By Bob Livingston
Whenever you go to any kind of medical facility for the first time, you’re asked to fill out pages of information about your health issues. You’re always asked about medications you take… and you’re also asked to list any supplements.
Have you ever wondered if the health care provider really knows enough about those supplements — what they are for and how they should be used? Probably not.
We’re supposed to trust the medical establishment while expecting practitioners to know about all aspects of healthy living. But they’re never taught about supplements. Sure, they know vitamin E and omega-3s can thin the blood, so they advise you stop taking it before surgery.
Otherwise, they consider many nutrients a danger. Vitamin D? No sir, not without a prescription. Vitamin A? Beware. CoQ10? They consider it a waste. Dentists get angry if you mention it to them. Physicians are taught that not only do most natural supplements not work but they must prescribe chemical concoctions to cure what ails the patient. That’s what they learn in medical training and what they know how to do. And when they do prescribe medications, they are playing right into the hands of the pharmaceutical industry.
Why medical professionals resist alternative medicine
A conventional doctor generally won’t choose to go against the medical establishment because he thinks touting natural remedies can be risky. But while supplements are not regulated the same way as prescription drugs, they are heavily regulated. Quality control for the best manufacturers is stringent even though the mainstream would like you to believe it’s not true. News reports constantly tell you how they’ve found this or that supplement that doesn’t contain the ingredients on the label, or has more.
As far as supplements go, manufacturing standards are very strict and purity of contents is indeed regulated by law. Contamination with other ingredients (or bacteria), a lower percentage of the active ingredient than advertised, or just plain ineffectiveness have happened on occasion for low-quality manufacturers, but not in general.
The medical community seizes on those instances, even though we know that incorrect usage and allergic reactions from prescription drugs can have catastrophic and deadly results. Of course the news media generally — and conveniently — leave out that many drugs are fake, or tainted and either uninspected or blatantly allowed through to consumers.
How many people have died from taking even one nutrient? Zero.
For all the hand-wringing, predictions of catastrophe and strong-worded reservations, a recent study of all poisonings shows there has not been a single death traced to the use of nutritional supplements. Meanwhile, prescription drugs — those properly prescribed — account for 128,000 deaths and 2.74 million serious adverse reactions each year.
A modern need
Many doctors wishfully think that people can get all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients they need to stay healthy from food. But just look at the chemical burden we’re now under, and the shape of our population, and you can see that consuming “healthy diet” according to the mainstream isn’t working. Optimal nutrition, the level required to prevent chronic degenerative diseases, simply isn’t happening through food alone for most Americans.
This means that we need to supplement some of the things that have been deliberately taken from our diet (omega-3s) and what’s missing (minerals from vegetables due to overfertilizing and overfarming).
The amount of any supplement you take and how often or for how long can also be factors you should consider. Even though supplements are made from natural ingredients, there are safe limits for many of the herbal supplements, although this doesn’t necessarily apply to essential nutrients. For example, herbs that are intended for external use, such as comfrey, obviously should not be ingested. Also, what is safe for one person may not be for another, depending on your individual health situation.
Ensuring quality of supplements you take
When you buy vitamins, minerals or herbs, you should check that they are produced by reputable companies and are of consistently high quality. By law, manufacturers of dietary supplements are responsible for making sure their products are safe and claims on labels are accurate and truthful.
Because the Federal Drug Administration only acts if there is a complaint about safety or effectiveness of dietary supplements once they are on the market, independent testing organizations are filling the gap to ensure quality of supplements.
These organizations have labs that test products and validate that the manufacturer adheres to appropriate measures of purity, potency and bioavailability, and you can at any time ask to see a certificate of analysis from the seller of your supplements.
Symbols to look for include USP, the trademark of U.S. Pharmacopeia, an organization that sets standards for dietary supplements. NSF is another logo that assures the product has been tested by NSF International, a respected independent certification organization.
You don’t want simply the absence of any sickness, which is what mainstream medicine tells you that you should want. No, you want optimal health. That means eating foods as close to their natural state as possible — raw whole foods — and using natural supplements to fill in where necessary, for example in the case of many vegetables without enough minerals because of the way they are farmed, or in the way of improving the health of the entire body.
