A friend told me today that she didn’t believe in supplements as she felt taking them would be too time restrictive and that a balanced diet should be sufficient to keep her in optimal health.
But what is a balanced diet? My friends and clients often tell me that they eat “healthily” and I myself used to say this when, before I embarked on my journey of naturopathy and nutrition – my diet was (now I know!) not that great! We usually compare what we eat to what is commonly defined as “healthy”, just as many people think that their symptoms (may it be baby colic, or dark rings under the eyes) are “normal” and therefore not worth thinking about it because other people are having them too.
Of course, what we eat is hugely important as the father of modern medicine Hippocrates believed when he said: “food should be your medicine” and that “medicine should be your food”. But we don’t have the same food these days. Decades of intensive farming practices have depleted the soil of essential nutrients. Now, plants are grown on the same lands year after year and end up containing a decreasing number of minerals, vitamins and even microbes. The animals that eat these foods become malnourished and, in turn, their meat and milk provides less value to humans. This also affects the quality of green powders which many people take to as an addition to their diet.
We also absorb less as we age due to a lowered production of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes though this can happen for a variety of reasons at any time, as I myself have experienced several years ago. And often, because so many of us have been exposed to antibiotics and all sorts of medications, our guts and livers may be damaged which means, in turn, that nutrients are not being absorbed well. People with compromised digestion may be eating the healthiest foods in the world and still not benefitting from their goodness; and, equally, they wouldn’t get much out of even the best supplements. In such cases, it would make more sense to treat the digesting function as a priority.
It is not surprising that every study of people’s eating habits in the UK shows that even those who say they eat a balanced diet fail to meet the basic RDAs (Recommended Daily Allowances). It’s important to mention that RDAs are mostly designed to keep diseases such as scurvy at bay and are not designed to resolve chronic health problems. These deficiencies may show up as less that optimal learning outcomes in children, skin conditions such as eczema, tiredness, frequent infections, menstrual pains, miscarriages, and even as our ability to cope with stressful situations. For instance, the very common iodine deficiency has been linked to cognitive delay in children as well as breast pain and breast cancer in women – this lack of iodine in our diets comes both from depleted soils as well as having chlorine and fluoride in our water supplies which interfere with iodine absorption.
Some researchers say that supplementation is not safe. Not all supplements are equal, many people are self-supplementing, and many supplements contain tons of ingredients which would never be consumed all at once at a dinner table! Are we creating a bizarre mix of biochemical reactions with unknown workings in the body? Probiotics also have now a very firm place in our culture and I often hear people telling me that they are giving probiotics to their children as a daily fix for almost anything. And yet the human microbiome is still in many ways a mystery.
There is also a vast difference between synthetic supplements and those made from real foods. Synthetic versions of nutrients are made to mimic what occurs in nature, and are usually not utilized as well as food-grown nutrients are. Food-grown supplements are made from bonding vitamins and minerals into a live food cell which then absorbs them into itself becoming a structure that the human body can recognize and matabolize.
Each person is biochemically different and will have unique nutrient requirements depending on their health and also their lifestyle – are they breastfeeding, do they have young children waking them up at night, do they smoke, do they work long hours, are they stressed? Without detailed functional testing it is not possible to know what each person may need. What may be right for one person, may not work for another. My father, for instance, uses a pendulum to check if something will benefit him or whether it is has a potential to induce unwanted side effects. There are other methods, including kinesiology, to check whether someone can benefit from a specific brand of supplements, which also acknowledges the energetic side of pills and foods. Generally, the choice is done by an experienced practitioner based on the client’s health history and presenting condition keeping at the same time an eye on any reactions to the prescribed supplements. On a personal note, my personal lab tests showed that I had a greater requirement for certain nutrients including Pyridoxine – when I run out of my B vitamins earlier this summer I decided to see how I would be feeling without the supplementation – amazingly I did experience noticeable fatigue within only 2 days of not taking Pyridoxine, and noticed a remarkable jump in energy on the first day of taking it again. This makes sense as I have a greater need for B vitamins as a busy mama of 3 young children. To support my health, I also regularly take vitamin C and Magnesium, and I can almost instantly feel the difference when I don’t.
I’d be really interested to hear your experience with supplementation. What supplements do you take and why? Do you run regular tests to check your nutrient status?
References
Council on Environmental Health. Iodine Deficiency, pollutant chemicals, and the thyroid: new information on an old problem. Pediatrics, 2014, May 2016. Pii: peds. 2014-0900.
The Telegraph. Healthy eating message failing to get across as numbers of people eating five-a-day falls. 9 Sept 2016.
