Three Supplement Fallacies That May Be Hazardous to Your Health and How to Avoid them

You don’t have to dig deep to know that modern day medicine is risky.  You can learn this watching True TV’s hit show Operation Repo – A Levitra ad recently taught me that a drug induced erection may be accompanied by blindness.  That’s serious.  My college roommate used party drugs that were more fun – with half the side effects – and he had to buy them illegally.  This prescription drug threat has pushed many toward nutritional supplements.  When writing my book, Over-The-Counter Natural Cures, I learned first and foremost that in their search for alternatives, too many people are falling for supplement fallacies that could be hazardous to their health.

Supplement Fallacy #1

Get omega-3 fish oils to be saved from the inner fires of inflammation, diabetes, Alzheimer’s…and UFO Abduction.

Looking Closer at the Claim

You don’t need pills to get omega fat. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in generous amounts in servings of grass-fed meat, whole eggs, wild-caught fish and pemmican. And better than their “pill counterparts,” food source omega-3 fats are accompanied with a host of micronutrients and other healthy fats that are required for increased lifespan.  By themselves, omega-3 fats are hollowed versions of Mother Nature.

Supplement Fallacy #2

Your entire family is vitamin D deficient – even the family dog – and pills will correct it. The deficiency explains all your ill health…and even your bad haircut.

Looking Closer at the Claim

A vitamin D pill is a synthetic hormone made by the drug industry that attempts to mimic an array of “vitamin D hormones” (isomers) produced by nature and the body.  Big Pharma cartels BASF and Hoffman La Roche are the largest manufacturers and have disguised the franken-chemical as a vitamin in order to sell it.  Promotion rests in “business as usual” for the industry:  Instill fear.  And they’ve done it with a “deficiency hypothesis” that has everyone regurgitating their “25-hydroxy vitamin D” levels.  But it’s as weak as milk toast.  Ever wonder who defines our “ideal levels?” (See above)

To date, only statistical associations are used to support the deficiency hypothesis, not causal ones.  This is akin to saying that since everyone who died of a heart attack today had a refrigerator in their home, the likely culprit is Kenmore.

Vitamin D use is also rationalized with the “rickets rational,” insisting that it cured the paralyzing disease, which is prima facie evidence of its healing qualities.  Sunshine cured rickets, not vitamin D pills made in the stinky labs of Big Pharma.  And, if you think the two are synonymous, you’ve been watching too much Operation Repo.

Highlighting the Vitamin D pill controversy, The New York Times recently wrote that “The excitement about their health potential is still far ahead of the science.”   Amen.

In their report, “The Endocrine System,” the University of Colorado, reminded us that, “”Ingestion of milligram quantities of vitamin D over periods of weeks of months can be severely toxic to humans and animals. In fact, baits laced with vitamin D are used very effectively as rodenticides.”   This isn’t inexplicable.

Once swallowed, the Franken-chemical can “plug” the body with calcium and induce calcification, which among rodents leads to heart failure.  At the very least, it’s a warning that natural sources of vitamin D isomers like sunshine and cod liver oil are a smarter choice over a manmade hormone isolate.

Supplement Fallacy #3

Resveratrol is the fountain of youth.  Stop wrinkles, aging, diabetes…and you’re your wife’s constant complaining about your unwillingness to vacuum.

Looking Closer at the Claim

Not a single human clinical trial substantiates resveratrol longevity claims. In fact, some studies are showing resveratrol acts like a biological grenade, exploding and destroying a variety of healthy cells internally once consumed – when isolated from its from its evolutionary, whole food context.

Just last year, Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, concluded that, “Resveratrol, a polyphenol derived from red grapes, berries, and peanuts, has been shown to mediate death of a wide variety of cells. The mechanisms by which resveratrol mediates cell death include necrosis, apoptosis, autophagy, and others. While most studies suggest that resveratrol kills tumor cells selectively, evidence is emerging that certain normal cells such as endothelial cells, lymphocytes, and chondrocytes are vulnerable to resveratrol.”

With so many fleeing the prescription drug ship, the nutritional supplement industry will continue to act as life saver.  And in the process, supplement fallacies will be thrown around like mini-flags at 4th of July parade.  Most of them are sure to erode health and detract from the real science that justifies the use of select, natural healers as the first-line-of-defense in the fight against poor health.  And if they fail, modern day medicine will be standing by in times of emergency, thankfully.