Does Anybody Really Need Suplements?

 

More than half of all American adults take a supplement product every day, a figure that rises to over 70% among those aged 65 or older. In fact, the use of supplements is so widespread, it has become a $37 billion business. What benefits are people expecting from this? Is it sensible or just a huge marketing triumph and waste of money?

You will often hear that supplementing is a waste of money because we can get all the nutrition that we ever need from our food. This is true. In an ideal world, we'd all be eating copious amounts a variety of nutrient-dense foods such as fruits and vegetables and getting all the essential vitamins and nutrients our bodies need for optimal health. But, here on planet Earth, we're far from that healthful eating ideal.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans, on average, eat only about one fruit and one or two vegetables on a typical day. This helps explain why millions of people fall short of the recommended intakes of some vitamins and minerals. For instance, more than 1 in 3 children and teens (ages 9 to 18) don't meet recommended intakes for calcium and vitamin D, according to a study in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Fortification efforts, such as the Food and Drug Administration's requirement that folic acid be added to many cereals and breads, have paid off. Folate levels in women increased by 50 percent between 1993 and 2006. This is critical, since folate helps prevent birth defects. But wait! Isn't adding folate to bread, well, supplementation?

This is the best justification for regularly taking a nutritional supplement - taking a daily multivitamin with minerals may be helpful in closing the gap between what we need and what we actually eat.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that supplements helped adults meet the recommended intake of certain minerals, such as calcium and magnesium in men and women, as well as iron for women. Another study by the National Institutes of Health found that in children and teenagers (ages 9 to 18), taking supplements added nutrients (for example, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamins A, C, and E) for which intakes would have been inadequate from food alone. 

Even those of us who eat a well balanced diet of clean foods may still be missing some key nutrients. Unless you happen to be eating soy, kale, collards, okra and pomegranats you may be coming up short on Vitamin K. Not eating a lot of Brazilnuts, spinach or oatmeal? You may be shortchanging yourself on selenium.

If you have the time and tools to accurately track your micronutrient intake and the ambition to carefully plan and prepare your meals, then the odds are good a supplement would not do you much good. For the rest of us, they are a sensible, affordable insurance policy against dietary deficiency.