The Case for Nutritional Supplements Part 1

Now that everyone is back from the holidays and are getting back into the swing of things again, I would like to get on my soapbox to debunk some bad science and erroneous conclusions that our mainstream press has mindlessly reported.  Many people take nutritional supplements to improve their health and to ensure that they are getting the proper daily nutrients.  Yet on December 17, 2013, there was a report stating that nutritional supplements were not necessary, were ineffective, and in some cases, could be harmful.  This could not be further from the truth. What was reported was the result of bad science and an underlying agenda of those who reported the information.   

As someone who both uses and sells nutritional supplements, I have seen firsthand how they can help to improve health.  When incorrect information in the form of “scientific research” comes out, it is a person insult to not only my scientific knowledge, but also to my personal and business integrity.  So as you can imagine, I am very passionate about this topic.  For the next few blogs, I will not only debunk these reports, but I will lay out the scientifically proven case for the need for nutritional supplementation.

To begin with, the journal that published these findings, Annals of Internal Medicine, is a pro-pharmaceutical journal that is funded by pharmaceutical companies that compete with nutritional supplements.  So they definitely are not an unbiased source, as their agenda is to support the use of pharmaceutical drugs, not nutritional supplements.   The “experiments” the preformed were designed to fail.  The supplements that were used in the study were cheap and low-grade, with substandard ingredients.  When they observed the results they wanted to find, they were reported as irrefutable facts that apply to all nutritional supplements.  I hereby accuse the authors of this paper of scientific fraud with negligent intent to defraud consumers for financial gain. 

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I am not anti-pharmaceuticals.  In some cases they have been shown to be useful and can be a wonderful cure in many directed applications.  I am also not saying that every multivitamin and nutritional supplement out there is as effective as advertised.  I’ll discuss that more in later blogs as well.  But when the pharmaceutical industry backs junk “science” in attempt to spread false information and hopefully line their own pockets, I take offense to that, and so should you.

I posted a link to this article on Facebook that was written to debunk this and it has more detailed information.  Here it is:  http://www.naturalnews.com/043254_mainstream_media_multivitamins_quack_science.html

The truth is that for every piece of sub-par research like this that comes out, I can show you more articles that support the use of nutritional supplements.  As a scientist and a customer, I can tell you that the science is there.  There are a number of reasons why it is not possible for you to obtain all your nutrition just from food itself.  You need to take supplements in order to stay in optimal health.  Stay tuned for my next blog where I will talk about the reasons why you can’t get all of your nutrients from food. 

To Your Health!

Dr. Harvey