Supplements
3.3 - Should I Take Supplements?
Video Transcript: 2
The global market for vitamins and supplements was $180 billion in 2023, despite research showing that these supplements do not make us healthier. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has stated that there is “insufficient evidence for using supplements.” And yet the market is projected to continue growing. The reason may be that the public is confused about what preventive healthcare is, and we are exposed to that confusion throughout our lives. After all, it is not just the supplement industry feeding us misleading information about preventive healthcare; it is also every mainstream healthcare provider we talk to, every trainer in the gym, and every mom on the playground. Our experiences with all of these well-intentioned individuals inform our decision to take supplements. Additionally, the supplement industry is largely unregulated, giving them carte blanche to make claims about their products that go mostly unchallenged.
As Dr. Campbell discusses in The China Study and elsewhere, nutrients taken in isolation sometimes act differently in our bodies than the same nutrients consumed in whole foods. Isolated nutrients can even be dangerous. Several studies on supplements had to be stopped prematurely when researchers noticed an increase in deaths from those taking the supplements. He goes on to say that taking supplements “diverts our attention away from eating whole foods, and they offer no long term benefit to our health.”
So, supplements do not confer superior health, but what about using them to prevent short-term deficiency? And what about those of us who adopt a WFPB diet? Dr. Campbell and Thomas Campbell II, MD, cover this in The China Study, concluding that there are only four nutrients not found in plant-based foods: cholesterol and vitamins A, D, and B12. Our bodies produce all the cholesterol we need, make vitamin A from beta-carotene supplied by plant foods, and synthesize vitamin D from moderate sunshine exposure. Vitamin B12 is the only vitamin we need to supplement. If you feel that you might be vitamin deficient, talk to your primary care provider.
Video Transcript: 2
The global market for vitamins and supplements was $180 billion in 2023, despite research showing that these supplements do not make us healthier. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has stated that there is “insufficient evidence for using supplements.” And yet the market is projected to continue growing. The reason may be that the public is confused about what preventive healthcare is, and we are exposed to that confusion throughout our lives. After all, it is not just the supplement industry feeding us misleading information about preventive healthcare; it is also every mainstream healthcare provider we talk to, every trainer in the gym, and every mom on the playground. Our experiences with all of these well-intentioned individuals inform our decision to take supplements. Additionally, the supplement industry is largely unregulated, giving them carte blanche to make claims about their products that go mostly unchallenged.
As Dr. Campbell discusses in The China Study and elsewhere, nutrients taken in isolation sometimes act differently in our bodies than the same nutrients consumed in whole foods. Isolated nutrients can even be dangerous. Several studies on supplements had to be stopped prematurely when researchers noticed an increase in deaths from those taking the supplements. He goes on to say that taking supplements “diverts our attention away from eating whole foods, and they offer no long term benefit to our health.”
So, supplements do not confer superior health, but what about using them to prevent short-term deficiency? And what about those of us who adopt a WFPB diet? Dr. Campbell and Thomas Campbell II, MD, cover this in The China Study, concluding that there are only four nutrients not found in plant-based foods: cholesterol and vitamins A, D, and B12. Our bodies produce all the cholesterol we need, make vitamin A from beta-carotene supplied by plant foods, and synthesize vitamin D from moderate sunshine exposure. Vitamin B12 is the only vitamin we need to supplement. If you feel that you might be vitamin deficient, talk to your primary care provider.