Making sense of supplements
How often have you bought a nutritional supplement, only you to take it a couple of times and then shove it to the back of the cupboard and forget about it? Multivitamins, fish oils, green powders and probiotics are just the start.
Most of us have been seduced into buying supplements with life-affirming promises of better digestion, improved immunity, glowing skin or balanced hormones, but how do we know if what we buy is doing us any good?
The first thing to remember is that supplements do what they say on the tin – they are a supplement to a decent diet, not a replacement! They have their place but will never compensate for a diet of ultra processed food, lack of healthy food in your diet, or skipping meals altogether.
Do we really need to supplement?
I would argue that a few carefully chosen nutritional supplements can have health benefits. It all depends on which ones you choose and when you take them. Our diets are lacking and we know that the level of micronutrients like magnesium, calcium, copper, potassium and iron have have declined by 14-55% since the 1940s. This is partly to do with soil quality, varieties of crops being produced and changes in farming methods.
Add to this the increased nutritional demands from modern day living, increased stress, medications and health conditions, and we could do with a bit of a nutritional boost.
You get what you pay for
Although you don’t need to spend all your pocket money on the shiniest, most expensive products, either will you get much benefit form taking the cheapest supermarket own brand multi.
Buy from a health food shop
Most towns in Northern Ireland have a great, local independent health food shop. Shop local, support small businesses and buy from these places. The staff have a wealth of knowledge and experience will be able to advise you on the best supplement for your needs.
The chances are that you will also be getting better quality, and therefore more effective supplements.
Check the ingredients list
Many nutritional supplements contain ingredients like talc, palm oil, sugar or artificial sweeteners and a whole load of other junk that your body doesn’t need. These ingredients will either add bulk, colour, flavouring or sweetness. Many of the ingredients have potentially harmful effects for our health – kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?!
Read the small print. Take a look at the ingredients list and steer clear of products with ingredients like:
Sugar, glucose syrup, malt syrup and dextrose
Artificial sweeteners like sucralose or aspartame
Emulsifiers e.g. Polysorbate 80
Artificial Preservatives e.g. sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate
Magnesium stearate
Titanium dioxide
Talc
Palm oil
Don’t take minerals on their own
Sometimes clients come to me with a bag full of supplements that they have bought to ask me what they really need to be taking. Often there are things like iron tables, zinc supplements, and a whole range of other individual nutrients. Nutrients work synergistically, so they are more effective when taken as a complex, rather than as individual nutrients. In fact, taking individual nutrients could be more harmful than helpful.
When we cherry pick our nutrients, we could be knocking something else out of balance. Taking high levels of one mineral that shares a receptor site or transport mechanism with a different mineral could lead to imbalances. For example, taking too much iron could affect our calcium levels.
Take as instructed
Most supplements are best taken with food, to help optimise absorption. Check the directions on the pack and take according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Take the right ones
Less is more when it comes to nutritional supplements. I would suggest taking a decent multivitamin, chosen to match your needs (e.g. female multi, men’s multi, menopause, vegan/vegetarian, over 50’s), along with a good omega 3 sourced from either fish oil or algae of you are vegetarian and extra vitamin D until the sun starts to shone again.
Drug-nutrient interactions
On saying all of that, remember that there are lots of interactions when it comes to medications and nutritional supplements, so always check with your GP or pharmacist before taking nutritional supplements alongside any medication you are prescribed.
Think food first!
Remember that a nutritional supplement can never outweigh an unhealthy diet, so make a few healthy changes to your daily habits and pack more nutrition into your day before you reach for the supplements.