What do you all think of this CNN article on vitamins and supplements:


http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/health...html?hpt=hp_t1


David

It is a typical anti-supplement article. These crop up now and then mostly paid for by special interest groups.

What we do here, is enable healing. Multivitamins have always been on the chopping block however.

This article does not state the NIH position that people over 50 should take supplements of B12.

So many of our OTC products now are drugs that were previously on RX only. Many of these actually deplete vitamins and minerals.

No mention of course of that in this article.

Doctors will fixate on this and turn around and prescribe statins to you which are cellular poisons! Or Cipro or Levaquin...when less toxic antibiotics could possibly work instead.

Interesting article. People who are deficient in a certain vitamin/vitamins should probably supplement with that vitamin/vitamins. Otherwise taking a multivitamin does not make sense. A person needs to know what vitamin they are deficient in. Guess I'm of the few who do not drink coke or other or eat twinkies and the rest of the junk stuff.

I don't give much credit to this article. I do think some vitamins are junk. There are many brands that are good. My Naturapathic doctor did a blood test that showed I have a defective gene where I can't convert folic acid to be absorbed by the body. I now take L-5MTHF and vitamin B12 shots.
My mom asked her family doctor about this defective gene and he blew her off and said if she did have it nothing could be done about it. Folic acid deficiency can include: macrocytic, anemia, fatigue, irritability, peripheral neurophy,tendon hyper-reflexivity, restless legs syndrome, diarrhea, weight loss, insomnia, depression, dementia, cognitive disturbances, and psychiatric disorders.
Many conditions are caused and could be treated with vitamins and supplements.

I agree, people like myself have to supplement with iron. Soon, I begin b12. Maybe if said person is in tip top health, with no issues, it is a waste of money?!..

I only listen to integrative MD's on this subject, they know about diet and supplements, prevention of illness, etc.

It's old news. I agree that people who are healthy with no medical conditions who eat a well-balanced diet, don't drink [excessively] or smoke, and get regular exercise probably don't need to take a multivitamin.

Anyone here meet that description?

From the article:
Doc

... I agree !!

I believe that if you are eating a diet with plenty of unprocessed plant foods then you do not need a multi-vitamin, but you probably do need a B-12 supplement. Taking a multi-vitamin will not provide you with nutrition the way that plant foods will. You may get 15 or 20 nutrients from a pill, but whole plant foods will provide you with thousands of nutrients, many of which work synergistically. Long-term good health will not come from a pill. Now if you believe you need higher levels of certain nutrients for a chronic condition, I can understand that. Some PN sufferers benefit from B-6, B-12, multi-B vitamin, vitamin E, folate, magnesium, essential fatty acids, inositol, alpha-lipoic acid, evening primrose oil, borage oil, acetyl-l-arginine, etc.
Ron