Saw this article in the Healthy Living section of the Huffington Post today:
Savvy Supplement Shopping, Mark Hyman, MD, 6 February 2013
Hyman warns of "large-scale nutritional deficiencies in our population" and recommends taking the following supplements "to help overcome diabesity":
- A high-quality multi-vitamin and mineral.
- 1,000 to 2,000 IU of Vitamin D3 a day with breakfast.
- 500-1,000 mg of omega-3 fats (should contain a ratio of approximately 300/200 EPA/DHA), once with breakfast and once with dinner.
- 100-200 mg of magnesium, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
- 300 to 600 mg alpha lipoic acid a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
- 200 to 600 mcg chromium polynicotinate a day (up to 1,200 mcg a day can be helpful).
- 0.5-1 mg biotin, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
- 125-250 mg cinnamon, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
- 25-50 mg green tea catechins, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
- 2 to 5 grams of PGX fiber in powder or capsules, 15 minutes before each meal with 8 ounces of water.
To learn more about specific products and brands he recommends? Visit his website. Buy his book. You can even get online help in selecting supplements from his "nutrition coaching team." A $100/hour value but for you ... $19.99/month.
This is an advertisement masquerading as health advice.
Update:: At least when it comes to heart disease, supplements don't buy you much. In this brand new meta-analysis of 50 randomized control trials, "supplementation with vitamins and antioxidants was not associated with reductions in the risk of major cardiovascular events."
Efficacy Of Vitamin And Antioxidant Supplements In Prevention Of Cardiovascular Disease: Systematic Review And Meta-analysis Of Randomised Controlled Trials, British Medical Journal, January 2013
"Conclusion: There is no evidence to support the use of vitamin and antioxidant supplements for prevention of cardiovascular diseases."
2 comments:
I read the Huff-Post article. Dr. Hyman is good. He starts with enough truth to sound reasonable. The first three paragraphs about the food environment and obesity are OK. I've heard the point before about obese people being malnourished and nutrient deprived because they eat highly processed junk food. But he completely looses me when he says all are foods are low nutrients because of deleted soils and industrial farming. I would like to see the studies he uses to come to that conclusion. So no one can get sufficient nutrients from food and thus we need supplements. Really? I would have to stop eating to afford the cost of all the supplements he recommends.
I can't get past his greed. At the sake of a person's health no less.
I was going to mention the case of folate, just one vitamin!, but I'll put it in a post.
Oh .. and good point about the cost of all those supplements. I'd like to sit down and add it all up.
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