Research Study States that Supplements are Harmful.... Really?

 Hi Robin, I'm glad what I suspected when I heard this covered on the news was the case -- it sounded VERY suspicious to me. However, I'm only glad that my radar was right, I'm VERY NOT GLAD that the public gets inundated by poor reporting by the media!  And beyond VERY NOT GLAD that this type of bogus 'research' is going on and being given any visibility at all!    The reason for my emotion about this, is I see so many people who are really suffering with health issues that have been caused by poor information and reporting and education in the past!  It's heartbreaking!  

I believe there's going to be a growing 'fight' over supplements; I know that the reason "Vitamin Cottage" changed their name to "Natural Grocers" had to do with their marketing/legal people seeing what was coming down the track, and I'd talked with them two years ago about that.  The good news is, that the public demand is leading providers into becoming knowledgeable about supplements; I am concerned that the providers selling supplements, which has been increasingly the case, is going to eventually create the same problems we had when the pharmaceutical industry got so 'close' to physicians and other prescribing providers financially.  It clouds the judgment, money does.  

I know that if a doctor says to me "I think you could benefit from taking this supplement, I think you can get it at the health food store", that seems 100% unbiased.  If they said "... you can buy it from me", I'd have to be wondering about it.  And that was a real example from last week with me, my osteopath suggested two things for my seasonal allergies (quercitin and a nasal spray developed by a DO)(it worked wonderfully by the way!)

That's why I'd like to see providers setting their patients up with resources for purchasing supplements that have NO connection to them financially.  I've been part of a start-up clinic; the costs are staggering, and a way to offset that and be able to have the doors open and lights on without charging each patient MORE, is to have them purchase their supplements there rather than elsewhere.  Which is awesome if it's convenient AND the provider is being ethical in how and what they suggest to the patient. 

I would like to see doctors getting to know you and the other supplement resource on Lumigrate (ITC Pharmacy), or simply knowing Lumigrate and that we have quality providers, and refer people here.  We also have a link to a very well respected natural foods/supplement vendor who ships nation-wide, but if people need assistance with what to select, I'm not as comfortable with who answers the questions as I am if they call you or the guys at ITC.  

I'm not 'immersed' in the supplement world like you are since I'm immersed in Lumigrate and covering ALL aspects of mind/body/soul 'integrative' medicine, but I like to think I know a fair amount about all topics being covered, and I do have a lot more information 'on hand' and 'in head' that I post on Lumigrate.  One example that pertains to this discussion is the study that was done on publications that professional medical people subscribe to: There was an inverse relationship of # of advertisements from the pharmaceutical industry and # articles about nutrition supplementation.  So when I heard on the news about the study that you're referring to in your piece, I naturally ALWAYS try to think 'who was behind the study, who was funding the study'.  I hope everyone does this as they become savvier health care consumers! 

In my research class in OT school I had buddied up to some of the top male students in the class, as we were doing EVERYTHING in group projects to make the grading easier on the instructors.  There were about 10 of us that were older, didn't have kids, and hung out on weekends cooking and playing Pictionary; we'd had a great year of fun and learning.  The topic we decided on to research was 'depression' and if running/exercise had an impact.  

Well, I had been into yoga for a while by then .. about five years.  I'd actually stopped when I was having the onset of what turned out to be fibromyalgia; I'd been unaware of a herniated disk in my neck and was actually unknowingly antagonizing it with my yoga practice and gym workout (and had been riding my bike a LOT, even doing a tour of Alaska). So I dug into research about yoga and depression/mental health/well-being and found a lot of evidence that indicated yoga was JUST as effective in affecting people's depression as doing something more physical.  

But that wasn't the answer one of the guys in the group had; he had a history of depression and had taken to running and found it very effective.  I found it unbelievable how he was letting his opinion affect the facts! It was only EGO involved, too, there was no MONEY involved!   Since I'd worked for 8 years with some of the top air quality scientists in the United States and was involved in producing the research once it came out of the brainiacs computers and printers, for publications to print, I knew that my little OT class research group was not being unbiased.  I figured it would not be in their best interests to start their career without my version of the experience and gave them my feedback.  

That was ONE of MANY hidden treasures in my education in the mid 1990s at one of the top-rated OT programs in the country at the time.  I'm very concerned about the quality of the providers the people in the United States are interacting with, overall. That is why I work so hard to sort out those who contribute at Lumigrate and why I VERY MUCH VALUE your background education in science and work history in medical research.  

Again, THANK YOU for this piece, as I quite frankly am shocked when I see the poor quality of supplements that many people have been using; they're clearly not 'invested' in supplementing their nutrition by purchasing those brands in the first place, and I could envision people reading or hearing of this study that was widely publicized in the media due to it's WOW factor, and people throwing the whole concept out the window.  

I clearly believe that supplementation is critical for ideal health and more importantly health of the whole body with longevity/advancing age. Doing it "correctly" is the key. At least perhaps there is now some evidence about how supplementing incorrectly is not beneficial -- the details about iron in older women, above, is a case in point! Thank you for providing them for us to follow!  ~~ Mardy