| Vitamins and Supplements | |
As walkers, we are often even more health conscious than the general population. But not everything you buy at the vitamin shop is either worth the money you put into it or works in they way implied. What is a walker to do to weave his/her way through the hype?
Beta-carotene and Vitamin A have been touted as antioxidants that may prevent cancer and possibly cardiovascular disease. While they are readily available in foods such as carrots, squash and sweet potatoes, many people jumped at the chance to buy the straight stuff at health food and vitamin stores. Medical researchers decided to test the claim with the Beta-carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial -- involving a total of 18,314 smokers, former smokers, and workers exposed to asbestos. The incidence of lung cancer was measured against those to whom they gave a placebo. The results seen after 4 years caused the researchers to stop the experiment, because of the INCREASE in lung cancer and risk of death from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease in the group receiving beta-carotene and Vitamin A. Instead of fighting the cancer, the vitamin and supplements seem to have been adding fuel to the fire. See the abstract of the research at the New England Journal of Medicine site.
Similar results were seen in the Physicians Health Study, which followed more than 22,000 U.S. male doctors treated with 50 mg of beta carotene or placebo every other day, for an average of 12 years. Its results rule out even a slight reduction in the incidence of cancer or mortality from cardiovascular disease with supplementation.
Instead of reaching for the newest vitamin or supplement or herb to cure your ills, just eat a good balanced diet with plenty of fruits and veggies - carrots and sweet potatoes will give you plenty of beta carotene plus many other antioxidants that will perhaps work together more "naturally" than popping a concentrated pill. I have replaced regular baked potatoes in my diet with baked sweet potatoes or baked yams - Fantastic!
If you would like to look at an alternative view to the hype you find about vitamins and supplements, as well as other medical miracles, visit the Quackwatch page. A recent article there on the appropriate use of vitamins and supplements. Most people should be able to get enough vitamins from a balanced diet. Those who are on calorie-restricted diet below 1200 calories per day may need a multi-vitamin. Women planning to become pregnant may need a folic acid supplement to ensure against neural-tube birth defects. Many women should consider a calcium supplement. But unless you have had a specific syndrome diagnosed, you likely do not need further supplements.
I dislike taking pills - I choke on them. While I am a skeptic about supplements, I have been intrigued by the hype about gingko bilboa. Then I looked at the price tag and choked on more than just the pills! So instead of paying $30 or more a month to buy pills to see if gingko does anything it is claimed to do, or searching the neighborhood to see if anybody had a gingko tree I could start chewing on, I found "Think" bars at my local Trader Joe's store. Since they seemed to have a good mixture of protein and carbohydrate and other vitamins, I tried them at breakfast for a month. I note a certain zippiness after eating one for breakfast - which likely comes from the caffeine-like effect of the ginseng in it. I also noted a real draggy feeling when I ran out of bars for a couple of days. Maybe I'm addicted! Anyway, I have restocked and will continue this experiment in chewable, chocolate-flavored breakfast-substitute herbal supplement bars. Mostly because they aren't expensive, are handy, and do make me feel zippier.
Dr. Dean Edell often asks on his radio show: If alternative medicine works, why don't we have alternative car repair shops, holistic engineering, or naturopathic space flights? The scientific method works, don't discount traditional medicine. If you want to try vitamins, supplements, herbs, etc. be an informed consumer. Ask about double-blind studies, not just recommendations from the guy behind the vitamin counter. A great article at the Quackwatch site, "Don't Trust Advice from Health Food Retailers" lists over a dozen different studies by folks such as the National Enquirer, FDA, CBS to see what sort of advice they got from nutritionists and health food store workers. "The Bottom Line: Remember that the vast majority of people who work at health-food stores have no formal training in nutrition or health care and are not qualified to give advice about health matters. If you have a health problem, see a qualified physician. For advice about your diet, a registered dietitian is usually the best choice."
My registered dietitian friends are more than happy to assess your nutritional status, determine if you have any problems that could be helped by a different diet, and help steer you towards a diet that will give you all the vitamins you need. The American Dietetic Association site (cutely named www.eatright.org) has great articles and can help you find a registered dietitian in your area. I work at a medical center and am in daily contact with registered dietitians who ensure our patients recover from malnutrition or are given diets that will promote their healing and recovery from a variety of diseases. A benefit of eating the right foods is that the food includes hundreds of other variations of the vitamin, ones that science and health food sellers haven't yet captured and stuck into a pill. Get the real thing - good food for good nutrition and health.
