonoids and co-enzyme Q10 are necessary to healing blood vessels, to fight off oxygen free radical damage linked with cardiovascular disease.
So we understand that there are many chemical compounds found in both plant and animal foods that are necessary for optimal health. It is also unlikely that we know or have even discovered all the chemicals necessary for health. So perhaps there is an argument against multivitamins already! They will not contain all the nutrients found in nature regardless of the marketing hype that tries to convince you they have absolutely all your needed nutrients. Having made a pretty thorough review of many of the common vitamin supplements on the market it can be disappointing to realise most don't even contain the full spectrum of nutrients we do know about, never mind those we don't. Vitamin B complex supplement usually contain 8-12 of the 17 different versions we know about. Vitamin E supplements only contain alpha tocopherol and never the other 3. Vitamin D supplements always contain either vitamin D2 or D3 and therefore never include the other isomers. Some scientists have suggested that natural vitamin D3 may break down into as many as 30 different metabolites or variations within the body, many of which likely occur naturally in food, but not in supplements. Vitamin D3 has been shown to raise blood levels about 5-10 times more effectively than D2. Some circles have shown that D2 may more easily reach toxicity levels within the body. It is also very difficult to find any supplements that contain the recently discovered vitamin K2.
These points should help you realise that supplements will contribute to your total nutrition, but will never provide you with your bodies complete needs! Remember that Weston A Price said 'Life in all its splendor is Mother Nature obeyed.' Real food with its naturally occurring micronutrients from the best quality food we can find will provide us with all we need, even the nutrients we still don't fully understand. A supplement can only do as the name suggests - assist in supporting your diet, not replace the nutrients in your diet.
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