The truth about dietary supplements

If you are a healthy adult who eats a balanced diet, has no special diseases, and is not in a special physiological stage, there is no need to follow the trend of taking any dietary supplements; only people who are clearly deficient in nutrients, have strict dietary restrictions, and are in special stages such as pregnancy, childbirth, old age, and disease recovery need to supplement on demand under the guidance of a doctor or registered dietitian. Supplements are never a health-care miracle drug that "there is no harm in taking it."

When I was hanging out at a fitness studio in the past two years, I met many young men who had just joined the industry. They had not yet learned how to proportion their meals, so they first bought a cabinet of supplements: creatine, branched-chain amino acids, multivitamins, fish oil, and liver-protecting tablets. I would grab a handful and swallow them before training every day. When I asked them, "There is no harm in taking them anyway, you can always build some muscle." As a result, after practicing for more than half a year, I still couldn't lose body fat. I spent thousands on supplements for taking out fried chicken every day. It would be better to spend the money on buying fresh lean beef and broccoli.

The current attitude of the nutritional community towards supplements is actually not completely unified. The two schools of thought have been arguing for many years and still cannot distinguish between absolute right and wrong. One group is traditional nutrition scholars who insist on "food first". They believe that as long as they follow the requirements of the dietary guidelines, eat one pound of vegetables and half a pound of fruits every day, cereals, potatoes and miscellaneous beans account for one-third of the staple food, eat deep-sea fish 2-3 times a week, and have enough eggs and milk, all nutrients can be obtained from food. The other view is closer to the living conditions of contemporary people: the nutrient density of greenhouse vegetables and off-season fruits and vegetables is indeed much lower than that grown in the open air in season decades ago. In addition, most office workers eat takeout every day, which is heavy in oil and salt, and their vegetable intake does not even reach half of the recommended amount. There are also many people who are on diets to lose weight and are vegetarians for a long time. In the long run, it is indeed easy to have hidden nutrient deficiencies. Proper supplementation of low-dose multivitamins is equivalent to "making up for the leaks" in the diet, which is not completely useless.

To put it bluntly, the core difference between the two views is actually that the default "premises" are different. Whether you can eat well is the core criterion for judging whether to take supplements.

My best friend has been a strict vegetarian for five years and does not eat any animal products. She is deficient in B12 every year during physical examinations. The doctor asked her to take long-term low-dose B12 supplements. This is a real need - B12 is almost only found in animal-source foods. A vegan diet is simply not enough. Without supplements, she may become anemic or even suffer from nerve damage. Pregnant women in early pregnancy must also take folic acid supplements, which is clearly recommended by the country and can effectively reduce the risk of fetal neural tube defects. My grandma, who is over 70 years old, has weak digestion and absorption function and does not like to go out to get sunlight. The doctor asked her to take vitamin D and calcium supplements, which can indeed reduce the risk of osteoporosis fractures. I used to work on a project and only ate takeout every day for more than a month and almost never touched green leafy vegetables. Later, I developed ulcers at the corners of my mouth and became very tired easily. I went to the hospital to check my serum vitamin levels. It was found that the B complex was indeed low. The doctor prescribed a bottle of B complex for a few yuan, and I was fine after a week. After I recovered, I adjusted my diet and added a serving of boiled cabbage at noon every day, and I never ate it again.

Really don’t believe those functional supplements that Internet celebrities boast about, such as whitening pills, anti-sugar pills, and liver-protecting tablets, which are said to be whitening, anti-aging, and able to offset the damage caused by staying up late and drinking. Most of them are IQ taxes. For example, the active ingredients glutathione and tranexamic acid in whitening pills will be metabolized by the gastrointestinal tract and the amount that can reach the skin is very small. It is not as effective as applying enough sunscreen and eating more oranges and kiwis when you go out every day. There are also many people who stock up on large bottles of vitamin C, claiming it can prevent colds. In fact, evidence-based medicine has long proven that only people who have been engaged in high-intensity exercise for a long time, such as professional athletes and people who work outdoors in cold areas all year round, can slightly reduce the risk of colds by taking vitamin C supplements. If ordinary people eat 1000mg of vitamin C every day, the cold will still be a cold. Eating too much may cause diarrhea and kidney stones.

To be honest, many people now buy supplements, essentially to buy "psychological comfort" for unhealthy lifestyles: they think that if I take liver-protecting tablets, I can stay up all night, if I take dietary fiber tablets, I can eat fried chicken, if I take calcium tablets, I can never exercise. How can this be such a good thing? The positioning of supplements has always been a "supplement", not a "replacement". Just like if your tire is punctured, a patch can be used as an emergency, but you can't just patch the entire car body and drive a new car, right?

If you are really not sure whether you should take supplements, don’t believe the talk in the live broadcast room, and don’t listen to the sales pitches of the aunts in the community. Spend dozens of dollars to go to the hospital for a serum nutrient test. Make up for whatever you are missing, and eat well if you are not missing anything. It is better than anything else.