Why Most Vitamin Supplements Give You Expensive Urine
Dr. Paul Lanthois
July 09, 2008
There is much debate about the need and effectiveness of different nutritional supplements. Learn how you can separate the proven supplements from the 'snake oil'.
Nutritional surveys across the world indicate that up to 90% of us do not meet the basic nutritional requirements for what experts regard as a healthy diet. Greater use of pesticides and modern farming methods has been resulting in less nutritious produce grown. This makes it harder for the average person to get the adequate nutrition to handle the stresses of day-to-day life. In addition, the time required to find and prepare all this nutritional food seems to be beyond most busy people so I would say that approximately 90% of people would require supplementing their diet in some way.
What Supplements Do We Need?
The biggest deficiency in the Western diet comes from a lack of fruits and vegetables and a lack of Omega 3 fatty acids (the good fats). Insufficient protein intake has also been a common challenge for more health conscious people whose dietary habits lean towards vegetarianism. But first you need to try to increase your fruit, vegetable, Omega 3 fats and protein intake through food sources. (Please consider eating fish as it covers you for protein and Omega 3s!) If you are still not able to eat the 7-13 serves of fruit and vegetables each day and have at least 3 serves of fish each week, then you should look at supplementing these areas
Let Me Be Clear…Vitamins Are Not Fruits and Vegetables
When I ask many people about their fruits and vegetable consumption, they often share how they are taking a vitamin supplement to compensate for their lack of fruits and vegetables. In 1991, H. Diplock claimed that there are 12455 different phytonutrients (plant nutrients) in fruits and vegetables (1).
Do you really think that a supplement containing 20 or so different vitamins is going to work the same as fruits and vegetables? It is a bit like giving someone a steering wheel, hubcap and a spare tyre and claiming that it goes as well as a car! Vitamins are not natural. They are synthetic. You cannot grow a vitamin plant. And if you can´t grow it or catch it you shouldn´t put it into your mouth!
There is a growing body of research that shows that taking vitamin and mineral supplements is at best ineffective and at worst even harmful…
Prof. Rory Collins from the University of Oxford studied vitamin consumption in 20,000 people over 5 years and concluded that, "Vitamin pills are a waste of time. Over 5 years we saw absolutely no effect"(2).
The Harvard physicians study group on 22,071 male physicians found that taking isolated supplements of beta-carotene was shown to be of no benefit. (3)
A 10 year Finnish Smokers Study of 29 133 smokers was stopped after 8 years because there were more deaths from heart disease and lung cancer in those that were taking beta carotene, or Vitamin E, than in the control group not taking them (4).
But what about the studies that show the benefits of vitamins? … This is where pseudo-science and marketing come in. The supplement industry is only required to have studies on the ingredients that they have in their products and not on their actual product. Let´s see how they use that in science…
They will often quote some studies that show the health of people with high levels of certain vitamins in their blood (vitamins which were obtained from eating foods) that have a lower incidence of cancer, for example. They will then say that this research shows that high levels of vitamin X in your diet is associated with a reduced occurrence of this cancer. Therefore, take our vitamin X. This is the type of research that vitamin companies use.
The research does not show that taking their vitamin X is associated with a reduced incidence of cancer. They just let us assume that. In fact, very rarely do they test the actual brand name vitamin supplement to even determine if it gets absorbed into the blood.
At a recent conference on nutrition in Australia, I approached representatives from 3 different supplement companies who were sharing the benefits of hundreds of their products. I requested published studies done on their brand name products. Every representative quickly replied with "All the ingredients have been extensively researched". But that wasn´t the question I asked.
I wanted to know if their particular supplements worked. Of these hundreds of products marketed to health practitioners, not one had an independent study of their supplement that was published in a medical journal. To make sure that the nutrients from supplements that you take end up in your bloodstream rather than being flushed down the toilet you would be well advised to stay away from most vitamin supplements.
By skipping the vitamin supplements, you will save yourself a lot of time and a lot of confusion. If you want to supplement for a lack of fruits and vegetables in your diet, it makes sense to go for supplements sourced from raw fruit and vegetable. If you want to supplement for a lack of Omega 3 fats in your diet, it makes sense to go for supplements sourced from fish or certain seeds. If you want protein, try for something sourced from whole foods high in protein.
Choosing A "Whole-Food" Sourced Supplement
Step 1) Read the label to see if the supplement is sourced from whole foods. (It should have actual foods listed on the label). If you can't grow it or catch it, then don't eat it.
Step 2) Ask for independent studies (done by someone other than the company selling the product, preferably a University) published in independent medical journals (not the company´s own "journal") that have been done on the actual supplement itself. Some companies actually use other products research to promote theirs and saying that their supplement does the same. Please be aware that because different harvesting, processing and encapsulation techniques can dramatically affect the quality and effectiveness of the nutrients, different brands of the same type of supplement can vary greatly.
Step 3) Ask to see any independent studies that prove that this product gets absorbed into the bloodstream. Let´s face it … it´s pointless ingesting anything if it is just going to pass right through you.
If they can give you satisfactory answers to all three steps, you are definitely on a winner.You will have come across the 1% of supplements that don't end up in the toilet.
In 17 years of clinical experience I have found less than a handful of supplements that fulfill this criteria.If the natural health and supplementation industries are serious about making a difference to the community they need to pretend that they are Jerry McGuire and "SHOW ME THE STUDIES"
References
1) Diplock, H., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1991;53:189S-193S
2) Collins, R., Oxford University Heart Protection Study, British Medical Journal Nov 2001; 323 (7322): 1145
3) Hennekens, C.H., et al., ´Lack of effect of long term supplementation with beta carotene on the incidence of malignant neoplasm and cardiovascular disease´ New England Journal of Medicine 1996; 334:1145-1149.
4) Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene, Cancer prevention Study Group "The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the incidence of lung cancers and other cancers in male smokers" New England Journal of Medicine 1996; 1034:1156-1162.
Nutritional surveys across the world indicate that up to 90% of us do not meet the basic nutritional requirements for what experts regard as a healthy diet. Greater use of pesticides and modern farming methods has been resulting in less nutritious produce grown. This makes it harder for the average person to get the adequate nutrition to handle the stresses of day-to-day life. In addition, the time required to find and prepare all this nutritional food seems to be beyond most busy people so I would say that approximately 90% of people would require supplementing their diet in some way.
What Supplements Do We Need?
The biggest deficiency in the Western diet comes from a lack of fruits and vegetables and a lack of Omega 3 fatty acids (the good fats). Insufficient protein intake has also been a common challenge for more health conscious people whose dietary habits lean towards vegetarianism. But first you need to try to increase your fruit, vegetable, Omega 3 fats and protein intake through food sources. (Please consider eating fish as it covers you for protein and Omega 3s!) If you are still not able to eat the 7-13 serves of fruit and vegetables each day and have at least 3 serves of fish each week, then you should look at supplementing these areas
Let Me Be Clear…Vitamins Are Not Fruits and Vegetables
When I ask many people about their fruits and vegetable consumption, they often share how they are taking a vitamin supplement to compensate for their lack of fruits and vegetables. In 1991, H. Diplock claimed that there are 12455 different phytonutrients (plant nutrients) in fruits and vegetables (1).
Do you really think that a supplement containing 20 or so different vitamins is going to work the same as fruits and vegetables? It is a bit like giving someone a steering wheel, hubcap and a spare tyre and claiming that it goes as well as a car! Vitamins are not natural. They are synthetic. You cannot grow a vitamin plant. And if you can´t grow it or catch it you shouldn´t put it into your mouth!
There is a growing body of research that shows that taking vitamin and mineral supplements is at best ineffective and at worst even harmful…
Prof. Rory Collins from the University of Oxford studied vitamin consumption in 20,000 people over 5 years and concluded that, "Vitamin pills are a waste of time. Over 5 years we saw absolutely no effect"(2).
The Harvard physicians study group on 22,071 male physicians found that taking isolated supplements of beta-carotene was shown to be of no benefit. (3)
A 10 year Finnish Smokers Study of 29 133 smokers was stopped after 8 years because there were more deaths from heart disease and lung cancer in those that were taking beta carotene, or Vitamin E, than in the control group not taking them (4).
But what about the studies that show the benefits of vitamins? … This is where pseudo-science and marketing come in. The supplement industry is only required to have studies on the ingredients that they have in their products and not on their actual product. Let´s see how they use that in science…
They will often quote some studies that show the health of people with high levels of certain vitamins in their blood (vitamins which were obtained from eating foods) that have a lower incidence of cancer, for example. They will then say that this research shows that high levels of vitamin X in your diet is associated with a reduced occurrence of this cancer. Therefore, take our vitamin X. This is the type of research that vitamin companies use.
The research does not show that taking their vitamin X is associated with a reduced incidence of cancer. They just let us assume that. In fact, very rarely do they test the actual brand name vitamin supplement to even determine if it gets absorbed into the blood.
At a recent conference on nutrition in Australia, I approached representatives from 3 different supplement companies who were sharing the benefits of hundreds of their products. I requested published studies done on their brand name products. Every representative quickly replied with "All the ingredients have been extensively researched". But that wasn´t the question I asked.
I wanted to know if their particular supplements worked. Of these hundreds of products marketed to health practitioners, not one had an independent study of their supplement that was published in a medical journal. To make sure that the nutrients from supplements that you take end up in your bloodstream rather than being flushed down the toilet you would be well advised to stay away from most vitamin supplements.
By skipping the vitamin supplements, you will save yourself a lot of time and a lot of confusion. If you want to supplement for a lack of fruits and vegetables in your diet, it makes sense to go for supplements sourced from raw fruit and vegetable. If you want to supplement for a lack of Omega 3 fats in your diet, it makes sense to go for supplements sourced from fish or certain seeds. If you want protein, try for something sourced from whole foods high in protein.
Choosing A "Whole-Food" Sourced Supplement
Step 1) Read the label to see if the supplement is sourced from whole foods. (It should have actual foods listed on the label). If you can't grow it or catch it, then don't eat it.
Step 2) Ask for independent studies (done by someone other than the company selling the product, preferably a University) published in independent medical journals (not the company´s own "journal") that have been done on the actual supplement itself. Some companies actually use other products research to promote theirs and saying that their supplement does the same. Please be aware that because different harvesting, processing and encapsulation techniques can dramatically affect the quality and effectiveness of the nutrients, different brands of the same type of supplement can vary greatly.
Step 3) Ask to see any independent studies that prove that this product gets absorbed into the bloodstream. Let´s face it … it´s pointless ingesting anything if it is just going to pass right through you.
If they can give you satisfactory answers to all three steps, you are definitely on a winner.You will have come across the 1% of supplements that don't end up in the toilet.
In 17 years of clinical experience I have found less than a handful of supplements that fulfill this criteria.If the natural health and supplementation industries are serious about making a difference to the community they need to pretend that they are Jerry McGuire and "SHOW ME THE STUDIES"
References
1) Diplock, H., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1991;53:189S-193S
2) Collins, R., Oxford University Heart Protection Study, British Medical Journal Nov 2001; 323 (7322): 1145
3) Hennekens, C.H., et al., ´Lack of effect of long term supplementation with beta carotene on the incidence of malignant neoplasm and cardiovascular disease´ New England Journal of Medicine 1996; 334:1145-1149.
4) Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene, Cancer prevention Study Group "The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the incidence of lung cancers and other cancers in male smokers" New England Journal of Medicine 1996; 1034:1156-1162.
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