> Tyler Lees-Schmut (Author)
There’s so much interest in nutrition these days
as a topic with such abundant information, there seems to be more and more confusion and over-complication on the matter.
One of the sub-sections of nutrition that people have the potential to get too caught up in is supplementation.
Most adults in North America take some form of nutritional supplement.
The problem lies in people taking too many/not really researching or knowing the ones they actually need for their body.
Let’s dispel a few myths surrounding supplements.
ONE.
Supplements such as a multivitamin can help prevent or manage diseases like heart disease or diabetes.
That is false.
Fact is, multivitamins are not intended to treat any specific health issue.
Supplements are not medications. They are simply intended to fill in any nutritional gaps in a well rounded diet. With all this information flying around about certain superfoods that can prevent cancer, combined with widespread distaste of putting oneself or one’s loved ones through the western medical system – its easy to see how one could take to supplements.
The closest supplements come to being medications is that they can fortify your bodies natural immune processes so that your body can do its natural god given job properly: that is, to eradicate any infection.
TWO.
That supplements can make up for diet flaws.
Again, False.
You still need a well rounded diet. Period.
If you replace food with supplements you run the risk of consuming too much. There is such a thing as an upper limit. If we can’t absorb it all, it gets stored in fat and your body becomes toxic. Do what evolution wrote for us, and get what you need from food first.
THREE.
The best supplements are the ones labeled “all natural”.
In actuality, the only part of the label that matters is the nutritional label.
What is happening here is a sales gimmick to exploit people’s new obsession on ‘organic’ and ‘all natural’. At best, there are trace amounts of those ingredients when they are listed.
What we need to look for is generally a 100-300% range of RDI on whatever the intended main ingredient of the supplement was in the first place.
FOUR.
When people hear that a supplement has proven health benefits, they stock up immediately.
In fact the human body is a complex and very specified machine.
Just like with an exercise, you wouldn’t prescribe everyone the exact same deadlift protocol or squat protocol – Same with supplements – You have to KNOW what our body needs and what it’s chemistry can deal with.
FIVE.
Multiple single source supplements are better than one multivitamin.
The fact is, a good quality multivitamin is good for the majority of adults.
Vitamin and mineral requirements for most adults can be met with a multivitamin (remember food first!) + with a little extra B12, which is good for neurological functions and red blood cell count.
Four exceptions:
- Calcium,
- Magnesium,
- Vitamin D
- Omega 3
These need to be obtained individually from a single source.
Take home to all this is to FOCUS ON FOOD FIRST.
Figure out exactly what blood work tells you you need and save your wallet and more importantly your guts from an over abundance of supplements.
Stay strong people!!
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