Americans waste $28 bil a year on vitamins, doctors say

[dave e]

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-vitamin-supplements-waste-of-money-20131217,0,3582353.story#ixzz2nndQ521m

interesting article on vitamins.Ive always thought it was bizarre to swallow pills instead of eating natural food sources.Supplements seem like another sham foisted on the psyche of the people.Another costly and ridiculous fad is juicing.Why on earth would you not eat but throw away most of the fruit,fiber and skin?Its beyond the emperor has no clothes.I read recently that juicing taxes your liver by forcing it to process abnormally high concentrations of vitamins.Your body can handle only so much.Moderation is key.I know a personal trainer who juices and takes pills and eats only 1 meal per day and he looks like hell.

[Scott Musack]

The key phrase was 'well nourished'.

If you aren't, then supplementation might make sense for you.

The meta study and summary was pretty flawed and overly antagonistic IMO.

I agree that fad diets are generally very bad idea and nourishing oneself adequately is always the best option, but sometimes that can be difficult depending on circumstances.

[David Olsen]

I knew a kid who had rickets. Poor family, poor diet. A simple multi vitamin shouldn't be harmful and in rare instances can prevent disease. Whole foods seem to be the best way to get your vitamins.

[Mobile Calculator]

…

[Mobile Calculator]

…

[Anonymous]

In some of more alternative or holistic health circles, people have long said that most multi vitamin complexes are a waste because the body doesn't assimilate these forms of nutrition well at all. In fact, they are mildly not helpful because what the body cannot use, absorb or assimilate, it has to get rid of, and most people's bodies already have high waste product overload and so the elimination system and organs don't need any extra work in that area. (our poor livers, kidneys, etc)

I don't do it because i eat mostly vegetarian, but from a purely health perspective, a tip to boost nutritional absorption and assimilation when eating nutritionally dense foods like a spring mix salad, green drink, or the like. Put some gelatin in it.

Funny enough, a psychic named Edgar Cayce recommended this some 90 years back. It wasn't until the 60's that medical research started to discover that something like the above is actually a great, effective practice. Reason being, is that after the body has broken down the foods and extracted the nutrients, it tries to combine it most often with amino acids to pass through the gut into the blood stream. Amino acids are the ideal substance to make these "chelated" nutrients.

Gelatin is concentrated, relatively pure source of almost free form amino acids, it's a great booster supplement that makes the above process easier, faster and more efficient which ultimately leads to one absorbing and using more of the nutrition (especially minerals).

[Anonymous]

A little bit of healthy oil with nutrient dense meal, like spring mix salad, etc, also helps to boost the efficiency of assimilation of nutrients.

[M B]

Well, they waste 170 billion a year on beer and cigarrettes.

At least the vitamins arent killing them.

[David Thomas]

>"I knew a kid who had rickets."

There is a macro-biotic intentional community up here that had cases of rickets when they started 20-odd years ago.

>"Whole foods seem to be the best way to get your vitamins."

I consider the chances I get everything I need from:

1) a variety of specific nutrients on the package labeling, or

2) a variety of food types and colors,

and I come down on the side of 2. The number of micro-nutrients we haven't identified yet must be huge.

A varied diet first and foremost and the occasional multi-vitamin won't hurt you.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Since the US started adding folic acid to cereal, bread, pasta and the such, the sheer number of birth defect from a deficiency in the first weeks of conception has nearly disappeared. A simple changed it all – especially for the poorest and those more likely to get pregnant without planning. One cannot make up for the lack of it once pregnant, the damage will be done to the child.

I thought it interesting to note that a recent article I read in I think Time talked about Rickets making a come back in people who avoid veggies and fruits and live heavily on starches/meat. Again, easily avoided with a multivitamin in children.

Weird one in the most recent issue of The Atlantic about anemia in a remote area in Asia. Anemia in women is very dangerous (I know, I had it with 2 out 3 of my kids) and is a leading cause of pregnancy complications/loss of babies and maternal death as well as impaired function/growth in children. They found a simple way to cure it though…with fish shaped blocks of iron, that the women were instructed to add to every pot of food they cooked (take out, rinse and repeat). That simple act has nearly wiped out anemia in the women and the children. If first world countries lost their ample access to cheap animal flesh, anemia would easily creep back up here.

[Roger Caffin]

> fish shaped blocks of iron
I understand that in the UK women with anemia used to get their water from the blacksmith – the water he had used for quenching steel.
Story from someone whose great-grandfather was the village blacksmith.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

Another good book that uses scientific studies:
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-Guide-Long-Life/dp/1442364785

"My stomach can't handle acidic fruits, so to get my vitamic C, I take a horse pill.
I hate eating salads and veggies -> I take multi-vitamins.
high cholesterol -> I take Omega 3 fish oils for that delicious sardine/anchovie burp."

Those don't work. You'de be healthier to eat 5 servings of fruits/vegetables per day, 3 servings of "cold water" fish,…

Bonus – it would turn you into a liberal : )

[Elliott Wolin]

I am 60 years old and I take a multi-vitamin every day. It works out to be a few cents per day since I buy them in a large bottle at Costco. And I eat plenty (more than plenty, alas) and have a pretty varied diet. But the cost of the vitamins is so low, and since the downside of taking them is negligible, I don't care if there's a chance I'm wasting my money.

And who knows, they might even help.

[Larry De La Briandais]

"The number of micro-nutrients we haven't identified yet must be huge."

+1

Who knows what we don't know. The keep finding more and more…

My daughter gets a daily multi vitamin. Getting her to eat right is a loosing battle. Just getting her to eat it a big enough battle in itself. The vitamins are insurance.

[Anonymous]

"http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-vitamin-supplements-waste-of-money-20131217,0,3582353.story#ixzz2nndQ521m

interesting article on vitamins.Ive always thought it was bizarre to swallow pills instead of eating natural food sources."

Personally, I'd want to know a lot more about how they arrived at their conclusions and see some follow up reaction from the larger medical community before I tossed my vitamins in the garbage. This is not to say they are a substitute for a varied diet of proven healthy foods but, to paraphrase Elliot, as cheap insurance for possible trace mineral deficiencies or even major vitamins, it can't hurt in moderation. What worries me more are the mega dose vitamin preparations and other hyped up miracle supplements that are flooding the market.

[Jerry Adams]

eating dirt or sawdust in moderation can't hurt

I don't want to do things unless there's some benefit

Psycologocly, if I'm taking vitamins, maybe I won't worry about eating fruits and vegetables so much, so I won't eat as much. Eating fruits and vegetables has scientifically been proven to be beneficial. Vitamin pills, in general, not.

[BlackHatGuy]

"I don't want to do things unless there's some benefit"

Now Jerry, we both know that's not true. You vote democrat…..

[Billy Ray]

"Americans waste $28 bil a year on vitamins, doctors say"

Nutritionists rebut that Americans waste $1 Trillion a year on doctors !

Billy

[David Thomas]

>"Nutritionists rebut that Americans waste $1 Trillion a year on doctors!"

Patient: "Nutritionist, my right lower leg seem to have suffered a double fracture – I can see the broken ends of my tibia and fibula protruding through my skin."

Nutritionist: "Here are some glucosamine tablets. Under FDA regulations, I can't claim that they will fix your problem, so I'll just strongly imply that if you buy the particular brand that I sell, your leg will be fixed, your life lengthened, and you'll never need viagra again."

GNC ain't the ER.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

OK, guys….any of your ladies develop the desire to eat yuckies while pregnant? Pica is a nasty one! Anyhow, it manifests in women when they have been depleted of a needed vitamin/mineral. It can of course occur in most anyone who has a defincy.

What is funny is I knew something wasn't right when I was pregnant with my 3rd son in 2011/2012 and I was at the gym. All I could smell was iron. Luscious, intoxicating rich iron. And seriously had to fight the urge to gnaw on free weights. I had a fleeting thought that must be what a vampire would crave when they smelled blood dripping from a cut.

I went to my OB's office that day and had an anemia test pulled. I was so low it was no wonder that I could smell it. Then I ate a nearly raw filet mignon and my husband watched me warily. Never had I craved dead cow so much. It was so good smelling. Those tasty juices pooling on my plate….

Now? I can't imagine eating that. Yet I spent 7 months eating nearly raw meat with a carnivore glee. I swear the baby was so happy in me as I did. Costco made a fortune off of me those months ;-)

Lol….cracks me up. At least I wasn't eating laundry soap or something!

[Billy Ray]

Nutritionist: "Here are some glucosamine tablets. Under FDA regulations, I can't claim that they will fix your problem, so I'll just strongly imply that if you buy the particular brand that I sell, your leg will be fixed, your life lengthened, and you'll never need viagra again."

David, can you say, "beating a straw man"

Billy

[BlackHatGuy]

"David, can you say, "beating a straw man" "

They did that in the Wizard of Oz. But they had to, he was on fire.

Or are you folks talking about something else?

[David Thomas]

Billy,

From wikipedia: Hyperbole (/haɪˈpɜrbəliː/ hy-pur-bə-lee;[1] Greek: ὑπερβολή hyperbolē, "exaggeration") is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.

Sorry if it touched a nerve.

I read the article (in Annals of Internal Medicine, not the LA Times summary) and, of course, it was more nuanced – there may be a role for vitamin D supplementation in some populations.

Are you standing by your $1 trillion figure as literally true?

Then, also from wikipedia: "citation needed".

[David Thomas]

Sarah,

>"OK, guys….any of your ladies develop the desire to eat yuckies while pregnant? Pica is a nasty one! "

We're high-elevation backpackers! When we get cravings, it is for pika.

My wife felt more definitively pregnant not after the little indicator on the dipstick turned pink but when she realized chocolate was unappealing – something really had changed! She maintained her vegaquarium diet, but went a lot heavier on the red salmon.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

My first kid, I went to work and the normally awesome smell of coffee beans suddenly smelled like rotten fish. I ran a coffee house. It was fun ;-)

Mmmm….roasted Pika on a spit. 5-6 per person? ;-)

[Author]

Posts