Supplements

The other day I happen to read an article in Yahoo Health. It was about the 5 must have (food) supplements, written by a 'health expert' (who also is an author). He says he pops a handful of supplements every day and carries these 'must have' ones on long trips. According to him, everyone should take a very good multi-vitamin pill every single day.  This sounded sheer nonsense to me and I asked him why on earth a healthy human need a handful of supplements on a daily basis,  (he did not reply); especially in US where most food comes with added vitamins.

Take the popular cereal Honey Bunches of Oats for example. The carton says it contains:

Vitamin A, D, B6, B12, Iron, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folic Acid, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Sodium and Potassium

More or less same with Froot Loops and Nesquick. Most milk brands has extra vitamin D. Americans generally eat meat/fish every single day and most people here includes some veggies and fruits in their every day meal (mostly in the form of a salad). So, when we pop a couple of supplement pills, there is this possibility of we taking excess vitamins. Some people believe our body is intelligent enough to take what it requires and flush out the rest in case of water soluble vitamins etc. But we need to understand that there is a mechanism which decides how much the body need and how much it need to flush out, even if that theory is right. This clearly means extra work for some of organs. 

Yesterday I read another article which says:

"Researchers say those who take multi-vitamins, folic acid and iron supplements may face higher risks of early death"

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/Study-Finds-new-Dangers-in-Vitamins-and-Supplements-131518988.html

and

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/10/8256866-some-common-vitamin-supplements-could-increase-death-risk-study-finds

All these days (supplementing) Vitamin E was given this image of something which promotes prostate health (or prevents prostate cancer for that matter). And now there comes new enlightenment - It in fact has the potential to cause prostate cancer in men

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/11/8273189-more-bad-supplement-news-vitamin-e-may-be-risky-for-prostate

This clearly shows that the increased prostate cancer rate in the recent days has something to do with vitamin supplements. This reminds me of the similar cures similar principle of Homoeopathy. If 'something' has the potential to cure a disease, that 'something' has the potential to give similar symptoms of that disease in a healthy person (who do not have that disease).

One of the best and wise ways of finding a solution for (increased rate of) cancer is to invest money in finding the (man-made) causes than trying to find a cure.; so that we can prevent it, if it can be prevented. It sure do has something to do with what we eat (genetically modified food for example) and pop. 

As we can see, two third of American population takes vitamin supplements and thus contributes their share to this 28 billion (per year) business. It is not a matter of surprise when 1% takes decision on 99%.

I think we have reached a point where we can no more trust these researchers. It all depends on who is funding the research. There was a time we believed that if we eat fruits and vegetables, it will take care of our health, not anymore because most of these fruits and vegetable lost their sanity when we added or removed some genes.

So, it is wise to consult a medical doctor before popping a magic pill, if one is serious about health.