Do You Need to Take Supplements?

By Michael D. Seidman, M.D., FACS

As anyone who has tried to sort out conflicting medical studies knows, there is little agreement among members of the scientific community in regard to what is “healthy.” This has created a difficult situation for the public. They are faced with experts who contradict one another, as well as research far too complex for the ordinary person to decipher.

The pros and cons of supplementing with vitamins, minerals and similar substances are no less confusing. In spite of thousands of studies examining the effects of various supplements, experts still disagree.

It is clear that proper nutrition is essential for optimum health. We need to eat from the basic food groups, and consume significant amounts of fruits and vegetables as part of a sensible diet. Unfortunately, the Standard American Diet, with its emphasis on processed and prepared foods and large amounts of fat, salt and refined ingredients, does not come close to meeting these standards. The majority of Americans are clearly not going to obtain adequate nutrition from this diet.

To complicate matters, more than 60 percent of Americans are now considered overweight or obese, and roughly the same proportion of the population is sedentary. Stress, another major health factor, takes a toll on nutritional status, as does aging.

While genetics certainly play a role in health, we do not have the option of changing our genes, at present. Meanwhile, many of the health issues we face are social and lifestyle choices. The end result can be seen in these statistics: Cancer—the second most common cause of death in the United States—claims more than 550,000 lives each year. Yet two-thirds of these cancer deaths are considered preventable through lifestyle changes—quitting smoking and all tobacco use, consuming 5 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, reducing intake of meat, fatty foods and dairy products, exercising moderately and supplementing appropriately.

Here again, we have controversy over how to define “supplementing appropriately.” I think it’s important to remember that the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)—now known as the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI)—were established in 1941 to meet the needs of most healthy people. While these recommendations are updated every ten years, they are neither minimal requirements nor optimal levels. In fact, they are simply educated guesses. Meanwhile, there is compelling science to suggest that many of the nutrients found in routine supplements could be taken at much higher doses with an excellent safety profile and significant health benefits.

Is it possible to get sufficient quantities of nutrients from a healthy diet? To answer that question, let’s use vitamin E as an example. Oregon State University’s Moret Traber dispels this notion when she states: “To obtain enough vitamin E from food to attain a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease, you’d need to consume 9 tablespoons of olive oil, 75 slices of whole wheat bread, 40 almonds or 200 peanuts each and every day.”

Since it appears to be difficult, at best, to get a beneficial amount of vitamin E from food, what should the supplement dosage be? There have been numerous studies to show that an increased intake of antioxidants, such as vitamin E, reduces heart disease and the risk of stroke, Alzheimer’s and cancer. Vitamin E has also been shown to increase immune function and reduce exercise-related free radical damage. When it comes to precise dosage, however, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. The DRI recommends 30 IU, a figure considered too low by many health experts. Indeed, some clinical trials suggest 800 to 1,200 IU may be required to affect cardiovascular health, particularly in patients who already have the disease.

Then how do we explain conflicting findings? For example, a recent meta-analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins, which reviewed 19 previously published articles involving roughly 136,000 patients, suggests that consuming more than 400 IU of vitamin E per day may increase the risk of dying by 10 percent. While the media pounced on the “bad news” aspect of the story, the truth is the research had shortcomings. First, it consisted largely of older individuals who were already suffering chronic illness of one sort or another, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, kidney disease requiring dialysis, as well as a group of smokers. It’s difficult to imagine that vitamin E alone could improve the health of these individuals. Second, from a statistician’s viewpoint, mixing such a wide assortment of studies together can produce meaningless results.

Note, too, that the Johns Hopkins researchers themselves pointed out that most of the patients in these trials had chronic illness and were over the age of 60. As a result, the authors observed that the study’s findings may not necessarily apply to younger, healthy individuals.

Of course, not all studies are inconclusive. Studies like this, which cost millions of dollars and take many years to complete, are to be encouraged. But in the meantime, there is compelling evidence in smaller clinical trials that is relevant, reasonable and should cause us to change the way we think about diet and nutritional supplementation.

A final thought: Over the last 12 years, the average annualized mortality rates secondary to vitamins have been attributed to be one death per year, and herbs at three deaths per year. On the other hand, 400,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking, and another 400,000 to poor diet. It should also be noted that pharmaceutical errors cause approximately 100,000 deaths per year. The bottom line is that there is an extremely remote likelihood that one would be hurt by taking nutritional supplements, and there is certainly compelling scientific data to support their use.

(Disclosure: I, Michael D. Seidman, have been designing nutritional supplements since 1981, and I also have a strong background on herbs. I have developed several patents related to nutritional supplements and am the Founder and CEO of Body Language Vitamin Company.)

Dr. Michael Seidman is the Director of Otologic/Neurotologic Surgery and Director of the Center for Complementary & Integrative Medicine in Northville (Henry Ford Health System). Contact him at bodlang@aol.com.