New York Times Vitamin Article Commentary

A recent article suggests that taking vitamins is a waste of time and money. The article is a response to research articles that need vigorous critique and clarification.

Objective Testing Should Be Used To Help Determine Supplement Types

The medical community is not up to speed on using blood testing or neurotransmitter testing to check physiology to determine the need for specific support. In our clinic we test, treat and then retest. We can spot trends before they become pathology and very often give the body the support it needs. If budgets permit, we retest to make sure that the nutritional supplements are giving us the desired effect.

Synthetic ""Vitamins"" Are Not Vitamins

This seems like a simple concept but that is not what this medical research is testing. On the contrary these studies generally look at cheap, synthetic vitamins and then compare different disease rates over time. One recent study of a large number of men taking synthetic vitamin E found that the men taking the E had a higher rate of prostate cancer than those not taking that form of E. They concluded that taking vitamin E was therefore contraindicated.

Synthetic E is NOT Vitamin E and Shouldn't Be Confused With the Real Thing

This study is typical in that what they were confirming is that synthetic E is toxic and increases disease rates. They shouldn't have made any connection what-so-ever between the safety or health benefits of natural forms of vitamin E that have been shown to be beneficial in countless other studies. The conclusion should have been that synthetic E is dangerous and should not be certified for human consumption. Synthetic E is a by-product of industrial chemical processes.

Flatworms Studies on Antioxidants Is Ridiculous

One other commonly quoted study of antioxidants used flatworms as the study subjects. Turns out that these flatworms actually did better without the addition of antioxidants to their environment. What can we learn from this for human physiology? Not much if anything at all. Applying lessons from animal studies to humans has proved to be notoriously unsatisfying in many cases.

Glutathione Levels Must Be Considered

Also a study of antioxidants should take into account some basic knowledge of how they work, that is they depend on glutathione levels to be effective. Any study that adds vitamin E, C, super oxide dismutase, coenzyme Q-10 or others without measuring to be certain that a person has adequate levels of glutathione is bound to give some disappointing results.

Let's say we do a complete blood test and see signs that the liver is stressed, problems with red blood cell size and amount of hemoglobin and maybe some blood sugar control issues. The most common approach in medicine is to do nothing and wait until it becomes a more serious problem and then prescribe the appropriate drug. This approach is the most common in spite of the fact that at least 100,000 people die a year in the US from ""properly"" prescribed drugs.

Test, Treat and Retest is a Very Simple Concept

We prefer to find signs of stress as mentioned above, apply supplement therapy to support the stressed pathways and then then retest to see if those lab values are coming back into range or not. This approach should seem as a mind numbingly obviously better path to health.

In these blood tests we can test two different supplements that are directly related to dietary intake, vitamin D and magnesium. Dietary levels of calcium cannot be correlated with a blood test as the body has many mechanisms to stabilize blood levels regardless of how many mg you take per day.

Vitamin D Considerations

Vitamin D levels in the blood are usually directly linked to the amount of D3 taken in a supplement form. Sure the body does make vitamin D on the skin but some studies indicate that most of that is used on the skin to minimize damage from the UV light itself.

When we test, we often see vitamin D levels closer to 20 than the 80 we like to see in a healthy person. It often takes supplementation of 10,000 IU's per day or more to get past 40 or 50. The NIH recommends keeping blood levels above 50 and below 125. So you want to get your vitamin D from food? Cod liver oil is your best bet. Most people would rather take a couple of small capsules rather than choke down the cod liver oil.

Magnesium Levels Must Be Good

Magnesium is another critical component of diet as obviously you aren't going to make this in your body unless you have a star going supernova in there someplace. Again we see a lot of people with a relatively healthy diet with lower than ideal levels of magnesium. Magnesium is used in about 300 different cell reactions every moment so falling behind here will have consequences.

What Counts Is What Your Body Wants

Therefore, saying that taking vitamins is a waste of time and money doesn't take into account the individual physiological needs of the person. We can facilitate testing for very reasonable rates so you can be sure that you are really getting the supplements that YOUR body requires to be its best.