Popular Methods to Choose a Supplement

Written on June 8, 2009 No Comment

Supplementation

Page 1: The Need for Supplementation
Page 2: Popular Methods to Choose a Supplement
Page 3: How to Choose a Supplement

There are a lot of supplement options on the market and one is usually inclined into purchasing these based on price alone. This is a huge mistake. Not all supplements are created equally and unfortunately most products do not contain the amounts of nutrients that are displayed on the packaging’s label.^[1] Buying cheap could literally mean that you are buying something that has no value (in this case, nutritional value). Here are some other methods consumers use:

Quantity of nutrients on package label
Recommended frequency of ingestion
Doctor recommendation
Others

Be careful using any of the above as a guideline. As was mentioned when discussing price as a guideline, there is no way for us to know what it is that we are buying. Most companies don’t adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Additionally, going by what the label says about the amount of nutrients the supplement contains is a huge mistake. These usually list a 1000% of RDI. Nutrients work in synergy with one another. The lack or abundance of one can have severe effects on absorption or reactivity of other nutrients.^[2][3]

What of those “one a days?” This sounds great. One can take all required amounts in one sitting! Wow! Unfortunately the body does not work that way. Our body has a limit of what it can hold at any one point, after which it begins to get rid of the excess. Once the excess has been removed from the body (through sweat, breathing, liver, urine (kidneys)), it begins to use up what is present. Nutritional levels drop. Let us also take into account that a high dose of some nutrients can prove fatal.^[1] So in the same way your heart doesn’t beat 100,000 (approximate beats per day in an adult^[4]) when you first wake up, or for the same reason you don’t eat once a day and for the same reason you can’t just decide at 10:00am every day to breathe 25,000 times so you don’t have to breath again for the rest of the day^[5], you MUST take a supplement that suggests you take it more than once daily.

Doctors know about symptoms and treatment. We are leaders in diagnosis. We are leaders in trauma and emergency services. We owe our doctors a great deal of gratitude, respect and admiration for what they are doing on a daily basis. Doctors, however, are not trained in nutrition, prevention, or supplements.^[6] In many cases, any over-the-counter supplement will do. But, from reading above, we know that not all supplements are the same and many aren’t even what they say they are. Most doctors cannot offer a solid suggestion on what supplement one must take.

Page 1: The Need for Supplementation

Page 3: How to Choose a Supplement

References:

[1] MSNBC.com. “More illnesses tied to toxic dietary supplement.” Available at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24206868/. Accessed August 13, 2008.

[2] Cox, Ruby. “Calcium, Vitamin D and Your Health.” Virginia Cooperative Extension Number 348-071, August 2002. Available at: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/nutrition/348-071/348-071.html. Accessed August 13, 2008.

[3] DrLam.com. “Selenium and Vitamin C Absorption.” Available at: http://www.drlam.com/opinion/selenium_and_vitamin_C_absorption.cfm. Accessed August 13, 2008.

[4] PBS.org. “Amazing Heart Facts.” Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/heart/heartfacts.html. Accessed August 13, 2008.

[5] ScienceMuseum.org.uk. “Breathing Easily with a New Plastic Lung.” Available at: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/plasticlung/. Accessed August 13, 2008.

[6] Vetter, Marion. “What Do Resident Physicians Know about Nutrition? An Evaluation of Attitudes, Self-Perceived Proficiency and Knowledge.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 27, Number 2, 287-298 (2008). Available at: http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/2/287. Accessed August 13, 2008.