Yes, there really was a quiz on people
going to the ER due to supplements. You have to guess
which supplements caused what problems, etc. Then they
tell you the answer. And they are claiming the answers
are fact. It inspired me to write about what they
said.
What the Quiz Said
Their Answer: Supplements are bad
because they give you a false sense of health when
they are not effective.
Well, I know when I feel healthy and
when I know something is wrong, but then again. I know
not to take artificial laboratory-made supplements,
but only whole food supplements that are effective.
Their Answer 72% of the
heart-trouble symptoms that send people to the ER are
from weight loss and energy products.
They don’t mention which energy
products – the mega dose of caffeine, double the
sugar products? This is hardly a supplement to a good
diet. What weight loss products, supplements or things
designed to rev you up and stop your hunger? It isn’t
mentioned. They don’t even tell you if the symptoms
were due to the person drinking 8 glasses of the
energy drink. It is sort of a generality that any
weight loss product or energy product might be
dangerous.
Their Answer: People going to the
ER after taking supplements most often complain about
heart symptoms.
Yes, if you drink too much of the
various brands of energy drinks with mega caffeine, I’m
sure you’ll get palpitations, etc. Symptoms of
palpitations, etc. happened to me when I drank too
much coffee one night while involved in a
conversation. Well, I didn’t go to the ER as I knew
what I was feeling and what had caused it.
Their Answer: Hidden during one
question on the quiz is the fact that the supplement
that they are talking about is an herb. Herbs unlike
vitamins are not essential to the body and are used
for their natural healing ability.
Vitamins like C, and B, Essential
Fatty Acids, etc. etc. are supplementing your diet,
supplementing the food that you eat in order to get
everything the body needs to be healthy (if you can’t
get it from your food).
Some information about Herbs:
Marijuana is an herb, heroine comes
originally from an herb (poppy plants), but not
something you’d mistakenly take for your health.
Yes, with herbs you need to be careful
because they are very similar (although not as toxic)
as drugs where they get the body to do something it
wouldn’t normally do. Now if you want to take herbs,
you should check with your pharmacist to see if it is
okay to take with other medications or other herbs you
might be taking. Their database works well for this.
(For more see link below)
You should also not take an herbal
formula with more than one herb at a time as if you
get a reaction, you won’t know which herb was
causing it. I’m skeptical, however, that the
reaction would be so bad that you’d go to the ER,
unless of course, it was taken with medication.
Herbs can be beneficial to your
health, and before medical schools became standardized
in 1920 and started teaching only drugs & surgery,
Herbology was taught along with Homeopathy in the
medical schools.
It was 1880 when the drug companies
started making artificial drugs (chemicals) as opposed
to nature’s herbs.
Vitamin Quality?
Their Answer: In 12 companies
their formula were diluted or filled with cheap
fillers.
They don’t mention which 12
companies and there are thousands of supplement
companies. 12 doesn’t seem like a very large
percentage. The real answer, don’t buy cheap
supplements.
Their Answer: Consumers should
look for the USP Verified label.
I’ve seen this recently in ads for a
"drug store" brand of vitamins.
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP)
is a public standards-setting group for all
prescription and over-the-counter medicines, dietary
supplements, and other healthcare products
manufactured and sold in the US. They are funded by The United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) located in Washington, D.C.
What this label means is when you
choose a USP Verified Dietary Supplement; you are
getting a product that meets certain standards.
Now
USP doesn’t mean quality as much as it means it is
standard. It can be USP but can have ingredients that
have been made in a laboratory. In fact, more often it
is an artificial vitamin. They can guarantee it is B1,
but the quality of the B1 or the form of B1 is in
question. Is it the type of B1 that washes out of your
body so that you can use only about 1%, of or is it
one that your body can absorb and utilize? The
standardized "USP" vitamins as an example -
"Thiamin USP (thiamin HCL) vitamin B1"
That's the chemical form of vitamin B1, and it
actually requires a donation of cellular energy from
your body before you can use it.
I like to look for "whole food
vitamins" made with food as that tells me it is
something my body will recognize as food and be able
to use as food. It won’t clog up my metabolic
pathways with artificial laboratory-made vitamins.
Yes, as opposed to no standard, it’s good to see USP,
but hardly an end all to the choices of what you
should take.
Taking Supplements for your Health
Their Answer: 50% of the US
populace takes supplements... I’m hoping more than
that. If you ask me which I would rather take?
Supplements and a good diet, or drugs. It would be
good nutrition supplemented where needed. Building
health makes sense. As Hippocrates (the AMA
"Father of Medicine") said "We
need to shift our focus from treating disease to
generating health"
But drugs save lives?
I have to add that I’ve heard the
claim that drugs and surgery save lives, but let’s
look at what that means. When you look at the medical
tests for any illness, it is testing in the 1% to 20%
range. Meaning, if 100% is total health and 0 is
death, then the medical tests only show something is
wrong when you are at the 1% to 20% range, and that if
you don’t do something, you are getting close to
death.
If your kidneys are about to close
down, then a drug is a good choice because it has gone
this far. Why didn’t the kidney tests show something
earlier?
Yes, the bypass surgery for 95%
blockage of the cardiac arteries did save the guys
life, but why didn’t these tests tell him when he
had a 75%, 50%, or even 25% blockage?
The tests aren’t geared for that.
Current medicine only deals with drugs and surgery to
address health problems. They are into Emergency Mode,
when a person’s health is severely deteriorated.
What is needed with the health
conditions that are not found during medical tests is
real nutrition designed to address health. To
paraphrase, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD. If people are
falling off the edge of a cliff, you don’t park an
ambulance at the bottom of the cliff; you build a
fence so people won’t fall off the cliff. That means
building good health.
Can’t trust the supplement
companies?
Their Answer: Most supplement
companies are working on the honor system and aren’t
regulated by the FDA.
True, the FDA is not responsible for
regulating dietary supplements but for regulating
drugs as they are toxic to the body and dangerous with
many side effects. But then again even with FDA
approval, sometimes it doesn’t protect the user. How
many lawsuits do you see against the drug companies by
people who have been harmed by "FDA
approved" drugs?
Now, if you are concerned by the
quality of your supplements 1) don’t buy cheap, drug
store vitamins made in a laboratory and 2) look for
those manufactured in an FDA Approved and Inspected
facility which adheres to Good Manufacturing
Procedures (cGMPs) for supplement manufacturers. These
companies pre-test all the ingredients to verify the
potency and purity. The products are tested during and
after the manufacturing process to ensure no
contamination. The finished product (tablet or
capsule) are tested to ensure that the product matches
what is on the label and, it involves two people
testing, not just one. And the FDA will make sure this
is happening.
We have used our best judgment in compiling this information. The Food and Drug Administration may not have evaluated the information presented. Any reference to a specific product is for your information only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease