For many years vitamin and mineral supplement sales have continued
to rise, in spite of the science-based medicine that says they have no benefit.
Unless you have been told by a doctor, they are proven to have no extra health benefits
(note, a naturopath/homeopath is not a doctor, I mean one with a board approved
medical degree). I got into scepticism from learning mostly the ‘benefits’ of
vitamin supplements, which really don’t exist. When I tell people this, backed
up by actual science, they say ‘well, what is the harm?’. That is, they are
seeing it as some sort of support for their body, should they need it. But why
would you need it? You wouldn’t carry crutches around just in case your legs
decide to stop working, would you?
Is there a harm?
When I started out researching these things, for many years I
didn’t believe there was a harm. It was just a money-making scheme. However, as
research evolves, and I obtained a better understanding of how biochemistry
works, it is suggested that there are issues with vitamin supplementation and
yes, in some cases, it can lead to fatal outcomes. There is an overwhelming
amount of reviews that state that these things have no meaningful health benefits
to the consumer.
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Most of the issues here come from the isolation of the
vitamin and the adage of more must be good, because they are good for you,
right? Think about that though, you wouldn’t take aspirin after aspirin to get
rid of pain because its ‘good for you’ as it is having a positive result on the
body.
"All things are poison, and nothing is without poison, the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison."
This is true for everything, even the vitamins you consume. One study found that there are as many 60,000 vitamin toxicity incidents reported
in the US, each year. Many of this is owed to the bioaccumulation of fat-soluble
vitamins and iron containing vitamins. These events are not rare, and are seen
around the world.
Vitamin D
Let’s look at an isolated vitamin, D. I know many people who
take vitamin D supplements because of some headlines a few years ago, saying that
people in the UK are all deficient in vitamin D. The deficiency leads to
rickets and helps with fracture prevention in people with bone wasting
diseases. However, there is no end to what vitamin D cannot cure, according to,
well, almost everyone. Most the evidence that this is based on is through
observational studies, and not actual science-based medicine. This type of hype
happens all the time. The media claims something, the masses jump on it without
question. There is not a lack of studies on vitamin D. People array a lot of
their medical conditions with low vitamin D levels, which caused this rise in vitamin
D supplementation intake. But what happens when you take too much vitamin D?
A recent study looked at the effect of vitamin D and omega 3
at a 1,000mg/day dose in 25,871 subjects. Participants were chosen to equalise gender,
ethnicity and sex with no history of any cardiovascular issues or cancer. The
double-blind trial gave the subjects either vitamin D with placebo, omega 3
with placebo, placebo or vitamin D with omega 3. The main aim of the study was
to assess the development of any cancer in the future, type of cancer and any
heart issues. They found that there was an increase in vitamin D levels. They
also found no other differences between any of the groups. Like, nothing, no
increased mortality, cancer or cardiovascular events. That is, that the vitamin
D and omega-3 takers had no major benefit (in terms of heart health and cancer)
compared to the group receiving neither. In this study, the subjects took 400mg
more than what is recommended, and they had NO extra benefits than the people
who didn’t take any.
Conclusion
Vitamins do not do anything, unless you have actual registered
deficiencies. Vitamins are not an ‘insurance’. Collectively spending millions
of pounds each year in the UK on supplements, just because of a fearmongering
market is ridiculous. There is also a cultural problem in this day and age.
People think they can get away with not consuming the correct, or right foods
because they take a multi-vitamin. But these things do not compensate for poor
dieting. Also, there is a risk of toxicity from supplementation, and it isn’t all
too rare. To conclude: vitamin purchasing is just supporting a massive industry
that doesn’t provide any benefit, provides a false sense of security in terms
of health, and can cause some serious harm.
