The Science of Supplementation
We live in an era of unprecedented options when it comes to vitamin/mineral supplements. Whether it’s online, grocery stores, or health food stores, we have tons of supplements to choose from. According to NIH, it is a $14.3 billion a year business in the United States1. Many people genuinely believe that supplements help them with their health. On the other hand, some folks call it “expensive urine,” asserting it’s low benefit to cost ratio2. However, as with many things in life, the truth lies somewhere in the middle or the “golden mean,” as espoused my Aristotle, Confucius, the Buddha, and other wise figures of our past. past
This takes me to another ancient figure: Hippocrates. The father of modern medicine who famously said: “One man’s meat, is another man’s poison.” He understood that beyond the basic universal human needs for survival: air, food, and water, there lie differences in human beings when it came to health. This can manifest in a number of ways. One person may be allergic to sesame, the other applies sesame oil topically and gets pain relief³. One person may eat 1 egg a day and their LDL cholesterol rises, another person may not4. Some people can drink 4 cups of coffee a day without disturbing their sleep, another cannot sleep with just 1 cup. Examples of our biochemical individuality is so rampant that it may seem unremarkable to the naked eye. However, this concept is so profound, critical, and subtle, that’s it’s essential to know in order to understand how vitamins and minerals work in the body.
Whenever you take a single vitamin or mineral, you are inevitably affecting many other minerals in your body at once. For example, let’s consider Iron, which is a very common mineral people supplement with today. Here are the effects it will have on other minerals5:
- ⇑Sodium: Due to iron stimulating the adrenal glands6,7,8
- ⇓Magnesium: Since sodium lowers magnesium
- ⇓Calcium: Since it follows magnesium
- ⇑Potassium: Since it goes inverse to calcium
- ⇓Copper: Since tissue respiration is speeding up, copper gets used up more quickly
- ⇓Zinc: Since it follows copper
- ⇑Manganese: Since it goes inverse to zinc
Does this mean one shouldn’t supplement with Iron? No, there may be a time and place for supplementing with it. But if taking a single mineral like iron can have a domino effect on other minerals, imagine the effects that occur when taking up to 30 vitamins/minerals, which are found in multivitamins? This is not to vilify multivitamins, but rather, to illustrate the complex interrelated effects of mineral/vitamin supplementation. More importantly, our bio chemistries vary from person to person. The odds that 2 random people off the street will have the exact same mineral patterns are very slim. Thus, it’s why I use and recommend Hair Mineral Analysis to help specify the supplements one should take in terms of the proper amount and ratio of vitamins and minerals.
*All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health conditions.
References
1.Multivitamin/mineral supplements. NIH. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/MVMS-HealthProfessional/
2.Forster, Katie. “Multivitamins ‘just create very expensive urine,’ Medical Chief Warns,” The Independent, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/multivitamins-expensive-urine-waste-of-money-vitamins-australian-medical-association-chief-michael-a7578961.html
3. The Effects of Topical Sesame (Sesamum indicum) Oil on Pain Severity and Amount of Received Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Patients With Upper or Lower Extremities Trauma. Bigdeli Shamloo MB et al. Anesth Pain Med. (2015)
4. Kristin L. Herron, Sonia Vega-Lopez, Karin Conde, Tripurasundari Ramjiganesh, Neil S. Shachter, Maria Luz Fernandez; Men Classified as Hypo- or Hyperresponders to Dietary Cholesterol Feeding Exhibit Differences in Lipoprotein Metabolism, The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 133, Issue 4, 1 April 2003, Pages 1036–1042, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/133.4.1036
5. Eck, Paul. “How Increasing Your Energy Enhances Your Health, Emotions, Personality, and Your Ability to Achieve Success and Happiness.” The Healthview Newsletter. p23. 1981
6. Saad M, J, A, Morais S, L, Saad S, T, O, Reduced Cortisol Secretion in Patients with Iron Deficiency. Ann Nutr Metab 1991;35:111-115
7. A.M.WilliamsonK.T.NgA.Richdale. “Changes in corticosterone levels in iron deficient rats. Department of Psychology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia 3083. Received 1 July 1981, Available online 25 March 2003.
8. McKay LI, Cidlowski JA (2003). “Physiologic and Pharmacologic Effects of Corticosteroids”. In Kure DW, Pollock RE, Weichselbaum RR, Bast RC, Ganglier TS, Holland JF, Frei E. Holland-Frei Cancer Medicine (6 ed.). Hamilton, Ontario: Decker.