Two types of dietary supplements
May 2007-High dose, synthetic and isolated dietary supplements — what I call HSAIDS — make up 98 percent of the dietary supplements available on the market. These unnatural supplements are one of two categories of dietary supplements, the other being truly natural supplements.
It’s the research on unnatural dietary supplements (HSAIDS) that show both ineffectiveness and increased risk of death, as mentioned in other articles on this website. On the other hand, nutrients found naturally in food are proven to successfully prevent and treat disease.
Truly natural dietary supplements are made from freeze-dried real food, or otherwise are not heated, and the nutrients they contain are natural doses without added synthetic substances. Fish oil (containing EPA/DHA), flax oil (containing alpha-linolenic acid), and vegetable or fruit concentrates containing many nutrients are common examples.
Unfortunately, most fruit and vegetable concentrates used in dietary supplements are dried with very high heat, destroying various nutrients. These foods don’t supply much nutrient but are used in the supplement to make it look like it is natural, while all the nutrients listed on the label come from synthetic or other unnatural additions. These so-called “whole food” supplements containing fruit or vegetable concentrates have to be “spiked” with synthetic vitamins and other unnatural nutrients in order to list any appreciable amounts of nutrients. Read the supplement facts panel on the label carefully.
Some companies even claim their products are made from real food with real vitamins when, in fact, they feed synthetic vitamins to yeast, then harvest the yeast to use in supplements. Unfortunately, the USDA and FTC have not addressed this issue, and the label information won’t let you know the truth, unless the dose is high enough.
Dietary Supplements—"Natural" or Dangerous?
Most supplements labeled as "natural" don't even come close to providing nutrients as nature intended. Instead, they contain synthetic and isolated chemicals at doses much higher than can be obtained from natural food, and are missing key parts of the natural food complex. These High-Dose Synthetic and Isolated Dietary Supplements (HSAIDS) act more like drugs than food, and thus may have negative health consequences, including:
- DNA damage - the first step to cancer development
- Pro-oxidant rather than antioxidant activities
- Increased risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer
- Liver stress
- Toxic build-up
- Bone loss and fracture
- Dangerous interactions with medications or other supplements
- Nutritional deficiencies
And you thought dietary supplements were supposed to improve your health!
Biological vs. Pharmacological Effects
Two important distinctions between truly natural supplements and HSAIDs are whether they are made from real food, and what their function is in the human body. In general, nutrients in their natural state at natural doses have a biological effect in the body, and HSAIDS have a pharmacological effect. In other words HSAIDS act more like drugs than nutrients. Examples of natural dietary supplements that clearly act in more of a biological fashion are those with ingredients that include vegetables, fruits, and berries.
Disease Protection: The Real Food Advantage
Scientists now associate oxygen free radicals with every major chronic disease, including heart disease and cancer. In fact, DNA damage caused by free-radicals is one of the first steps leading to the development of cancer. Free radicals also play a major role in the aging process. Researchers have found that consumption of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables decreases free-radical damage. However, most studies also have concluded that popular synthetic and isolated antioxidants such as vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E (alpha tocopherol), or vitamin A (beta-carotene) do not prevent DNA damage. Most studies also fail to show any other significant benefits from HSAIDS when compared to nutrients obtained from whole foods."