Pill Overload!

Dr. Alan Christianson, NMD

IntegrativeHealthCare.com – Scottsdale, AZ

In our kitchen we have a cabinet over the oven, two doors with two shelves each.  The darned thing is full to overflowing with supplement bottles!  Every few months I throw out the things I’ll never need or the ones that are outdated and within a few weeks it’s full again somehow.

The funny thing is that most of you probably have a cupboard or two just like this!  My rationalization is that I’m in the industry. I am given samples and I always test new products personally.  I know, poor excuses.

How many pills should a healthy adult take anyway? If you get all the mailings and special offers, it seems that every week a new, miraculous pill is discovered that will cure your piles, consumption and vapors.  What’s more, you can get 2 bottles for the price of 1 if you act now.

Since so many things sound exciting and promising, there is no end the pills we would take if we based our decision on marketing hype.

The core purpose of supplementation is to make up for a lack of nutrients in the diet. Ever heard the conventional party line on supplements?  It goes like this: “we get all the vitamins and minerals we need from a balanced diet.”  Here’s another good one: “vitamins give you nothing more than expensive urine.”

Early in my practice I taught nutrition at a medical school for a few years.  My favorite exercise was to take the young doctors to be and have them use nutritional textbooks and construct a week’s diet that met the RDA.  What does RDA stand for?  The D is not daily, it is actually “dietary” since it is meant to reflect a week’s average.  If you fall short on folic acid on Monday and Tuesday, there is always Wednesday to catch up!

The amazing outcome of this experiment is that even when you’re looking at charts of foods with their nutrients and making a diet that would never occur spontaneously, you can not meet the RDA guidelines!

That is not factoring in soil depletion, the fact that the RDA’s are woefully dated or the fact that peoples nutritional needs can vary 20 fold.

We do need supplements. Some studies have shown that just taking a multi can lower mortality odds by 30% per year!

Basically adults need a multi, calcium/magnesium and fish oil.  Green foods supplements are options that can make up for a lack of good fruits and veggies.  Avoid ones with laxatives like senna, cascara sagrada, aloe or rhubarb.

Some basic concepts: I love the idea of liquids but when products are made this way they end up needing tons of flavors and preservatives.  Calcium/magnesium are exceptions, chemically they can exist in liquids with less flavorings and without preservatives.

Tablets are OK for calcium/magnesium blends but should be avoided for multivitamins.  Tableted multivitamins don’t break down well enough for absorption of trace minerals.

Iron does not belong in multivitamins.  If you are low in it, we need to know why and correct the problem.  If you’re not low in it, you don’t want extra.  Additionally it uses up the antioxidants and makes other minerals absorb poorly.

I’m not a fan of non-essential ingredients.  Along with the basics, many companies will add in a long list of herbs and non-essential nutrients in ridiculously small amounts.  I call this cosmetic labeling.  It reminds me of when a low budget movie headlines Al Pacino but he gets killed off in the first few minutes.

Look first at Biotin.  It is essential, but it is also the most expensive raw-material that goes into a multi.  Ever wonder why your vitamins have 5000% of the RDA for Thiamin and only 30% of the RDA for biotin?  Now you know, they’re being cheapskates!

Fatty acid supplementation is also critical, we talked about fats in a past article, if you missed it check here: (link to fat article)

Fish oil is the thing to take for fats.  Better products are tested for toxic metals, solvents and have a high concentration of EPA, like 400+ mg per capsule.

To make this happen you can purchase a good iron free multi in capsules.  Most high quality products that yield doses like this will require 4-8 pills per day.  Next is a cal mag supplement in capsules, tablets or liquid.  These are 2-4 capsules or 1 – 2 tbsp or liquid per day.  Fish oil can range from 2-8 gel caps or 1/2 – 3 tsp based on the concentration.  Just look for mg of EPA per serving.  Here is a tip, the cheap costco brand costs less per capsule but not per mg of EPA!