I grew up in a supplement friendly household. My mother believed in the benefit of vitamins, minerals, and herbs. She started me with vitamin C and a multi, but it certainly didn’t end there. My senior year in high school I developed a urinary tract infection so bad that it went into my kidneys, at which point my mother recommended that I begin taking cranberry supplements. When I started avidly working out roughly one year later, she prescribed glucosamine chondrotin for my knees because they clicked every time I tried to do a squat. Lysine was for my immune system, Co-Q10 and evening primrose oil for my skin, folic acid because I was of childbearing age; calcium for my bones, and the list goes on. This time last year I was taking two boxes full of vitamins, literally.
Think about it, two “vitamin chests,” which held nine different types of vitamins each, so that was 18 different supplements every single day. When I was in my teens my mother also recommended that I take Citrucel for my IBS, which I did up and until about one year ago. However, I never really thought that the fiber powder did much. I continued to take it because it served as lubrication to choke down the copious amounts of vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements built into my morning breakfast routine.
Attending the Institute for Integrative Nutrition caused and allowed me to take a critical look at my “healthy” habits, supplementation being one of them. There is a school of thought that isolated vitamin supplements may not do what we expect. Some studies suggest that that the benefit of nutrients in whole foods is really derived from synergies between nutrients rather than a single nutrient. To take it a step further, there is evidence that certain isolated vitamins may actually do harm; beta-carotene is an example. It was once studied and supplemented for its anti-oxidant qualities but has since been shown to increase cancer risk in certain situations.[1] Oops!
During the spring 2009 I decided to stop taking all supplements to see if I would fall apart. I didn’t quit cold turkey. First I stopped taking what I considered to be the extraneous supplements, the vitamins and minerals that I suspected might not be doing too much for me but I continued to take simply out of habit. By May I had whittled down the once exhaustive list to glucosamine and cranberry; these were the two supplements I was sure were doing something for me, but for the purpose of my little experiment I gave them up too. By the summer I was on the supplement wagon – or off of it, I guess.
During the summer I got into eating a lot of raw foods, and I felt fantastic. I was a believer. Whole foods, not supplements! However, my newfound dogma was put to the test in early fall. I got sick. I never get sick, never. And then I got sick again about two weeks later. And finally I came down with the same illness yet again in early December. What gives? My knees also started clicking again roughly 6 months after I stopped taking glucosamine.
Ok, so maybe I was a little hasty. Research studies and clinical tests and trials are great, but the truth really lies in each individual’s specific experience. The only difference for me between the fall of 2009 and the fall of 2008 along with the 7 or so that came before it, was the supplements. So I must conclude that the supplements were contributing at least in part to my robust immune system. Did I need to take 18 a day? Probably not. But I have started taking a few again, and I am researching specific supplements and supplement companies. It’s tricky because I do agree that taking isolated vitamin supplements may not be the best idea. It is perfectly conceivable to me that nutrition scientists, as intelligent as they may be, don’t necessarily know which nutrient in a particular food, let’s say a carrot, is providing the desired benefit. As I mentioned previously, it’s not the beta-carotene.
I think that what may be useful is supplementing with condensed whole foods. One argument for taking supplements is that our soil is depleted as a result of conventional farming methods (i.e. conventional farms do not rotate crops and this practice depletes the soil) And yet another argument in favor of supplementation states that most people do not get the recommended servings of fruits and veggies per day and are therefore not getting the necessary amounts of nutrients derived from those foods. I concede on both accounts. As I mentioned above, the other side says that we cannot replicate the benefit of whole foods in supplements either because we incorrectly assign benefit to or we are unaware of a particular nutrient. Granted. So perhaps the answer is to supplement with a condensed “greens” or “fruit” based powder. That would not take the place of eating kale, collards, broccoli melons, etc., but it may serve as complement to an already healthy diet full of whole foods.
Theoretically, the condensed powders would offer a concentrated dose of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients without the problems associated with isolated supplements.
For now, it’s just a thought.
[1] Fuhrman, Joel, M.D. Eat to Live. New York, NY. Little, Brown and Company. January 2003. eBook.
