Nutraceuticals
Nutritional supplementation is highly effective for a variety of ailments and consequently has led to a multi-billion-dollar vitamin industry. According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, around 40 percent of all people in the U.S. and a majority of woman over the age of 50 are taking some form of dietary supplementation. Proof of its popularity is visible in gyms, grocery stores and even gas stations, where supplements are readily available. In urban areas, stand-alone vitamin stores are commonplace, containing floor-to-ceiling displays of all the latest and greatest products. Here is where the confusion sets in: given the number of possibilities right before their eyes, how can consumers, even knowledgeable ones, know which version of a product is right for them? Certainly the vitamins cannot all be the same. The best a consumer can do is to make her choice based upon quality and perhaps research. But there is more—much more. Presented below are the seven reasons why supplementation may have no beneficial effect whatsoever. The first two are generally recognized. The last five, however, are ones many in the world of alternative medicine do not even know.
Seven Rules for Supplements
Rule #1: Is It What It Says It Is and Nothing Else?
The quality and purity of any ingested product is a chief concern for consumers and is one of the main regulatory assignments of the Food and Drug Administration. Unfortunately, what is on the label is not always what is in the package.
In a University of Maryland Pharmacy School study in 2000, only 2 of 32 different joint supplements (containing chondroitin sulfate) met the label claim for ingredients. The study reported the less expensive the supplement, the lower the total levels of the nutrient.47F[i] Unfortunately, several similar studies have been performed on a variety of different types of supplements only to find analogous results.48F[ii] 49F[iii]
Another concern with supplements is their overall quality. Despite claims of purity on the label, as a percentage, very few companies truly measure up. Poor quality means a product full of binders, fillers and lubricants. Magnesium sterate, ascorbyl palmitate, lactose, and sodium benzoate are just a few examples. These cost-cutting and production-assisting additives can lead to poor absorption and potential allergic reactions. Beyond this, the methods of preparation and storage of raw materials is very important to avoid potential contaminants such as molds, bacteria or heavy metals.
Rule #2: Is It What People Need with Nothing Else?
Each person is unique. This means that supplements, even ultra-pure supplements, might work for one person but not for others. Just because vitamin C is good to help the immune system, does not mean it is good in every case. In fact, depending upon the type of immune system imbalance, it could instead, make things worse.
Rule #3: Multi-Vitamins Are for Healthy People
Recognizing that extra nutrients are needed in the diet, a large percentage of people have become proactive, even religious, by taking a multi-vitamin. The assumption is a once-a-day multiple vitamin containing B-vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and the latest wild berry plucked from an isolated rock outcropping in Papua New Guinea, will meet the nutritional needs of the body. If only it were that easy. For those with functional illness, just taking a multi-vitamin will probably not work. In the case of autoimmunity, it could even get worse. Multiple vitamins are only effective for healthy people or those who are severely nutritionally deprived.50F[iv] The reason why multi-vitamins are ineffective, even detrimental, has everything to do with the next rule.
Rule #4: Anything Can Be Canceled Out or Neutralized
It is not surprising to see a patient carry a large box of supplements into the office and then crash it on my desk. As soon as this happens, I know I am about to be a hero. In some cases, it is possible to take the patient off half to two-thirds of her supplements, while seeing her health improve. Most vitamin collectors are well-informed and have made wise choices based upon the latest eBlast from a respected alternative health doctor or vitamin store. Yes, everything they are taking is of good quality, and the latest research “proves” the supplements have positive health benefits. But it is a simple case of too much of a good thing becoming a bad thing.
Researchers do not conduct studies with patients taking ten or more nutrients at the same time. This would be bad science. Yet, too many nutrients equal too much internal processing. The teeter-totter has been tilted. It is difficult to fix one internal stress by creating another.
For example, a patient may complain about extended soreness after exercise. This is often a need for vitamin B1, which the muscles use to break down lactic acid. The same patient may complain of chronic allergies. This is often a need for vitamin B6, which is important for metabolizing histamine. So, why not give him a B-complex that has plenty of vitamin B1 and plenty of vitamin B6? Because it probably won’t work. Vitamins teeter with vitamins, and minerals totter with minerals. Oils compete with oils, and amino acids compete with amino acids. They can all potentially cancel each other out. Finding the precise nutrient and giving that alone, without interference from others, is what makes miracles happen.
Rule #5: Everything Is on a Teeter-Totter
I hope you are beginning to see the need for the teeter-totters to be in balance. Using a multi-vitamin to raise the low side of the teeter-totter will never work since a multi-vitamin, by definition, will also contain the high or opposite nutrient as well.
Rule #6 – As the Body Changes, So Do Supplements
When I ask the patient with the shopping-bags-worth of supplements how long they have been taking their stockpile, “years” is a common answer. Just as there is no perfect food, there is no perfect supplement. Nothing should ever be taken for years. That is because the body is always in a state of change, adapting to life’s many stresses. With changes in life, there are changes in needs.
When correcting problems with hormetic nutrients, positive changes can happen in weeks. Therefore, supplements should change, or the patient should no longer need them. Hormetic nutrients are not just Band-Aids—they correct problems. If a person needs the same supplements for extended periods of time and their problem is not getting fixed, then something was missed. The only time a patient will need supplemental nutrients long-term is when he is addressing genetic issues or when he is in the middle of an ongoing stressful situation or event with no immediate end in sight.
Rule # 7 – Fixing Chronic Problems is Unnatural
“My supplement is made from organic whole food ingredients like those found in nature.” This is the argument by both patients and health professionals. On paper, these forms of supplements sound like the best things to take to restore health. Unfortunately, often they are not. Or, if they do work, they require massive doses (and great expense) and a “healing crisis” to produce results. Medicines are based on chemicals found in plants, but in an isolated form, making them much more potent than when they were combined with other ingredients in their natural state. This is a clue. The more pure, or isolated, a substance, the more powerful its effect. In other words, purity equals potency. Hormetic nutrients, when properly given, often produce the same clinical potency as medicines, but without the harmful side-effects.
The more severe or chronic the problems are, the greater the nutritional deficiencies will be and the more likely it is that hormetic nutrients need to be used all by themselves. As mentioned above, trying to treat significant nutritional imbalances with multiple vitamins almost never works. In severe cases, an imbalance must be treated with an imbalance. Echinacea is a good immune-supporting herb that has helped many to overcome general viral and bacterial illnesses. However, with a life-threatening infection, choose an antibiotic instead. In other words, choose the unnatural, single-use, purified, high dosage, and out-of-balance option over the general use, complex-chemical, and naturally balanced one. Or, better yet, find out which part of the immune system is in greatest need and supplement it specifically with what is missing to produce the same healing effect as an antibiotic without the gastro-intestinal and common allergic side-effects.
These seven rules are the scientific reality of supplemental nutrition. Supplement overload is the reason why many in the alternative field, who are doing things naturally, still fail to help those in need. Understanding and applying these rules equals fewer supplements, lesser cost, less burdensome lifestyle changes, quicker responses, and lasting results.
Can’t I get all the nutrients I need from my diet?
Yes, if your Core 4 are balanced and have been balanced long enough to create a large reserve of nutrients, then you do not need to take any supplements. Honestly, in an anxiety-ridden civilized society, with its lack of stillness, gratitude, simplicity, and contentment, a balanced Core 4 is rare indeed. If you have reached that state of balance, then feel free to put down this book. For the rest of you mere mortals, please continue reading.
The quality and purity of any ingested product is a chief concern for consumers and is one of the main regulatory assignments of the Food and Drug Administration. Unfortunately, what is on the label is not always what is in the package.
In a University of Maryland Pharmacy School study in 2000, only 2 of 32 different joint supplements (containing chondroitin sulfate) met the label claim for ingredients. The study reported the less expensive the supplement, the lower the total levels of the nutrient.47F[i] Unfortunately, several similar studies have been performed on a variety of different types of supplements only to find analogous results.48F[ii] 49F[iii]
Another concern with supplements is their overall quality. Despite claims of purity on the label, as a percentage, very few companies truly measure up. Poor quality means a product full of binders, fillers and lubricants. Magnesium sterate, ascorbyl palmitate, lactose, and sodium benzoate are just a few examples. These cost-cutting and production-assisting additives can lead to poor absorption and potential allergic reactions. Beyond this, the methods of preparation and storage of raw materials is very important to avoid potential contaminants such as molds, bacteria or heavy metals.
Rule #2: Is It What People Need with Nothing Else?
Each person is unique. This means that supplements, even ultra-pure supplements, might work for one person but not for others. Just because vitamin C is good to help the immune system, does not mean it is good in every case. In fact, depending upon the type of immune system imbalance, it could instead, make things worse.
Rule #3: Multi-Vitamins Are for Healthy People
Recognizing that extra nutrients are needed in the diet, a large percentage of people have become proactive, even religious, by taking a multi-vitamin. The assumption is a once-a-day multiple vitamin containing B-vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and the latest wild berry plucked from an isolated rock outcropping in Papua New Guinea, will meet the nutritional needs of the body. If only it were that easy. For those with functional illness, just taking a multi-vitamin will probably not work. In the case of autoimmunity, it could even get worse. Multiple vitamins are only effective for healthy people or those who are severely nutritionally deprived.50F[iv] The reason why multi-vitamins are ineffective, even detrimental, has everything to do with the next rule.
Rule #4: Anything Can Be Canceled Out or Neutralized
It is not surprising to see a patient carry a large box of supplements into the office and then crash it on my desk. As soon as this happens, I know I am about to be a hero. In some cases, it is possible to take the patient off half to two-thirds of her supplements, while seeing her health improve. Most vitamin collectors are well-informed and have made wise choices based upon the latest eBlast from a respected alternative health doctor or vitamin store. Yes, everything they are taking is of good quality, and the latest research “proves” the supplements have positive health benefits. But it is a simple case of too much of a good thing becoming a bad thing.
Researchers do not conduct studies with patients taking ten or more nutrients at the same time. This would be bad science. Yet, too many nutrients equal too much internal processing. The teeter-totter has been tilted. It is difficult to fix one internal stress by creating another.
For example, a patient may complain about extended soreness after exercise. This is often a need for vitamin B1, which the muscles use to break down lactic acid. The same patient may complain of chronic allergies. This is often a need for vitamin B6, which is important for metabolizing histamine. So, why not give him a B-complex that has plenty of vitamin B1 and plenty of vitamin B6? Because it probably won’t work. Vitamins teeter with vitamins, and minerals totter with minerals. Oils compete with oils, and amino acids compete with amino acids. They can all potentially cancel each other out. Finding the precise nutrient and giving that alone, without interference from others, is what makes miracles happen.
Rule #5: Everything Is on a Teeter-Totter
I hope you are beginning to see the need for the teeter-totters to be in balance. Using a multi-vitamin to raise the low side of the teeter-totter will never work since a multi-vitamin, by definition, will also contain the high or opposite nutrient as well.
Rule #6 – As the Body Changes, So Do Supplements
When I ask the patient with the shopping-bags-worth of supplements how long they have been taking their stockpile, “years” is a common answer. Just as there is no perfect food, there is no perfect supplement. Nothing should ever be taken for years. That is because the body is always in a state of change, adapting to life’s many stresses. With changes in life, there are changes in needs.
When correcting problems with hormetic nutrients, positive changes can happen in weeks. Therefore, supplements should change, or the patient should no longer need them. Hormetic nutrients are not just Band-Aids—they correct problems. If a person needs the same supplements for extended periods of time and their problem is not getting fixed, then something was missed. The only time a patient will need supplemental nutrients long-term is when he is addressing genetic issues or when he is in the middle of an ongoing stressful situation or event with no immediate end in sight.
Rule # 7 – Fixing Chronic Problems is Unnatural
“My supplement is made from organic whole food ingredients like those found in nature.” This is the argument by both patients and health professionals. On paper, these forms of supplements sound like the best things to take to restore health. Unfortunately, often they are not. Or, if they do work, they require massive doses (and great expense) and a “healing crisis” to produce results. Medicines are based on chemicals found in plants, but in an isolated form, making them much more potent than when they were combined with other ingredients in their natural state. This is a clue. The more pure, or isolated, a substance, the more powerful its effect. In other words, purity equals potency. Hormetic nutrients, when properly given, often produce the same clinical potency as medicines, but without the harmful side-effects.
The more severe or chronic the problems are, the greater the nutritional deficiencies will be and the more likely it is that hormetic nutrients need to be used all by themselves. As mentioned above, trying to treat significant nutritional imbalances with multiple vitamins almost never works. In severe cases, an imbalance must be treated with an imbalance. Echinacea is a good immune-supporting herb that has helped many to overcome general viral and bacterial illnesses. However, with a life-threatening infection, choose an antibiotic instead. In other words, choose the unnatural, single-use, purified, high dosage, and out-of-balance option over the general use, complex-chemical, and naturally balanced one. Or, better yet, find out which part of the immune system is in greatest need and supplement it specifically with what is missing to produce the same healing effect as an antibiotic without the gastro-intestinal and common allergic side-effects.
These seven rules are the scientific reality of supplemental nutrition. Supplement overload is the reason why many in the alternative field, who are doing things naturally, still fail to help those in need. Understanding and applying these rules equals fewer supplements, lesser cost, less burdensome lifestyle changes, quicker responses, and lasting results.
Can’t I get all the nutrients I need from my diet?
Yes, if your Core 4 are balanced and have been balanced long enough to create a large reserve of nutrients, then you do not need to take any supplements. Honestly, in an anxiety-ridden civilized society, with its lack of stillness, gratitude, simplicity, and contentment, a balanced Core 4 is rare indeed. If you have reached that state of balance, then feel free to put down this book. For the rest of you mere mortals, please continue reading.