That is a LOT of supplements.
At this point in my life, after cycling on and off supplements for 25+ years, I'm biased against the use of most supplements. Most, but not all.
One reason is that, in the vast majority of cases, I've observed no benefit. In 2015 and 2016, I had documented more than 100 supplements that I had amassed. I don't recall the exact number, but I believe it was around 105 or 110. Since then, after looking back through spreadsheets and my Amazon.com orders, I've tried at least another 40 supplements. Out of these approximately 150 or so supplements, I've only been able to think of six supplements that have seemed to be of some benefit. Of those six, one is certain, another works best when paired with a medication, and the other four are presumed to have been helpful, though I can't be sure. In taking those same four supplements again a year later, I did not find any benefit.
The second reason I've become biased against most (but, not all) supplements is because they are usually isolated and concentrated nutrients. I'm now suspicious of isolating and removing one element from a whole food matrix and concentrating it into amounts that are unlikely to be ingested through a normal diet. In whole foods, there are numerous compounds that work together. Lyc
opene is one example that comes to mind. Eating a tomato and taking a lyc
opene supplement are not equivalent. Furthermore, aside from ingesting an isolated compound (whether it's lyc
opene or any other vitamin, mineral, or phytochemical), I think caution is warranted when taking it in amounts that are a few hundred to several thousand to tens of thousands times the RDA.
A third reason is because there's no way to know how multiple supplements are interacting with each other in the body or with the body itself. Remember the saying "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." In other words, just because we may not see evidence of any negative effects, that doesn't mean that negative effects aren't happening. There's no supplement checker that will describe how three or five or seven or 27 supplements will work in combination. Even prescript
ion drugs aren't tested in multiple combinations and they are supposed to have a higher level of regulation and scrutiny. In the U.S. and Europe, supplements are regulated as foods. In some other countries, they are regulated as drugs.
I have other reasons, but I'll start wrapping up this reply by sharing two comments from a previous doctor that I think have some merit.
1. Don't confuse feeling better with getting better.The point here, I believe, is that various things might make us feel better, but that doesn't mean any underlying issues are being healed. Many of us commonly make similar remarks about
prescript
ions medications and masking symptoms. There's nothing wrong with symptom relief, but that's not the same as halting or reversing a disease.
2. Anything that has an effect can have side effects.This one is more obvious. Anything we ingest has the potential to cause harm. One story from 2014 that sticks in my head is a middle-aged man requiring a liver transplant, after taking a green tea supplement he purchased from Vitacost. In a 2018 article on the matter, the author reported "While millions of people take green tea supplements safely, at least 80 cases of liver injury linked to green tea supplements have been reported around the world, ranging from lassitude and jaundice to cases requiring liver transplants." While 80 cases is not a lot, compared to the millions of people who take green tea supplements, the point is that the number is not zero. Plus, those are cases that are known. There may be other unreported cases.
In closing, to be redundantly redundant, I realize there are cases where supplements can be useful. It was only in the last week or two that I read about
Astroman having success with some specific probiotics. There's no doubt in my mind that he not only benefited from them but that he also accurately linked cause and effect. The more supplements one adds, however, the more difficult it is to untangle which supplement is doing what.
If you know for sure a supplement is helping, then keep using it. By "helping," I mean correcting an actual deficiency, temporarily suppressing symptoms to relieve pain, allowing you to get some sleep, etc. However, I'm not entirely sure if the use of supplements simply to manipulate lab values is useful in all cases. Again, my main concern is about
identifying and correcting any dysfunction.
If you're unsure, though, then maybe doing some testing is in order. First, with only one supplement by itself. Later, after a washout period, trying a different supplement by itself. Then, combining the two. Doing this for 10 or 20 or 30 supplements, obviously, would take some time. But, it might help you to get off any supplements that don't appear to help and it would also save you money and remove some variables from your health equation. Otherwise, there's not always a clear path to get off them.
Whatever you do, be sure to include your doctor. In fact, if your doctor is prescribing some of these supplements, then he/she should be able to provide some evidence for their recommendations. My experience has been that conventional doctors rarely prescribe (or believe in) supplements while alternative medicine doctors overprescribe them and stretch the limits of evidence and credibility with their claims.
My apologies for the long, meandering brain dump. I'm sleep deprived once again and even less coherent than usual. Take anything useful and ignore everything else.
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Post Edited (The Dude Abides) : 5/23/2024 10:33:08 PM (GMT-8)